Last Wednesday, a neighborhood stray cat was hit (and killed) by a car behind our house. Unfortunately, this cat was a new mother, and
my neighbor had found her kitten in a nearby ditch and taken it to the
animal shelter. He also said that a local veterinarian (who also lives
in our neighborhood) was on his way to take the mother's body and bury
it.
It was a sad scene, made even sadder by the thought
of a newborn kitten with no mother. Assuming the situation had reached
its conclusion, I left for a few hours.
But the story
completely changed when Meg came home and heard a high-pitched
squeal in the carport. She immediately called our friends, Bobbi and
Mark, who came over to help investigate. After searching throughout the
carport, Mark tracked the sound to a corner of the carport with a pile
of firewood, a bail of hay, and assorted yard tools. He reached in
behind the hay-bail, and found this:
Moses.
4 inches long, 4 ounces in weight, and the noisiest kitten
you could imagine. His eyes were still closed, and no matter what we
tried, we couldn't calm him down. We could tell he was hungry, so Mark
and I left to find some kitten formula and a bottle. We read all sorts
of things online about why it's important to keep him warm, and how to
feed him to avoid making him sick.
But he wouldn't
eat. It seemed as if the bottle was too big to fit in his mouth, and he
just couldn't create enough suction to make it work.
So Bobbi and Mark decided they'd take Moses home, and continue to try to feed him throughout the night.
The
next morning, Bobbi took him to the animal hospital. When the vet
walked in, he looked at her wide-eyed and asked: "WHERE DID YOU GET THIS
CAT?" Apparently, HE was the vet who'd buried the mother the day
before! Anyway, he gave her some syringes to make feeding easier, and
gave her plenty of advice on how to take care of him. One piece we all
found particularly interesting is that you have to "stimulate" his
"private areas" to make him go to the bathroom!
He
also said for us to be "cautiously optimistic" about his chance of
survival. Apparently, the next few weeks are critical for his survival. So even though we're trying not to get our hopes up for Little
Moses, he is too adorable not to love!
