I have less than a week left to enjoy the company of the burn kitties. I look back to when they arrived. how sick and in sad shape they were in. Initially, when we got them, we were unaware of the horrors they lived through in the first days of their birth. The evidence would unfold as we started just giving them basic care. I don’t think I will ever forget the feelings of helplessness I felt when their first bowel movement consisted of so much crud in their stomach, none of it actual food. They have all come so far. I am so proud of them. The screams of Ash as I gently stimulated her still ring in my ears. Never have I encountered so much pain and torment from a kitten with her eyes still not opened.

Fearless Freddy, the orange boy is literally not scared of anything. He meets each new challenge head on- whether it was the first time he was introduced to Kota, or he heard the running of the vacuum. Nothing phases him. I do not know his back story. All I know is that he ducked into a merchant’s shop during a bad thunderstorm. He was freezing, wet, hungry and she labeled him (inappropriately) as feral. He was not feral, he was lost and scared and she didn’t know  how to handle such a frightened kitten and got bit in the process.

Freddy loves ice cubes. He will push them across the floor until they melt and then lick up the water. When he hears the ice maker chunking, he will come skidding into the room and stand underneath the maker, hoping that I might miss the glass and one will fall on the floor. It invariably does! Strange how that happens?

His favorite day is laundry day. He loves to jump into a pile of warm laundry and burrow down into the warmth to sleep. He is so funny and such a charmer. Once he loses the warmth on top of the basket, he will hop down and using claws and teeth, he will pull each item of clothing out of the laundry basket through the holes in the sides! Once he gets to where there is warmth again, he will hop in and sleep until his bed goes cold then repeat the process. The silly goof. He is no longer peeing on the warm clothes so it looks like his personal demons are finally at rest,

Magoo continues to be afraid of anything new that comes his way. If he hears a new noise, or is someone visits here, be it a friend or a repairman. Magoo simply will vanish. He  is very adept in hiding.. I believe it depends on how scared or threatened he feels at the time.

Magoo has been treated several times since his arrival with hematomas to his bottom ear lobes. At first I was puzzled to what was causing this to occurl until one afternoon, I went in to see the babies only to find out that Ash had latched herself onto her brother’s ear lobe and was sucking it like it was mom’s milk. After that episode, Bitter Apple came into play.I have to put it on Magoo’s ear at least three to four times daily. The stuff is nasty. I use a cotton ball, and just picking up the cotton ball in my bare fingers, I can actually taste the bitterness in my mouth. After that experience, I always wear rubber gloves and make sure to give Magoo a tasty treat immediately afterward.. It does keep his fur a bit oily no matter how much or little I apply, but it did also stop the traumatic vet visits to drain the hematomas.

For Ash she is still skittish over moving hands coming at her. Sometimes, she will run away in terror, until I started feeding her directly out of my hands. Now she just backs up, waiting to see what the hands might want to do to her. It is quite sad to witness, but of all the three kitties, she was the sickest. With an extremely infected rectum due to the foreign material she had to pass through her system. She is also the largest so was able to digest larger pieces of gravel. Poor kitty.

She is quite loving though. Not keen on being picked up for very long, but if I am sitting on the floor, she is the first to approach and wants head scratches and chin rubs. I know they are going to a good place. I am grateful for all the love, support, prayers and donations that came our way to help these four babies out. I couldn’t have done it alone.

Here are before and after shots so you can see in one glance, how far they have come since they arrived here.

On another note, I was recently interviewed about caring for stray and feral kittens for an upcoming article in Catster. Through the interview, I tried to release a lot of my tips and tricks in working with scared and frightened kittens that were not used to humans. I am looking forward to seeing it in print and hope, that the tips left will help people in dealing with these wonderful babies. The author of the article is Dusty Rainbolt. Dusty wrote Kittens for Dummies, Cat Wrangling 101 and her latest book is Finding Your Lost Cat. All three books are worthy to add to your cat library.