Over fiveyears ago, my vet presented me with five malnourished, flea-ridden kittens that were in pretty bad shape. They had been found in an abandoned campsite. I took them home after he gave me an armful of meds for them. It took me several days to get these kittens to eat anything. They turned up their noses at dry cat food, canned kitten food, canned cat food, finally, I sat back and thought about where they came from- an abandoned campground and I chopped up some hot dogs and they ate it!
As the kittens gained strength and started eating better, they gradually evolved to canned kitten food. One female in particular, well she developed a heck of a growth spurt and grew far bigger than the others in her group. At the end of this spurt, I realized, she was not a kitten- she was the mom!
I named her Dash because although she was primarily a black cat, she had an exclamation mark on her face next to her nose. It reminded me of a dash. Little did I know, that she would grow into such a prophetic name for as she got stronger, if we entered into the room she would dash out quickly.
I captured her and put her into the kitten room to work with her, but her feral instinct was to strong and she stopped eating. She was clearly in captivity stress, so I let her out into the house. She has lived with us since-never been sick a day in her life after her rough beginning and we rarely see her.
About three months ago when Mike was trying to let the dog out, Dash, dashed out. I have been trying vainly to trap her but she will have none of that. Last night during a thunderstorm, I shooed all the other cats off the porch and locked them in the house and opened the patio door. Dash was sitting at the bottom of the stairs meowing.
The minute I opened the door and stepped back, she dashed through! YAY! I was so glad to capture her. She has Persian in her and she mats if you look at her. She is such a matted mess, but I want her to decompress first before I get her brushed out. I am just thankful that she is okay and home again.
I found two 3-4 week old kittens by the side of the freeway. I kept Little Edie and the 2nd went to a friend to bottle feed. Little Edie would not ween. She would drink water, but not eat baby food, canned kitten food, or anything. I had some of those freeze dried mouse treats you talked about some time ago, and when she smelled them she went into a frenzy. I knew then she could eat solid food, so I continued with the KMR bottle (no she would not lap this from a bowl, only water). I guess mother cat fed her mice and that’s all she would eat. Yes, she is spoiled and has me well trained.
Sometimes, you just have to throw the instruction pamphlet away and go with what works. I’ve fed 2-week old kittens canned kitten food- purreed to liquid form. Other times I have fed small bottle babies with straight canned kitten food and not been able to give them formula at all.
I loved your story, thanks for sharing it with us. How old is Edie now?
Sometimes, you just have to think like a kittie!
Purrrrring that Momma Dash lets you groom her a little without too much of a fight. Those mats must start to hurt after a while.
Update on the cat that was shot:
His wounds are totally healed and the hair is nearly covering the scars.
He’s weird though. I’ve never seen a cat like him. He’s bow-legged in front and walks like a bulldog. His markings are similar to a brown tabby except he has brown spots on his belly. His body is more squared-off than a regular domestic cat. His voice is odd and raspy, and he yowls from the side of his mouth instead of totally opening his mouth. His head is more square, too. Could he possibly be a mix between an exotic cat like the margay and a domestic cat? He has bonded with my husband, but doesn’t even want me to pet him… We’ve advertised to find him a home, but I don’t think he’d do well in a home with children because he’s actually threatening at times. If my husband starts to leave the room, Sox will try to attack him by biting at his pants-leg or swiping at him with a claw… What do you think?
Should we congratulate you for quitting your job or should we commiserate with you about losing your job? I know you’ve had a lot on your plate, but I thought money was very tight… Either way, I wish you luck!
Thanks, but the job was on the outs due to the economy. It makes little sense to go in and work 2-3 hours twice a week and maybe, if I am lucky pull a full shift of hours (which is rare). Staying home allows me to concentrate on my writing although I know full well what being a starving artist truly is! But I prayed about it for a long time, wrote down the pros and cons and evaluated all my options. It was in Mike and my best interest to leave so I could care for him better. Stepping out of rescue is going to help, so will finding homes for the new kittens and some of the older cats-but you know how that goes.
I wonder if your kitty was hit by a car at one time and regenerated to the best of his ability? This could explain the strange gait and the sudden attacks of aggression. Just be careful around him- sometimes those head injury symptoms show up when you least expect it!
We wondered about an old injury, too.
Can your kittie open his mouth all the way? It sounds almost like he might have had a broken jaw at some point.
Little Edie is about 1 1/2 now. She is a long hair tortie girl. Here is the whole story. I saw a manx calico in a construction area between the highway and feeder road in downtown Conroe, TX. I had to pull over and call her. She ran, and going back to my car I almost stepped on the kittens. Of course I took them, and came back the next day to trap mother cat. She was feral, and dropped off at the vet immediately. Mother cat lived in my office for 4-5 months and I never saw her. I could tell she walked the walls when I was gone, so left the door open one night for her to go. I live very rural, at least 1/2 mile to the nearest road, so this was her best chance. Mother cat is very rarely seen, but she does sneak up to the horse barn to eat with the other barn cats.
Do you remember the name of the place for the dried mouse? They also had rabbit and tuna treats.
We are so glad Dash has someone to look out for her and that she came back.
When Artemisia first came to live here she wouldn’t eat until Daddy fixed her a scrambled egg, she gobbled it down and then she decided to check out the canned catfood and the dry catfood. The only thing Mom & Dad could figure out was she didn’t know the catfood was OK to eat because she had never had canned catfood before and the dry catfood was a different brand. She was used to getting left over scrambled eggs so she recognized it as food and then decided the other stuff in the bowl must be food too.