Ebby which is the name I have given the kittens mom is in a bad way. Initially when she came here and she was inside the carrier with her babies, she was screaming and swatting and we were afraid the kittens were going to be harmed so we let her out hoping it was the carrier upsetting this barn cat. We tried four different times to introduce her to her family and she went into full feral state each time including once when she ran out of hiding grabbed the black kitty and flung it! Thankfully she landed in straw and she is fine.

So kittens went immediately into foster care and I kept mom. I gave her 24 hours to decompress and when I came back to check on her she appeared calm but once I tried to initiate contact- full feralness returned. It was only yesterday, that she finally allowed me to pet her and I was so alarmed to see she has mastitis! No wonder she was trying to kill her babies and anyone else who wanted to handle her.

She was non-stop crying (still is) initially I thought it was because she was in heat from being put into mourning for not having her babies, but now I am convinced that she is in great pain. The reason I think this- is I put her immediately on Baytril and started warm compresses on her belly. Because of her volatile nature, I took large hand towels, soaked them in warm water and nuked the towels for about a minute. By the time I would get the enclosure where she is, the towels were just the right temperature. I wrapped the towel underneath her belly and kind of engulfed all of her into the towel and just held her. That is the only time, she doesn’t cry. 🙁 I am waiting for the vet to open so I can rush her in. She didn’t have a fever so I didn’t take her to the emergency vet- she is subnormal though hanging about 99.8 pretty consistently. I hope they can help her- when I was able to express her breast- congealed nasty stringy milk came out. Looks like only one breast is not hardened and sore- 🙁 She is just a little black kitty owned by someone who could give a rip how many kittens she produced. I hope they spay her today. I hope they save her life.