Early this morning I woke up to a horrible screaming. It took me a minute to sort myself out but it was coming from upstairs. It sounded like Mom was hurting the kittens. I flew upstairs barefeet and all and went into the kitten room. Mom and the other kittens were gone and the only kitten left was the little black girl. Mom had moved in the middle of the night and left this one behind. I scooped her up and she was cold and trembling. I wasn’t even worried about mom at the moment. She had bit me earlier on my foot when I went upstairs without my sneakers on. I just brought the little one down and set her up in the living room with heat pad, and stuffies. Thankfully, I had the KMR on hand and I fed her and stimulated her and put her down. She cried herself to sleep.
I suspected this might happen. I was watching the family nurse yesterday and it looks like Mom only has 4 viable nipples left. This little one she left is the runt of the litter and she made a conscious choice on how to save the rest of her family sacrificing one in return.
She was located inside the large cupboard that leads upstairs- the rest of the kittens are fine.
Oh, no! Was this Ava who was left behind? I sure hope this little one makes it, she is such a smart little girl.
Oh, I see you mentioned little black girl. I thought Ava was the smallest. Well, I hope this little black girl makes it, too. Poor baby!
We’ve faced the same kind of situation with the queen that began our rescue efforts years ago. Twice she chose a kitten to abandon, a different one each time. We were so dumb that we just rescued the kittens, one left in the woods and later one left under our deck, and put them back with her. We were lucky enough that she decided to keep them all and didn’t kill any of them. All the kittens survived and live here today — we finally were able to catch the mama, tame her a little, get her spayed, and all the kittens neutered. But it was just pure dumb luck that she accepted them back. Luckily we provided plenty of food and she produced plenty of milk.
Best of luck with your tiny one — and all the rest of course.
poor baby….we hope she does ok without mom….