Fading Kitten Syndrome

Not much is really known about this sudden turn of events when a kitten, once active begins to slip away from the hands caring for it. Much like SID there is mystery surrounding the death.

Parker, the littlest Mack Tabby with 19 toes slipped away from us at 2:00 p.m. It started at feeding time, when I found him unresponsive, and oh so cold (even with three heat sources being used to keep the carrier warm. Thank you to those who donated and made that possible.

He was barely breathing, and I sat with him till his last breath arrived and he was gone. It took all of 5 minutes for this precious life to slip away.

Presto (or 21 toes) although he is still cold despite everything, he is also active and eating. He is getting into so many precarious situations. I have to really keep my mind sharp when I am interacting with him.

His latest antics was to get somehow hung up on the power cord of the heating pad. The cord is in the last corner of the back of the carrier and as snug as I could make it, but he still managed to get his head through the cord and get stuck. Had I not found him when I did, I suspect he would have joined his brother because he couldn’t move forward or back.

I took one of Kota’s stuffie bones and cable tied it to the cord to prevent this type of accident of happening again. I swear this kitten is going to give me a heart attack! But he is fine, and Minerva his sister- the calico mix is also hanging in there. Are they out of the woods? No, we haven’t even reached the first clearing yet- so prayers are welcomed.

As for Huckles, he now has pneumonia. His respiration rate this morning was 82 breaths a minute! It should be at best 32. I can see his lovely chest hitching up and down rapidly with is every movement and although on amoxy right now, they have added a second antibiotic to help prevent this from getting worse. I would ask God what indeed is coming next, but I would be afraid He might just show me.

Note to Self~

Don’t wear my Cat Lady Shirt during Kitten Season!
These little ones were abandoned by the queen. She was way too young to even have a litter to begin with. She roams in an industrial field with other feral cats. I happened by there and the manager told me that they were born this morning and mom is ignoring them.

If I had left them there, they would have died as there are Toms all over the place, plus although it is warm today, we have had some really hard drenching rains late at night Thunderstorms (quite scary)

If someone would be kind enough to send CATS $10.00 I will have enough in the kitty to go and get the right heating pad for this just-borns. Thank you

All three of these angels are polydactyls

Another Hurdle

It seems that this little boy’s troubles are not far behind him yet. His bloat is still present and troubling. He has now been diagnosed with congenital megaesophagus which is causing him to when he is crying, to bring up milky bubbles from below. This happens now when I poop him. He is unable to just move the waste along and he cries so frantically when I am stimulating him.

I was told to instead of stimulating him, just give him a bath and towel him dry vigorously to help move the poop through the chute. It has worked only a few times.
The congenital disease is widely seen in Siamese, and as I mentioned before Huckles is showing signs of being a beautiful flame-point. I am just trying to keep this stress point down when it comes to pooping him and it is a challenge to be sure. There is no cure right now, he is too little to even consider fixing him. His appetite is still good, he is not lethargic- in fact he is just the opposite. He just has had such a difficult beginning and keeps having all these problems pop up as the days go on. He is 12 days old today.

Also, this year, in honor of Jeremy’s birthday- I have planted a garden. We have five acres that I could plant but I don’t have a rototiller so I am planting in old bathtubs, wheelbarrows and along the fence line where the dirt is softer and easier to manipulate. Since I do not have a green thumb- if this garden thrives, it will be because Jeremy’s Spirit is interceding. I have been known to kill cactus and that is hard to do!

July 4th Mike’s ashes will be spread on Hidden Lake in Alaska with his kids, his ex-wife and his grandchildren present. I won’t be there. I don’t need to be. The kids wanted their dad’s marker to be close- so I chose to send Mike’s ashes to his oldest son in Alaska and let them take care of the details. The one thing that Mike wanted besides to be scattered where we had our first date, is for a poem I wrote to be recited while his ashes are being dispersed. I believe his daughter is going to share it with the group.

I’m going to just post it here- it is untitled. I wrote it after we discovered that we were falling in love with each other.

We’ve discovered this,
a wonderful place.
Where we share our dreams,
our goals to chase.

It’s a place of intimate secrets
Uncharted by no other man.
An Island for our thoughts and dreams,
a sharing of our plans.

You can’t get there in a rowboat,
an airplane or a car.
Perhaps on a magic carpet,
Or the tail of shooting star.

It’s a place that you can reach for,
Only with tender, loving care.
But, if you have never loved someone,
There’s no way to take you there.

Another Obstacle

Huck had to be rushed to the vet this morning and this time, they took x-rays. On the film, it looks like clouds forming around his digestive system and bowel. Four vets looked at it and were all perplexed as to what it is? The final consensus is that it is congenital and he might just be able to deal with it as he grows.

He had a really hard visit. He had the biggest enema a little kitten could get with no return. I can see the impaction as I try to poop him, but it is so large that it just won’t move. I have three days of his new diet KMR and MiraLAX and pumpkin, and if nothing moves, I am to bring him back.

This is so frustrating, because I see what is wrong, I just can’t fix it. I did ask them two questions- wasn’t the substance moving around inside of him just milk? They said no, milk does not look like that on film. You can see a tiny bit of gas in his system as well but nothing alarming. And was he in pain? They said he might be a bit uncomfortable, but he wasn’t in pain. I disagree now because he moaned non-stop for about an hour after we got home. I would moan too, if I had all the invasive procedures he got today.

No more vet visits, the stress alone could kill him. Just going to do the best I can and ask God to stay in control of all I do for him.

Huckles Update:

Huck isn’t doing as well as I wish he was. There was a return trip to the vet, where it was discovered that Huck (now a boy) I always get that wrong when they are so young! He lacks the ability to push his stool through successfully after each feeding. He has become blocked, and it has been necessary (and heart-breaking) to help him because it means a kitty enema.

Enemas on any cat is not easy of them, but for kittens, it is ten times worse. I was told if he doesn’t poop, don’t feed him! The bloat is out of control. He looks literally like you could put a pin in his belly and he would explode like a balloon. He is not even a week old! If we stopped feeding him, he would die. That’s not an option.

I sought out the advice of a feline specialist and it is her thinking that the Queen must have been FeLV positive and that is why the little ones are having these issues. It does not mean that Huck has FeLV, just for his entire life, he will be a special needs kitty when it comes to this pooping issue.

She suggests that besides the pumpkin that I am using, I am to add Miralx (just a tiny amount) to every feeding. She also believes that not feeding him is not an option but also an enema every feeding is a bit excessive. I tried to tell my vet that kittens (especially at this age) do not always poop after being fed. But some vets you can’t tell them everything and she wasn’t my regular vet,

So we are feeding Huck every two hours round- the- clock. Putting soothing ointment on his tormented behind. He will latch onto the bottle for only a few seconds then he will look elsewhere for food (my finger my hand the blanket) It really breaks my heart. I let him eat as much as he wants and even though it is very little- he is still here, active and fighting.

When I try to give him a bit more, he develops horrendous breathing issues that scares me to no end- so that stopped me from giving him more. The specialist said it is because of the bloat, the backed-up stool. He is to get one enema a day only if no poop appears.

Poor kitty, he did not ask for this life, but right now, this is what has been dealt to him. I still call him Huckles, but as he grows (and I pray he does) I will shorten it to Huck. I named him in honor of Huckleberry Finn a book one of my granddaughters is currently reading and pelting me with information about it. LOL I don’t think she wants to read the whole thing and she knows Gamma has read it several times over.

So please continue praying for this little boy who is showing all the signs of being a gorgeous flame-point Siamese if he can stay in the game. Pray for me too, no relief for me except on Friday during the food run. But I can handle it- what I can’t handle is watching this brave kitten struggle for breath during feeding times.

Last night, I dreamed that Mike and I went to the Fair. He had both legs, all his hair and was in good shape and we were having a ball. Then, we went into a haunted house and he vanished. In his stead, Kota was with me and together, we combed through the entire fairgrounds calling out to Mike. We went down tunnels, up ladders, down into holes rode all the rides, no Mike.

I woke up with Kota licking my face and I was crying and shouting “Michael where are you?”  This is the first bad dream I have had since his passing.

Had to run to the store and usually, just letting Kota into the carport with the car door open and telling him to “load up” works. Not this morning, instead, he ran around to the front of the truck and started whining. I followed him and that’s when I found the box. It looked like it had been stepped on and when I opened it, I found two-  days old kittens inside! No telling how long they had been there- when I picked them up, their bodies were so cold. The gray one had all his paws crossed and at first I thought he was gone, but then he moved. I tucked them into my bra and raced into the house. Felt like I had just put two ice cubes there!

They have wounds on them, I believe they have been pecked by birds. For the first feeding, I had to tube feed them as they were so cold, they could not even swallow. But at the second feeding, I was able to use the syringe because they had spent two hours in the warming cage.

I am calling the white one Huckles and the gray boy is Mohammed because he is fighter. I didn’t think he would survive to the second feeding but he is still here. He is still very cold, even after being exposed to gradual heat, but they have now both pooped and peed which is a good sign.

Are they out of the woods yet? Not by any stretch of the imagination, but they are noticeably stronger and Mohammed’s tremors have stopped for now. Their umbilical cords are still wet! I would like to find out who did this and partially stamp on them! I told God that I was going to take a year off rescuing kittens because without Mike’s help, it wasn’t going to be possible. Why am I left feeling that this dream I had was preparing me for this rescue?The Bible says:  “Through God ALL things are possible.” Please pray for these little ones now in my care.

That’s what the vet called Molly this morning, when I took her in to find out why she has been a bit unsteady on her feet lately. I thought she might of had a stroke, but she had a really bad ear infection resulting in vertigo that made her lose her balance.

Molly is a sweetheart. She sleeps with me, she follows me around like a dog inside the house and outside as well. If I sit down, she is automatically on my lap. BUT when she is feeling punky, doesn’t feel well or has been injured and I try to help her- she turns into the feral cat from hell. It’s the strangest thing- even putting flea meds on her monthly is challenging.

I tried to look into her ears, but she would have none of it. She twists herself inside out like a pretzel and lashes out with teeth and claw if I persist in trying to find out what is wrong and treat it. So I took her in this morning so the vet could evaluate her and she gave him a run for his money. It took four techs and myself to finally subdue her enough that he could find the deep infection in her ears. She got drops in her ears that will last for thirty days. She received two shots and made quite the wrong impression about what she is all about. She is a tortie and they do have attitude. I just wish her attitude didn’t kick off into overdrive when someone is trying to help her.

Once again, she spent the majority of the time on my shoulders during the visit although it was not a friendly perch and I have the holes in my back to prove it.