On Wednesday morning, I received a call from a friend who is both a relator and wildlife rehabilitator. She was staging a home for sale late Tuesday night and discovered an abandoned kitten. With the horrible storms passing through that day, she guessed that the mama cat moved the whole litter to keep the nest from flooding, and this guy got left behind. Seeing as how my friend already had a five-day-old baby at home (and two other preschoolers), she didn't feel like she could care for him properly. Could we do it?
Of course the only answer was YES! Sylvie and I dropped Elsie off at school, then made a quick stop at the pet store for supplies before heading across town. My friend estimated he was only 2-3 weeks old, so we knew he was going to need some special care (kittens shouldn't leave their mamas until they are 6-8 weeks old).
Tigger had been given fresh goat's milk through the night, but he wasn't doing well and was desperately happy to try the baby bottle of Kitten Milk Replacement (KMR) we brought. He downed a quick 1/2 ounce before falling asleep in my lap.
The girls had just enough time to get properly introduced before we needed to bring Tigger in to the vet for his appointment. He hadn't passed any stool since he was found, so we I didn't want to give him too much to eat (his tummy was awfully bloated). You can hear his sad cry in the video. Sylvie's immediate reaction was, "Kitty wants his Mama! Please bring him to Mama for mama milk?" Yep, we have a future veterinarian on our hands!
The wonderful Dr. Kay was able to confirm that Tigger was a boy, would likely be a snow-shoe tabby, and was only about ten days old. Other than being a neonate, he seemed very healthy with no signs of fleas, mange, ringworm, or ear mites. She was happy to tell us we'd done all the right things for him, but she had one more idea: a rescued mama cat in their shelter area had just weaned her litter over the weekend, and was acting quite sad. She wanted to see if the mama would "adopt" Tigger for us!
The introduction went very well, and we left him at the hospital overnight (Elsie was heart-broken, but understood that Tigger would be better off with a mama). In the morning, we got this photo sent to us by the veterinary staff:
Yep, looks like everything is going great! As long as Mama Cat is willing to care for him, we will leave Tigger at the hospital until he is old enough to be on his own. We have already been 'round to visit, though. We can't wait until he gets to come home!
