and we're constantly adding new ones!!
Boys are colored blue and girls are pink.
So in late April we started fostering and bottle feeding ten baby kittens from PAWS. It went well at first, and we thought we were over any humps but it turned into a very sad road for our kittens. On Monday, May 12th they all got pretty sick with belly aches. I took them to the PAWS vet on Tuesday and they were no help whatsoever. If I can give you any advice in the world, it's not to go there...ever. UNLESS YOU'RE SAVING ANOTHER LITTLE GUY FROM THAT HORRIBLE PLACE. PLEASE IF YOU HAVE THE CAPACITY GO SAVE A LIFE FROM THAT PLACE. THEY DON"T CALL IT RESCUING FOR NOTHING. We had been there a week before for their shots, which they weren't supposed to give them for at least another few weeks because their little bodies were so fragile...and those were the second shots they gave them! So,the best guess anyone has is that our little ones contracted Panleukopenia from that dirty, dirty place. (Panleuk has a 90% death rate in kittens under 16 weeks...they were barely 6 weeks old then) On Wednesday, Miller and Athena were feeling really, really bad, they were dying in our arms, so we took them to our great local vet for intensive care, IV fluids and lots of warmth. All the kittens were fighting their absolute hardest to beat this horrible virus. Their will to live was so strong, and we worked around the clock to take care of them and keep them warm and we gave them five different medications and fluids under their skin. Unfortunately, four of the little guys could not make it. We miss them so much, but we know they are now in a better place, with no more pain. The six kittens remaining are doing really great now. They are playful, bouncing bundles of joy. And all but one have potential homes now. Our little Garfield is such a sweetheart and needs a forever home. We really want him to find the best home possible. So we turned to Craig's List for help in finding him the best home. In doing so we would like to also raise money for the outrageous vet bills that we have had due to being in and out of the vet for two weeks with these little guys. All together, we have spent in excess of $1,500 between vet visits,intensive care, the five medications, the prescription food, the emergency vet visit, etc. If anyone out there is willing to help us, we would greatly appreciate it. The shelter is not and has not been any help to us whatsoever. They have not even contacted us to see how everyone is doing even though they were alerted to what we were going through. Despite all of the heartache and tears that we have been through in the past month, we would love to foster kittens again but at this point with the financial difficulties, we won't be able to do it without support from others. Some people may not be willing to get up every three hours to bottle feed kittens (for one month), feed them every hour when they're sick (for three weeks), or take days off from work to care for sick kittens, but we're looking for some people who might be willing to donate something so that we can continue to afford to donate our time and save these beautiful lives. Please note, we are NOT trying to make ANY money from this. I can't imagine we would raise anything close to the expense that we have paid out if anything at all. Take a look at the pictures and you will see all of the love and care that we have provided for these kittens over the past two months. We have not put up many pictures of them when they were sick because we want to concentrate on the positive, but we certainly have them. If you are skeptical, I have probably fifteen vet invoices to backup the extreme expense that we have incurred. But anything will help because we really would like to save more little kittens from horrible shelters and inevitable death.
Please contact me if you would like to make a donation or are interested in adopting Garfield. He is ready to go home any time now. He is an absolutely wonderful kitten who is friendly with kids, cats, dogs and adults. He is the sweetest one of the littler and is perfectly happy just cuddling all day long. Unless you want to play and then he can play all day long! His only flaw is that he has some scarring on the inside of his back legs from the constant diarrhea he had for about two weeks. It is healed now and is not painful at all, but I'm not sure if the hair will grow back. But take a look at the pictures and you will see that he is a gorgeous cat despite some minor battle scars.
For those of you that read this, if you take anything at all away from this, please let it be the fact that kittens should not be vaccinated until they are at least eight weeks old and also should not be fixed until they are at least six months old. And it is NOT a good idea to bring a healthy animal into a shelter for ANY reason. They are breeding grounds for horrible, deadly viruses for both cats and dogs (Panleuk, Parvo, kennel cough), but especially for kittens and puppies. We found this out the hard way, but if we can save one more life (in addition to the six we already saved), then this will all be worth it.
Thanks for taking the time to read our story and I hope you enjoy the pictures.
(if you have an issue with the above, please read below)
It's difficult for me to understand why anyone would have an issue with the above. Honestly. I am an Ivy League educated woman, and I cannot comprehend how anyone would think the above it inappropriate in any way, shape or form, keeping in mind that not one word is false, exaggerated or in any way not an accurate representation of fact. How is it inappropriate that my partner and I killed ourselves to save ten kittens from certain death? How is it inappropriate to take in ten kittens that would have been murdered within the hour if we had not taken them in? How is it inappropriate to rack up over $1,500 in credit card debt to save ten kittens that weren't even ours? How is it inappropriate to spend every hour of every day for a week and a half caring for ten sick kittens, taking them to the vet, monitoring them around the clock, holding them around the clock to keep their spirits up? Tell me. I welcome you to tell me how that is inappropriate.
I'll tell you what is inappropriate. It's inappropriate to give kittens shots before they are eight weeks old. It is inappropriate to bring weakened immune systems into a place that is a breeding ground for bacteria and viruses only to weaken their immune systems more with unnecessary shots. Panleukopenia is not an airborne virus. It is transmitted through contact. The incubation period is seven days. We got them vaccinated seven days before they developed symptoms. Coincidence? Unlikely. Maybe if the tech or vet or whoever it was had washed her hands and disinfected them, this would not have happened. Maybe if they had given them shots on a disinfected table, this would not have happened. Maybe if they did not vaccinate them in the HALLWAY with them sitting on her LAP, this would not have happened. We didn't touch anything. We had no reason to touch anything. We didn't even pet the Chow sitting across from us. We washed our hands at the Dunkin Donuts two blocks away immediately after being leaving. So where did they get it? They touched one person. One person in a congested hallway. Is that appropriate? Is a hallway an appropriate place to perform medical operations? When you go to your vet, do they sit you in the hallway and sit your cat on the person's lap? How many other cats had sat on that lap that day? I think maybe that's inappropriate. You tell me.
So what else is inappropriate? Ah yes, the vet visit at PAWS. Our kittens were having diarrhea. We brought them to PAWS because that was our direction to do so. I have done infinite research on fostering kittens/care of kittens and I know that diarrhea alone can kill a kitten and is extremely serious. We brought them in. They said they were not dehydrated. They said it was probably from the weaning process and the food changes which happens all the time. Nothing to worry about. They gave us an "antibiotic" which we later found out was virtually useless or at least not nearly the correct one to prescribe. They sent us home. MAYBE if they had properly diagnosed or even given us any indication that it might be something more serious than a food change, we could have gotten them the proper medications earlier. We could have started the subcutaneous fluids earlier. We could have started force feeding them every hour sooner. We could have monitored them every hour like we would later do, to catch them before they crashed. But no. They crashed. And they crashed hard. MAYBE the death of four innocent, beautiful kittens could have been prevented. It might not have saved every one of them, but subcu fluids would have helped. Force feeding would have helped their dramatic weight loss. I would have been there for my little Miller earlier. He might not have crashed so hard if I had any idea what I was up against. MAYBE that was inappropriate. Just maybe.
So while you're calling me inappropriate, bitching to Craig's List while you have nothing better to do, I want to ask you one question. WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE? What would you have done? Would you have taken them to your local vet for emergency care? Would you have spent $1,500 to save their lives? Would you have fed them every hour, in between constantly cleaning up their horrible diarrhea, in between bathing them constantly because they were constantly having diarrhea on themselves, on each other, in between giving subcu fluids with a huge needle and syringe, in between holding them as much as possible to keep their spirits up? Would you have JEOPARDIZED YOUR JOB by calling out and working from home and not going on business trips that you should have gone on? Would you and your loved one have not left them alone for more than THREE HOURS at a time for TWO MONTHS? Would you have cried non stop for five days as your kittens were dropping like flies despite your insane efforts to save them? Would you have accepted the fifty offers from SIX different vets telling you that the cause was 99 percent hopeless and you would probably lose all of them anyway so no one would blame you if you put them to sleep now? Would you have gotten VERY close to ZERO sleep for a week and a half straight? (following a month of no sleep from the normal bottle feeding) Would you have lost twelve pounds in one week from the stress and not sleeping and not having time to feed yourself and NOT GIVEN UP? WOULD YOU?!
So honestly, DO NOT TELL ME WHAT IS APPROPRIATE. I DID THOSE THINGS. And I SAVED six lives that not one of you would have taken the time and energy and emotional trauma and the finances to save. SO DO NOT TELL ME WHAT IS APPROPRIATE. Those kittens are going to live twenty more years of a fabulous, pampered life and they will be someone's VERY BEST FRIEND. Is that appropriate enough for you?
I welcome ANY responses to this and would absolutely LOVE to hear from someone that objected to our post on Craig's List. Just be sure to let me know what you would have done and how you would feel right now.
Check out the pics of Nero, Guinness, George, Rasputin and Big Fat too CLICK HERE
So we have a lot of people praying for us, and we wanted to update you guys on how each of us are doing. We little kitties haven't quite learned HTML yet, so our mommies are going to have to update this. We all know that they are SUPER busy feeding us and watering us and giving us medicine and cleaning up after us!! So the updates might not quite be daily, but they're going to try!
Update on everyone!- 5.29.08
So we are all better now and we're all bouncing, happy little kittens. Who are getting bigger!! We're all eating great, our bellies don't hurt any more and we're all gaining weight like crazy!! We are so happy this many of us made it through everything. It was so hard and we have our battle scars, but it was worth it cause now we get to have fun!! And we've all graduated to our very own sun room, just for us! Well, we're sharing it with Rasputin, but he's like our mom. He licks us and takes care of us and plays with us. We wish we could all stay and live with him!! But us big four are going to be moving on really soon. Some as soon as next week! Yikes!! Mommies are sad but they know we're getting the best forever homes possible. So now that we're better, our updates may not quite be daily, but Mommies are constantly putting up new crazy photos of us cause we're just so damn cute, they just can't put the pink camera down! So check back often and check the top of the page to see when the page has been updated!!
Penelope
5.24.08- I am growing so big I look like a grownup cat now!! I weigh a whopping 2 pounds!! And I've decided that I rule the house. I can go anywhere I want cause I'm so big and strong. And I've made friends with the big pirhana fishies too!!
5.20.08- So we all graduated from the crate to our very own bedroom!! Mommies say it's a bathroom but it's huge to us! And we love it!! We just run around like we're in a race all day. And I have so much room to wrestle with my bros! It's so much fun I can't even contain myself. Just check out my pics!
5.18.08- So I've been eating my Mommies out of house and home, but they're loving it cause I look so good! I just can't ever stop playing and have decided to make my litter box a sandbox to play in with my bro Garfield. But T Dog's tail is by far my favorite toy!
5.17.08- Oh boy, I am massive!! A whopping 674 grams!! I am eating fabulously all by myself and all I want to do is play play play!! I'm loving mommy and mommy's shoes! They don't let me play nearly as much as I want to cause they say I'm sick. I can't wait till I can play freely with my bros ASAP!!
Garfield
5.24.08- I have turned into a big huge cuddler!! I'm so sweet and can't stop purring!! Even when Mommy gets mad cause my bad bros insist on constantly digging their claws into her legs, I just look at her with my big sweet eyes and make everything all better!
5.20.08- I'm loving our new room and so happy Gabby and Fat have joined us to play! We're all eating great and gaining weight and having so much fun!! Come play with us!!
5.18.08- So I've graduated from the bath tub to the healthy crate. YAY!! Mommies think I'm doing great and now I get to wrestle with Penelope ALL day!! And they say I have the best poopies so really I'm just the best. And I'm becoming a beast like P Dog. I'm now 670 grams!!
5.17.08- Mommy is so silly. She just jumped up and down cause I had a really good poopy! How silly is that?! But she's happy so I'm happy. I'm a great eater and I'm the only one that Mommy and Mommy have seen drinking by myself. But I love to drink!! And eat!! I'm gaining a ton of weight. I hate it when they try to bottle feed me. I can do it by myself! Jeez, they're worry warts but they love me and I love them!
Mini Fat
5.24.08- Well I'm turning into the class clown! I'll play with absolutely nothing but it runs from me so I chase it!! I love climbing my Mommys' couch and playing with her hair and just being crazy annoying all the time!! But they love it.
5.20.08- I'm just having so much fun with all my healthy bros and sisters!! And we all love picking on the little T Dog. But he loves it, as long as he gets fed he loves anything. Check out the pic on his page of me trying to eat him!! Haha.
5.18.08- Oh boy, I was so concerned when I ran out of food this morning but was so excited when Mommies bought me a 14 pound bag! Not sure what my bros are going to eat, cause that's mine!! I'm doing great and love to play with my sis, Gabby, all day. We're hoping to graduate from the bath tub any day now!!
5.17.08- Garfield, stop stealing all the credit, I just did a good poopy too!! And I'm gaining the most of all of you! That's probably cause I was one of the lighter ones before, but I'm trying so hard! I'm eating great all by myself but I still like the yummy goodies that Mommies give me.
Gabby
5.24.08- Well I'm not getting any less spoiled in my old age!! When they don't pet me I cry and cry and then they pet me!! Haha. Works every time!! And I'm gorgeous. Did I mention that?
5.20.08- Well it's about time Mommies gave me my own room!! And it has a fabulous mirror in it so I can look at myself all day long! I'm so beautiful. And I'm gaining lots of weight but of course maintaining my gorgeous girlie figure!!
5.18.08- Well I'm just as gorgeous as ever and can't possibly get enough attention. Mini fat and I are plotting to get out of this damn tub but rumor has it that the Mommies think we're almost well enough to graduate to the healthy bin! I gotta save up my hard poopies to show them!!
5.17.08- I'm gaining a ton of weight and eating all by myself. I act like I'm starving every time the Mommies come to feed me but that's just cause I want to get super big and strong and make them proud. I can't let my reputation of being spoiled down!
Tristan (Chico)
5.24.08- So my mommies want to change my name to Chico cause I'm so goofy looking!! Chico is Tanya and Mike's cat who they picked out cause he was so goofy looking so my name may change. But I really am getting cuter and cuter!! And I'm cleaning myself so much better now! And eating non stop of course. And they're spoiling me so much, I expect them to pet me non stop or else!!
5.20.08- So I'm the only little guy in the room full of those big beasts! I try to play with them but they're so fast!! I can't wait for my little sister, Snuggles, to join us! That'll be so much fun. Until then, I'll just keep eating until I look like I'm going to burst. Gotta get bigger so I can keep up with the big boys!
5.18.08- I just can't get enough of my Mommies! I'm so happy Garfield joined our house so Penelope will stop playing with my tail!! But I'm a little piggy and eating great and gaining tons of weight. Now I gotta prove to Mommy I'm hydrated so she'll stop poking me with that damn needle!
5.17.08- I am a funny looking little kittie but don't let that fool you into thinking anything bad. I love to eat and I'm gaining tons and tons of weight. And all I want to do is cuddle with my mommies. I jump out of the crate any chance I get and jump right up onto their legs. I don't know why they don't let me stay there forever. I guess they have my bros to take care of or something.
Snuggle Bug
5.24.08- So I was pretty sick a week ago and my Mommies gave me so much attention and love that now I'm all better but boy am I spoiled!! They better feed me and pet me or I'll growl at them or pee on Mommy's bed again!! And my bros insist on picking on me cause I'm little but I fight back!! I'll show them when I'm bigger!! They better watch out!
5.20.08- I am getting so much stronger day by day. I'm now eating great and my Mommies are snuggling with me tons and tons which I love. And when I'm not snuggling I love watching my mommies run around the living room from my awesome heated play pen. I can't wait to graduate into the big room so I can chill with my bro T Dog and play with all the beasts!!
5.18.08- I gained 17 grams since yesterday!! That's great for me. And I've been acting friskier, trying to climb out of my little box and knock down my heat lamp. Today we got a brand new heating pad which is oh so cozy. I'm working on convincing my bro, Kaito, that food is good so we both can pull through this.
5.17.08- I'm doing ok and really trying. I don't really like to eat and I hate it when my Mommies make me. But I know they're only trying to help me. I'm giving it my best!