Today I brought home 7 kittens that I honestly don’t think would have made it through the night.
A day in the life.
We got a call from the shelter about a single day old orphaned kitten but a nursing mama accepted it into her litter so @fostermotherofkittens ended up taking home all of these babies instead.
It will be a true miracle if even half of them make it because they are all in horrible condition.
This is the sad reality of kitten season and there’s no bright side to any of it. @fostermotherofkittens said.
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Today was a heavy one, for me.
My heart goes out to every single person that works at an animal shelter. There may be things I don’t like about the animal shelter I worked at, but that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the work that those heroes show up to do Every. Damn. Day.
If your local shelter gets a lot of hate for being a “kill shelter”, that means more people need to get involved. These buildings only have so many kennels to be filled. They only have so many staff members to clean, feed, and water those animals. When animals come in, animals must leave in one way or another. If you have a problem with that, then you need to get involved and HELP.
Today I brought home 7 kittens that I honestly don’t think would have made it through the night. These are those 7 kittens. It’s not easy to look at, but maybe, just maybe, these faces are the push that ONE person needed to step up to help the kitties and shelters in their community. @fostermotherofkittens said.
(First pic is of Squash, a sweetie I had the privilege of meeting today)
Everyone made it through the night.
The first two pics are of the little girl who is in the worst shape out of the whole bunch. I think this group was weaned too early due to a lack of bottle fosters. It’s my opinion that they were weaned too quickly and due to the stress of being passed around between the shelter and a handful of foster homes, they became ill with some type of upper respiratory infection. If you’d like to help support this group of kittens, I am in desperate need of wet food for these guys. She will be receiving fluids and b12 as needed. The other three in this group are nice and chipper this afternoon.
The third picture is of the two bottle babies I brought home. They were being fed meat (again due to lack of experienced bottle feeder fosters) and it was quite obvious when I got them home that they were not ready for meat. I tube fed them through the night and this morning they both latched on to the bottle!! When I learned that they had three other siblings with another shelter staff member I volunteered to pick them up this afternoon. They had also been eating meat. Their weight is dangerously low for their age so I’ll be tube feeding them until they learn to latch on the bottle as well. @fostermotherofkittens said.
The last picture is of my sweet orange boy who is stilling hanging in there. This guy is an absolute mess, but that doesn’t stop him from leaning into scritches and purring the whole time I’m working on him. He’s getting fluids four times daily, antibiotics, cream on all his sores, and I’m slowly cleaning the “mystery grime” off of his crusty emaciated little body.
Ten kittens. Ten lives. Ten mouths to feed. If you can help by donating or even just sharing, please do. Thank you for cheering us on!!
This sweet boy has me absolutely wrapped around his crusty stinky little paw. Today he was stable enough for a much needed bath and he handled it so well. I honestly didn’t want to bathe him yet, and I’ll spare you the details, but it was clear that he needed it. I think he’s feeling better after we spent a good chunk of time drying him and cleaning up his wounds. I’m so grateful I snagged him when I did. I can’t wait to watch him heal and grown into the beautiful kitty he was meant to be. I love you so much, little man 😘🧡 @fostermotherofkittens said.
Steve, Steven, Stevie, Steve-O, Crusty Steve.
The name Stevie has had a special place in my heart since @kittenitwithkiki met her special kitty that inspired @savingstevie, and I have finally met a friend I feel is deserving of this special name. I love you so much, Stevie. We are so happy to have you in our lives 🧡
Steve is doing GREAT. He’s been grooming himself, purring while I clean him up, chowing down on @tikipets (THANK YOU SO MUCH TO WHOEVER SENT US 5 PACKS!!!), and just being an absolute ham. He’s gone from 555 grams to 780 since I picked him up on Tuesday!!! @fostermotherofkittens said.
