Kittens Kittens Kittens!

Kittens Kittens Kittens!

Last September I was working at the reception desk here at Richview Animal Hospital and got a call from one of our co-op students that she had found a box of kittens by the side of the road and didn’t know what to do with them. I asked her if she wanted to hand raise them and she laughed and said “Noooo.” She was still a student, now focusing her studies in University and didn’t have the time to invest in raising a litter. She was right.  Being a momma cat is a 24 hour commitment.  But this was not my first abandoned litter of kittens. In fact, I have hand raised many of the kittens in North Etobicoke. When she arrived with the box of kittens I couldn’t say no to another opportunity to be a momma cat.  Don’t get me wrong! I do not want to hand raise kittens all the time!  But I was happy to help out again, this time.

This litter had 6 babies that were a day old. Their eyes were still closed and their umbilical cords still attached. There were 2 orange tabby males, 2 calico females, a black female and a brown tabby female. Why someone would take these beautiful babies away from their mom and abandon them in a box is beyond me. Thankfully there are many pet lovers out there that would come to their rescue.  

I started out by making a bottle of kitten milk and they all drank well for their first night. I bundled them up in the box with a teddy bear to be their surrogate mom body and took them home. That night I was up till midnight, then woke up at 2 am, 4 am and 6am for feedings. I continued this routine for 1 week and then slowly cut back the feedings to every 3 hours.  I therefore was up at midnight, 3am and 6 am.  1 week in however, the 2 calico kittens started to fail. Despite my attempts at doing everything I could for them, one of the calico girls sadly passed away.  The other one however rallied.  

Day by day they got bigger and stronger. Soon they found their paws and tail and started playing. The greatest toy ever was a cardboard box. I put 2 kittens in the box and left the other 2 outside to play hide and seek.  Litter box training came naturally to them as it is instinctual. It took only 2 days before all 5 were using the litter box on command. Eating from a plate was not as natural. Just like any two year old, most of the food ended up on their face and fur and on the floor instead of in their mouths. But with a little practice they soon mastered how to sit in front of the plate instead of landing in the middle of the plate while eating.

When they were 7 weeks old they got their first vaccines and then it was time to find them new homes. Fortunately for these kittens, they had already become local celebrities by travelling back and forth to work with me. For these lucky pet parents they got to watch their babies grow up before finally taking them home. For the sucker that I am, I could not let 2 of them go. Today I have Rudy and Peaches, one of the orange tabby males and the other calico female that caused me to grow grey hair well before my time due to the special needs 1 week into life.  They are almost 1 year old now. They run my house hold and are challenging my two old boys for supremacy in the house. I love being surrounded by my feline family but for now this family is full!

Brigitte