Your Pet's Rescue Story
It was a Saturday in Spring, I was volunteering at a local cat rescue adoption event, when a woman came running toward me in tears. She explained she had found 3 baby kittens, that they were not doing well, she did not know what to do. Her husband and son were with her. They had been driving around. They had already been to two other adoption events at two other pet stores. They told her to find the kitten's momma and sent her on her way.
She was in great despair. She said the momma was feral, and they could not catch her, and she has not come back for them. They were starving. I told her it was okay, and to please go get them, I would help her. She came back with three tiny little kittens in a shoe box with a can of KMR and a pet feeding bottle.
The kittens appeared wet. She explained she tried to clean them with a wet wipe before she brought them in. She didn't know that newborn kittens can not regulate their body temperature and should be kept warm and dry at all costs! I checked the bottle and saw there was no milk coming out, the nipple hole was too small and would need to be made bigger. The babies didn't have the strength to suck it out. The kittens' body temperatures were very low- they were wet, cold and barely moving. We had to act fast. Another volunteer helped me try to warm them with a soft blanket in our hands, but it wasn't working. I had to get them home as quickly as I could. The 25 minute drive was so hard, I couldn't get home fast enough. I got them on a heating pad to warm them up. I used a syringe to feed them KMR. They were so dehydrated- tiny little undernourished bodies with big eyes open already. They must have been at least ten days old, but weighed only the size of a newborn- 4 ounces. Sadly, one of the kittens, a little boy, passed within the hour, however the two girls were little fighters and survived. I syringe fed and bottle fed them around the clock. They grew into the sweetest, most lovable little kittens- they even gave kisses and I think they thought I was their momma. I named them Apple and Almond. This photo is Apple and this is her survival story of how she was rescued.