Meet Leo, Blue, and Jack

I'm just going to copy/paste my story LOL I'm from the sister forum livingreefs, and couldn't wait to share my story!

2 1/2 weeks ago, our neighbor discovered 3 kittens in his yard. He's not an animal person, so he called me. I came over to look. I had no newborn kitten experience, but I knew they were newborns (eyes closed, ears flat, dried up umbilical cords still attached). No sign of mom (a young feral, and this was probably her first litter -- she probably couldn't handle all of them). I told him we'll leave them for a few hours because mom might come back. After a few hours, mom came back for 1, but left the other 2. This was the week where we had lots of really really bad thunderstorms, and one seemed to be coming. So I took the 2 kittens in, and went to the store and got them kitten formula. They ate it up.

These were the 2 kittens we took home first:
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Later that evening, we put them back out. Hubby found 2 more kittens, and we put them together in the box and left them by the spot near where the mom was hiding. From afar, we saw mom come and take one. We left, and figured she'd get the rest. Next morning, there were still 3 left! So we took them for the day, fed them and got them to pee and poop (which for newborns, need mom's help for that)

Then there were 3:
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Again, we put them back out. Next day, we found that mom took 1 kitten, left 2! So, we decided we'll just take the 2 for good. As the day wore on, the neighbor called and said one of the kittens was outside again. He brought her over. Then later, he said ANOTHER one was out! This one was the runt and had a tick on its belly. We got the tick off in tact. There was a 5th one, but he might have died. We never found him.

Then 4!
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The one trying to get free was the runt:
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Sadly, we lost the runt after a week and a half. He aspirated some milk, and it turned into pneumonia. The vet could only prescribed antibiotics and hope that he could expel the fluids himself, but he was already so tiny, that he couldn't handle it. He died in my hands.

But there was no time to dwell on his death, as we still had 3 more kittens to care for. They are doing great! They went from 3 oz 2 1/2 weeks ago to almost a full pound today! I didn't want to post about them yet, and really things could still take a turn for the worse, but I'm just so excited about these guys! They're due for their deworming and vaccinations in a couple of weeks, so hopefully we get through that ok.

If you want to see the slideshow if kittehs, here it is:

http://s722.photobucket.com/user/wontonflip/slideshow/kittehs

Leo with Blue, then Jack is the black one:




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My favorite Leo pics:

 

Oh my goodness what a story!! I'm so glad that you were there to take them in and look after them, they are gorgeous. Do you have to feed them by hand still?

 

Naw what a nice story, they are very cute!

 

thanks! They are very adorable

Becky, yes, we have to bottle feed them. We feed KMR kitty formula, plus once a day we add probiotics to give them the bacteria to break down food. They normaly get that from momma cat, but since she is not around, we compensate. It's really helped with digestion.

They are now litterbox training We are also letting them walk around the kitchen more. Boy are they curious!

In a week or so, we will start introducing solids. Can't wait! Milk is expensive LOL

 

They're really sweet. Are you going to keep the three of them forever or are you going to adopt them out? It's great if you're keeping all three of them. Litters of kittens rarely get to stay together so it's wonderful if you're going to raise them all. It's tough out there for cats in shelters and there are cats at my local Humane Society shelter that have been there for 2 years sometimes longer.

 

Yes, we're keeping all 3 When we had 4, we were only going to keep 2. But now, after all we've been through, we can't imagine entrusting their care to someone else. And even if we chose to adopt them out, we would keep them until we found a home; not go through a rescue or shelter.

 

That's great news. Are they still doing well? I love your Leo avatar.

 

Thanks....I just happen to catch Leo staring at me sleepily so I took a pic. Turned out nice!

They're doing great! They started a raw diet. They are still on kitty formula, but only twice a day, and in between, they get 2 raw chicken meals. I just introduced pork because I just happen to have it around. But I'm probably going to stick to poultry and maybe rabbit. Doing the frankenprey plan! Daunting, but I think I just have to come up with a good schedule so I can prepare their meals for the month.

 

What a lovely story, you truly are a kind hearted and caring person to take on up to 5 kittens at once right from the get go! Thats a lotta work!

I am so glad they are doing well, and are making a go of it, I am sure if they were in 90% of other peoples gardens those poor little things would be no more.I tried raw food on my cats for a while, but honestly, it was so inconvenient for me! I tried freezing it, but always forgot to defrost it before hand, and the smell was awful. Also just be careful that the cats are getting all the nutrients they need from the food. So include bones, hearts etc, or add a supplement to the food.

 

Thanks! Yeah I actually introduced grain-free can food and grain free dry food this week. I want them to learn to be open minded about food and not become finicky eaters. They took it with no problems. I swear those cats will eat anything! Other than that, they get all parts of the chicken (although they HATE gizzards! It's as if they don't' like to chew on it).

A couple of weeks ago, we went to an amusement park for a whole day. They were still being fed 3-4 times a day. We couldn't find a sitter. So I feed them right before we left at 10am, and they didn't eat anything until 9pm that night...they were fine, but I kept thinking that I wished I had them on dry on days like that. It wouldn't be often, since I work from home anyway. But it helps in a pinch.

Here are updated pics!


They were once the size of a Wii remote...now look!

 

Aw those photos are adorable! They have grown so much!

 

Yes they have grown a lot They're a rambunctious trio!! I'm glad I live in a 3 story townhouse -- they do nothing but run up and down all day long. We're planning on building a tall cat tree for them. Hopefully they don't use it to pounce on our heads LOL

They also love to snuggle. I hope they stay that way. Our last cat was a snuggler when we first got him, but when he grew up, he wasn't a huge lapcat anymore. Maybe these 3 will be different since we raised them since they were a day old. Everyday, at least one of them will just want tons of snuggles. They will jump on us, sit on our shoulders/chest and cuddle for like an hour straight.

 

Aw, they are so cute! I love their coats and I just want to boop their little noses. Thanks for posting the progression of them growing up. It's so neat to see what cute little kittens look like when they grow up. I wish my cats wanted snuggles. They are so snooty!

 

My kittens are STILL snooty! They only want snuggles when THEY want it lol If I pick them up while they're just laying there, they usually are ready to jump out of my arms. But if THEY want snuggles, they're relentless.

 

They're getting so big. It's really sweet the way they hold each other. Hopefully they'll stay that closely bonded when they grow up.

 

Thanks for being such an amazing person and taking those kitten in, my eyes got really teary when I read the full story. The mom of those kitten had no experience at all It's sad some kittens died as a result, but on a positive note, I'm really glad you were there to take those kittens in

You did such an amazing job, and I know how hard it is to take care for newborn kittens, because I had to take care of newborn puppies some years ago. As you said... it was necessary to stimulate them myself (with a wet cotton) so they could pee and poo. I had to do that because during the first day the mom of those puppies had no experience and didn't know how to handle this. I had to take all of the 5 puppies in, sadly one of them died... long story short; the rest did quite well and we found new homes for all of them

I'm glad to see and read the kittens are ok now They're beautiful! If it wasn't because of you, they'd not even be here, so you should feel super proud of yourself! Taking care of newborn cats/puppies isn't easy at all!