Meet Quinton , Blondie and Blackie...
On Friday January 23rd, Liz came into my office around 4:30 saying their was a cat in a box. I got excited, of course, cause I love cats and we have been trying to warm Joel up to adding a cat to our menagerie of dogs and parrot! Up we went and sure enough their was crying coming from a box on the far side of an unused office space. When we opened up the box, lo and behold were three of the tiniest kittens I have ever seen. They were bundled into the middle of a plain cardboard box and although they cried a little, they seemed content to curl up around each other.
No one knows how the kittens got in the box; no one had fessed up to moving them. There are a lot of unknowns and everybody has their opinions: there was a cat raiding the food in the office kitchen that was chased out on several occasions, there is a cat that sleeps in one of the outside offices as evidenced by cat hair on the chair and it running out of the office in the mornings, the night guards see lots of different cats, the babies were in the outside basement, there is a cat who is often in the outside basement...the list goes on.
We decided to leave the kittens in the box in the same place we found them on Friday night, hoping that the momma cat would search for them and take them back. I came to the office first thing Saturday morning and the box hadn't been disturbed so I brought the kittens home. What an adventure that has been. Lots of Googling about raiding orphaned kittens gave me most of the information I needed to try to keep the kittens alive. Living in Congo means limited resources; I would love to be feeding them proper kitten milk replacement but you can't just pop around to the local pet store. My recipe of choice...powdered milk, corn oil, egg yolk and baby multivitamin delivered with a syringe. It isn't perfect, but two of them have finally got the hang of it. The next best part...mama cats stimulate the kittens to eliminate waste then clean up after them. A damp cotton pad does the trick for me.
Based on kitten development I have determined that the kittens are between 3 to 4 weeks old. There eyes are fully open, their ears erect and they are walking and climbing albeit very wobbly. Their weight, however, puts them around 2 weeks. It would really be best for them to be reunited with their mother. I tried again on Monday night to leave them at the office. This time in the back office where we know for sure a cat (hopefully the mother) sleeps a lot of the time. I even left 2 whole fish on the ground next to the box to try to lure her to them. It was an awful night for me; I cried and cried and worried about their safety, their warmth and their hunger. I went to check on them at 6am and...nothing. Fish not touched, kittens crying and covered in poop. Home we went for food and baths and warm hot bottles under the towel for warmth.
And so it has been. They come to work everyday and sleep, wake up, walk around, eat, eliminate, repeat. I worry constantly. The black kitten (Blackie for lack of a better name) is severely underweight and barely eats. His eyes weren't fully open the day I found them. I keep waiting for the morning that he doesn't wake up. But he has spunk... The light colored kitten has been dubbed Blondie, although I am pretty sure she's a he. I think Blondie has gotten formula in her lungs; when she is awake she coughs all the time. Plan is for a vet to see the kittens, but I don't know what we can do if she gets a bacterial infection in her lungs. I would say a shot of antibiotics, but this is Congo. Then there is the striped cat. His name is Quinton or Q for short; he's the kitten I will be keeping. He is the biggest and the strongest and the best eater. He completely recognizes me. He plays the most and loves to climb up over the edge of the box. He has the cutest stripes and loves to lay on his back and play with his feet in the air. I am so in love and attached.
Please help me to pray for God's protection over each one of the kittens. They were rudely taken from or abandoned by their mother and I am doing my best with limited resources to keep them alive. Also, pray for the next steps of weaning and potty training. Usually mom takes are of that, but since I am the mom...well, wish me luck.
On Friday January 23rd, Liz came into my office around 4:30 saying their was a cat in a box. I got excited, of course, cause I love cats and we have been trying to warm Joel up to adding a cat to our menagerie of dogs and parrot! Up we went and sure enough their was crying coming from a box on the far side of an unused office space. When we opened up the box, lo and behold were three of the tiniest kittens I have ever seen. They were bundled into the middle of a plain cardboard box and although they cried a little, they seemed content to curl up around each other.
No one knows how the kittens got in the box; no one had fessed up to moving them. There are a lot of unknowns and everybody has their opinions: there was a cat raiding the food in the office kitchen that was chased out on several occasions, there is a cat that sleeps in one of the outside offices as evidenced by cat hair on the chair and it running out of the office in the mornings, the night guards see lots of different cats, the babies were in the outside basement, there is a cat who is often in the outside basement...the list goes on.
We decided to leave the kittens in the box in the same place we found them on Friday night, hoping that the momma cat would search for them and take them back. I came to the office first thing Saturday morning and the box hadn't been disturbed so I brought the kittens home. What an adventure that has been. Lots of Googling about raiding orphaned kittens gave me most of the information I needed to try to keep the kittens alive. Living in Congo means limited resources; I would love to be feeding them proper kitten milk replacement but you can't just pop around to the local pet store. My recipe of choice...powdered milk, corn oil, egg yolk and baby multivitamin delivered with a syringe. It isn't perfect, but two of them have finally got the hang of it. The next best part...mama cats stimulate the kittens to eliminate waste then clean up after them. A damp cotton pad does the trick for me.
Based on kitten development I have determined that the kittens are between 3 to 4 weeks old. There eyes are fully open, their ears erect and they are walking and climbing albeit very wobbly. Their weight, however, puts them around 2 weeks. It would really be best for them to be reunited with their mother. I tried again on Monday night to leave them at the office. This time in the back office where we know for sure a cat (hopefully the mother) sleeps a lot of the time. I even left 2 whole fish on the ground next to the box to try to lure her to them. It was an awful night for me; I cried and cried and worried about their safety, their warmth and their hunger. I went to check on them at 6am and...nothing. Fish not touched, kittens crying and covered in poop. Home we went for food and baths and warm hot bottles under the towel for warmth.
And so it has been. They come to work everyday and sleep, wake up, walk around, eat, eliminate, repeat. I worry constantly. The black kitten (Blackie for lack of a better name) is severely underweight and barely eats. His eyes weren't fully open the day I found them. I keep waiting for the morning that he doesn't wake up. But he has spunk... The light colored kitten has been dubbed Blondie, although I am pretty sure she's a he. I think Blondie has gotten formula in her lungs; when she is awake she coughs all the time. Plan is for a vet to see the kittens, but I don't know what we can do if she gets a bacterial infection in her lungs. I would say a shot of antibiotics, but this is Congo. Then there is the striped cat. His name is Quinton or Q for short; he's the kitten I will be keeping. He is the biggest and the strongest and the best eater. He completely recognizes me. He plays the most and loves to climb up over the edge of the box. He has the cutest stripes and loves to lay on his back and play with his feet in the air. I am so in love and attached.
Please help me to pray for God's protection over each one of the kittens. They were rudely taken from or abandoned by their mother and I am doing my best with limited resources to keep them alive. Also, pray for the next steps of weaning and potty training. Usually mom takes are of that, but since I am the mom...well, wish me luck.
2 comments:
tender-hearted, cat-loving Kristee! You have your hands full, but it sounds like you are doing great. I will pray for the kitties and for you as you mother them. By all accounts, you feel like most of us who are mothers of three!
Hi Kristee - I'm a friend of Dena's and other 50s something women at Cap. Thinking of you, admiring your adventurous spirit and stories. I love kittens! Just started blogging again and value the women I'm finding 'out there'. God bless,
Gayle
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