Tilly
Our grassroots team is forever on the run each time the phone rings with a cat in urgent need. This week had its fair share of emergencies.
But this call about kittens dying was the most disturbing.
Their mom, who we named Tilly, was only about 9 months old and very malnourished. Her 5 kittens were only 2 weeks old.
The family that had Tilly was negligent in all respects of animal care. First, she was never spayed, so she got pregnant at a young age.
She gave birth in a house that was flea infested, and they allowed her to go outside, despite having kittens that needed her comfort, milk and warmth.
Out of cat food sometimes and not given any flea control, Tilly was thin and flea infested. The other cats in the house came and went, and they too brought in fleas.
Little Sweetie victim of neglect
Tilly’s tiny kittens lay hungry, cold and became a blood source for the fleas in the house. Soon they were covered with fleas. They were in their eyes and ears and nose and mouths. Their bodies crawled with fleas, all drinking the blood and sucking the life force out of the helpless kittens.
At two weeks of age, they hadn’t known a single day of comfort. One began to die and a family member rushed it to the vet. The kitten died and the other kittens were not well.
They finally called Safe Haven, and although we were in the middle of another crisis, we knew these kittens needed emergency help so we told them to bring them in ASAP.
But before they did, another kitten died, found under their bed. They delayed in bringing us the kittens because the mother cat could not be found. She was outside, away from her kittens, roaming the neighborhood! So precious emergency time was lost!
Tilly comforts her sick kitten at the vet office
It’s heartbreaking to work on kittens who are this sick. They were so anemic from flea infestation, their gums and tongues were white. They were lethargic, had no appetite and the fleas were causing them great distress. We removed as many of the fleas as we could and knowing the kittens were in critical condition we rushed Tilly and her kittens to the vet.
Syringe feeding follows flea removal but kitten is so weak
Our vet and his team worked on them to remove the rest of the fleas and syringe feed them.
We were sickened to see hundreds of fleas jumping off the kittens, crawling out of their noses and eyes. The kittens were put in blankets on top of heating pads and we rushed them back to our adoption center to continue to syringe feed them and get Tilly the momma kitty comfortable so she would nurse.
We stimulated them, rubbed them, cradled them and kept them warm, but around 7 PM we lost the first tiny kitten.
All attempts were made to save their lives.
We cried as it took it’s last breath. We sat in silence feeling frustrated about not being able to save her and fearing for the other two.
We turned our attention to the last two remaining kittens determined that we would not lose another, but around midnight despite syringe feedings and heated blankets, the second kitten gasped it’s last precious breath.
Little Gem tries to live
How heartbreaking to know these two tiny, beautiful tabbies would never know the joy of life.
They had only known misery in their two short weeks. At least, they knew some kindness from us and the comfort we gave them in their last hours but that gave us little comfort.
Both mother cat Tilly and her last remaining kitten, Tiptoes are receiving special monitoring in foster care.
We are hopeful both will continue to recover and that Tiptoes will survive. His diet is being supplemented with kitten formula and an iron rich supplement to boost his blood level and his appetite is good.
Tiptoes, the last remaining kitten nurses from Tilly
I buried the wee kittens under my apple tree and when they were laid to rest I promised them that we would work harder to fight ignorance and neglect so other kittens don’t die from flea anemia. We are forming a Kitten Emergency Team so we are ready for the next litter that arrives in desperate need.
Little Sweetie and Little Gem are the “spokeskittens” for this Kitten Emergency Team.
We hope that everyone who reads this will listen carefully to the conversations you hear every day with people you meet.
Tiptoes was the largest kitten and the only survivor.
If you ever suspect a person has animals that are not being taken care of property, act on your gut. Little victims of neglect are dying everywhere and need you to be their advocate. Report what you suspect to a No Kill animal rescue.
Tell everyone that fleas kill kittens. Don’t let mom cats spread fleas to her babies! Keep your house flea free! Call your vet and ask for advice on flea control. If you have flea infested kittens consider it an emergency, because it is.
The kitties thank you!
