So much can happen in twenty four hours. In twenty four seconds, you can have a disaster. I am not unlike anyone else. My life is filled with the mundane through the exciting. Even when I plan, things change by the minute. Yesterday wasn't any different.
My second entry to this blog will be in the vein of animal husbandry. It doesn't fit in my creative blog and it isn't part of the garden. Well in one sense it is garden related. The cats protect the garden from snakes, rabbits and the like.
The mundane part of my day everyday is going to the barn to do the morning chores. There is a set routine, when it's finished I go about doing something I planned. Part of yesterday's routine was to check to see if the new mother Cat had retrieved her babies. I went to feed the barn cats and laying in the middle of the floor were the little kittens. They had wiggled out of the box themselves. They were stiff with the cold. I put a halt to the chores, gathering up the kittens. It was up to the house to take emergency procedures. They were hardly responding to to my touch. I warmed a bowl of water and got the baby wash soap and bathed and soaked them till they were warm on the outside. They had been over 24 hours without food and had not had the first meal from Mom. To warm them from the inside I made some sugar water and gave each of them 2 cc's with a shot syringe with a push-on hub not a screw-on hub for the needle. (I have tried the nursing bottles before and the kittens never liked them, albeit I have never had kittens that were brand new. They were all at least 10 days.) These were not any different they took to the hub right away.
I snuggled them in a nest made of towels on a heating pad on low and left them while I went to the feed store to buy kitten milk replacer. It's only a 20 minute trip. I was back home toute' suite.
Kitty replacer cost a fortune. It was 4.50 for an eleven ounce can. I normally use the 16 ounce can of goats milk at Walmart for under $3.00. I wanted to give the kittens the best chance. When I came home I read the label. It was filled with things like corn syrup. Needless to say I will be getting a can of goats milk. I'll mix it 1/2 and 1/2 till the kitty replacer is gone. It will be healthier for them.
I feed them round the clock, every three to four hours. Last night, a 2 AM feeding brought back memories. Yesterday they were too fragile to keep out of the warm box for a picture. They have been wanting to guzzle more milk than they should have. They are taking 3 cc's at a feeding. Tomorrow they should be strong enough to hold their body heat up long enough for a picture session.
If things go well, they should grow up to be nice big cats. My worry is they will get pneumonia from the hypothermia they suffered. I will keep you posted on their growth (at picture time I will weigh them). Right now the little angels are asleep, which is all they do.
Why did I try to revive them when they were seconds from death. They are part of a colony of feral barn cats who eat us out of house and home. If I found them and didn't try I would feel it was I who caused the death since I didn't try. If they die while I am rescuing them then I feel I did all I could. I at least did my best to help my animal friends.
We find homes for the babies we catch and tame. If the older cats, who escaped capture become tame; they get either spayed or neutered. Then they enjoy a life of labor hunting mice on the farm.
We have had people dump cats/dogs at our gate. This is so unconscionable. When you dump a cat/kitten at a farm, if the farm already has an established cat population, Your animal stands the chance of being killed by the farm's resident cats. Or it is run off to fend by itself. Dumping any animal is cruel. If they do not find a home they cannot fend for themselves. They do not know how to hunt for food or to kill for it. If for any reason you cannot care for an animal, please don't leave it on the road. Use the local humane societies or rescue stations.
"SUNSHINE"
A spayed cat who was placed in our barn while we were gone one afternoon. She was frightened. It took us three days to catch her. She was beat up requiring stitches. We fell in love with her. She was our first "shop" cat. Barn cats didn't like her, our house cats wouldn't let her move in, We put her in the work shop.
I do have my soap box moments.
Please visit my other blogs:
About projects I create, including cooking, quilting, costume making, ect.
New entry is called "Creations"
This is a garden blog, but it occasionally has recipes on it.
Three new entries about wild flowers on the farm.
One new entry about New baby chicks.
Thank you for sharing your time with me.
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