The Kitten Rescue Story

My brother, Drew works at a very large public park facility. "We get 20 to 25 strays out there a year", said Drew. "People are always dumping their cats off out there. Most of the strays are around a year old. It seems like people don't want the cats anymore after they have grown out of the cute kitten stage and they may have to invest some real money into them", said Drew. "I wish I could take them all home, but I just can't. I already have too many cats", said Drew. "You never know what type of temperment you are going to find in a stray cat. You also take the risk of bringing home a sick cat, which in return can get quite costly if passed on to the cats you already have," said Drew.

Drew returned to work after having a day off over the fourth of July holiday in 1995. "There was this dark tortoise shell female that had been pregnant. I remember that she had been very sweet and I had stopped to pet her a couple of times. When I saw her that day, I noticed that she was suddenly thin. I knew she had her kittens, but no one in the park had seen or heard the kittens. If the kittens survive, we always hear them because we're so out in the open. Alot of the batches of kittens don't make it in the park because the racoons usually eat them", said Drew. Two or three weeks went by and there were still no sign of the kittens. "At the time, I really didn't think much of it. I just figured that the kittens hadn't survived", said Drew. When Animal Control made their monthly rounds, the mother was one of the cats they picked up.

Four days after the mother was taken, Drew discovered the kittens. "We have a garage where we store mostly lawn mowers and maintenance equipment. Somehow, the mother had found a way in and had the kittens in a back corner behind a piece of plywood", said Drew. "My heart dropped when I heard them. The mother, the only cat in the park that had been pregnant, had been taken four days ago", said Drew. Drew found five kittens. Of the five kittens, there were only four survivors. "The kitten that was dead was a cute little orange thing. The other four were still alive, but in very rough condition", said Drew. Drew immediatley called Animal Control. To his horror, he discovered that the mother had already been destroyed.

After his shift ended that day, Drew put the kittens in a box and took them home. "I already had four cats at the time. Three of them were adults and little Jasmine was only 3 months old. The adults didn't want much to do with the kittens, but little Jasmine took right to them", said Drew. Drew took them to his basement and gave them a bowl of water. "The kittens were definitely less than a month old. They hardly had their eyes open and they were still pretty shakey on their little legs. I gently dipped their chins in the water to teach them to drink, but that didn't prove to be very successful. I think I even tried to soak some Meow Mix in water. I was pretty desperate to just get something in them", said Drew.

Drew had the following day off of work. "I had already made plans to spend the day with Mom at the campgrounds. I put the kittens back in the box and brought them with me to Mom's camper. I figured if anyone knew how to take care of these kittens, it would be Mom", said Drew. That day, Mom and Drew took the kittens to the vets. "The vet said that it was a miracle that they were alive. He said that the only way they could have survived without dehydrating, was by drinking each other's urine. He further proved this point by showing us their severly swelled bottoms. The vet said that the swelling had been caused by the suckling the kittens had done to extract the only liquid they could find over the last four days for survival. There bottoms were so swollen that they all looked like males. Even the vet was having a difficult time determining whether they were male or female", said Drew. "The vet told us what we needed and what to do. We headed to an Agricultural store and purchased the neccessary items for nursing small baby animals", said Drew. "I also want it known that the vet never charged us a dime for the trips we made to see him. We made a total of four trips because we had so many questions and concerns on how to care for these kittens", said Drew.


	The calico kitten tries out the new cat box in the camper bath tub, while the light tortoise shell kitten peeks out.

Drew and Darlene took the kittens back to the camper and immediately began nursing the kittens. Darlene set them up a new home in the camper bathtub. She put a hospital bed liner in the bottom of the bathtub and set up a cat box. For the catbox, she used a cardboard box that she cut the sides way down on so that the kittens could easily get in and out. " Mom decided to keep them because she knew I didn't have the time to take care of them. Mom did all of the hard work after that first night. I was only able to help on my days off", said Drew.

Darlene lavished the kittens with tender loving care and nourishment. I asked Darlene what kind of care she had to do to take care of the kittens. "Well, it's sort of like taking care of a new baby", said Darlene. "I had to buy small baby bottles and cans of special dry formula. The cans of formula were almost $40.00 a can. I figure over the period of time I took care of the kittens, that I had spent around $200.00", said Darlene. "At night, I put the kittens in four seperate cages. I had to because they were still trying to suckle urine out of each others bottoms. Thank goodness it did not take long to break that habit and the swelling began to go down. If they cried at night, I would have to get up and feed them and give them some warmth and motherly attention", said Darlene.



Darlene with the calico kitten	Grandson with the grey kitten	Granddaughter with the orange kitten

"On our second trip to the vets, the vet informed us that the kittens were ready to start on dry food. I had to soak the dry food with formula at first until they were ready to be weaned off the formula. The vet gave us a bag of food for free and wished us good luck. At that time, the vet believed there was very little chance that any of the kittens would survive", said Darlene. "It had been about a week and the kittens were starting to look a little better. I woke up one morning to find that the orange male had died. I cried for a long time after I lost him. Two days later, I lost the female calico", said Darlene. Darlene was utterly heartbroken.

The orange and calico kittens die within days of each other. Darlene is utterly heartbroken.

Darlene continued to take care of the two remaining kittens, knowing that there was a chance that she might lose them also. The remaining kittens were a light tortoise shell and a russian blue."The little light tortoise shell kitten was still pretty sick and I didn't think it was going to make it. It was so sick one night, I expected to wake up and find it dead the next morning. The next morning dawned and I heard a kitten meowing loudly. I figured it was the russian blue kitten because this kitten had been doing pretty good and was looking pretty healthly. I half heartedly went to get the kittens, expecting to find the one had died. To my surprise, it was the little tortoise shell kitten that was meowing. Not only had it survived the night, but it seemed to have perked up and was just sitting there looking at me with it's cute little eyes. Things started to look up after that", said Darlene. Weeks passed and the two remaining kittens grew strong and healthy. "As time passed, I knew the two remaining kittens were going to make it. We beat the odds and the vets belief that none of the kittens would make it", said Darlene with a smile on her face. When the camping season ended, the kittens were about three months old. Drew and Darlene decided to each keep a kitten and took them home.

Camping season ends and Darlene takes the two surviving kittens home. The kittens are now about 3 months old. Darlene decides to keep the light grey russian blue kitten and names it Kingsford. Drew decides to keep the light tortoise shell kitten and names it Rocky.

"The ironic part was that the kittens me and mom had originally wanted to keep were the two that we lost. Not only that, but the vet had told us the two remaining kittens were male, so we of course gave them more masculine names. I realized that Rocky was a female when she was about 3 months old. Kingsford was 6 months old when mom took her to the vet to get her neutered. The vet called mom and told her that the surgery was going to cost more than they had originally told her. After all that had happened, mom immediately became concerned. The vet reassured her that Kingsford was fine, but that they would be doing a spay instead of a neuter. The vet told mom it would be more expensive because Kingsford was a female. The vet explained that the surgery was a little more complicated and they needed to keep her overnight", said Drew.

Thanks to Darlene and Drew, both Rocky and Kingsford survived the odds that were against them. They both grew up to be very loving and devoted pets. They are well loved and well taken care of.

Rocky

"Rocky has been the best cat I have ever had. She is so sweet and I have never had a problem with her. She always wants attention, but if you're not in the mood to give her attention, she won't pester you. When you are in the mood, she is always there to give you all her love", said Drew.
*Rocky passed away in 2006 at the age of 10. Her gentle nature and loving attention will be missed! May the fond memories of Rocky live on in Drew's heart.

Kingsford

"Kingsford is very a very friendly cat and loves all people. She will crawl into anyone's lap. Kingsford often times acts like she is human...she has to crawl up on a chair at the dinner table with me and will just lay her head on the table and watch me eat. Kinsford loves me and treats me as her natural mother", said Darlene.



Darlene lovingly holds the four kittens	The kittens stay safe at night in the camper bathtub