With tiny kittens, even a simple “kitty cold” can be life threatening, especially as kittens must weigh at least one pound and be approximately 6 weeks old for their vaccines to be effective. The kittens that come into our program are often exposed to a lot of viruses before they are 6 weeks old, especially the bottle baby kittens who are without special immunity from their mothers’ milk.
Getting our Bottle Baby Nursery kittens into foster homes quickly, where they can be isolated from resident cats and receive treatment for any/all of the above viruses, is often key to their survival. Fosters must keep their own animals up to date on vaccines, as well. This year’s kittens (and the volunteers and fosters who love and care for them) have been hit hard this year by an outbreak of Panleukopenia, but we have a lot of survivors who are now healthy, vaccinated, and ready for adoption. Here are just a few.
Meet the Kittens
Damlier is a blue & white tabby kitten whose transformation from Panleuk to Recovery was documented by her foster parents. She is the only kitten in her litter who survived. THIS VIDEO was taken the first day she ate solid food on her own, when she weighed only 308g, easily 150-200g below what she should have weighed. HERE SHE IS NOW, weighing close to 2lbs and being the playful girl she was meant to be. Her story is a heartwarming one of courage and strength – for both her foster family and for her. Like all these kittens, she has come a long way.
Florence Nightingale is a medium haired black kitten with big golden green eyes. Since her recovery she is now running and racing around and wrestling with her foster sister, Xophie. She has a loud purr and isn’t afraid to let you hear it. Once she’s worn herself out from playtime, she will curl up for snuggle time. Perfect mix of ideal kitten characteristics.
Xophie is a Russian Blue kitten whose struggle to get healthy from the Panleuk virus meant that she lost a great deal of her beautiful coat for awhile. Now that it’s growing back, she is simply stunning. She can play and run with the best of them; however, Xophie much prefers direct attention from her humans. In fact, she enjoys the lazy side of being a kitten, including snuggling with you when you are on the computer and sleeping in bed right up beside you at night.
Paloma is a sweet and petite brown and white tabby. She is a good balance of playful and energetic, and sweet and calm. But as a kitten, her #1 priority is to have fun. She plays chase and wrestles with her siblings, runs after bouncy balls, and pounces on…well, just about anything. She may even throw out a playful meow now and then to narrate the good time she is having! Since her recovery from Panleuk and her vaccinations, Paloma has been introduced to and does well around the adult cat and dog in her foster home.
Pow Wow is also a brown and white tabby like his sister, Paloma, but he’s got some amazing stripes down his back. He did not enjoy getting his injections when he was sick, and he didn’t hesitate to let you know it! He will thrive in a home where he can run and play, ideally with some furry companions. And when he needs a break from running around, Pow Pow will hop into your lap for a while.
The best news is that there are a lot of kittens besides these shown here who beat the odds and are ready to find homes. A great deal of credit goes to the Nursery volunteers who endured heartbreak but continued to show up for feeding and medical shifts. To adopt, send an email to [email protected]. To give a kitten a temporary home to protect him or her from as many viruses as possible, apply to be a foster. To help care for the kittens in the Nursery, send an email to [email protected].
