A New Life for 2 Former Stray Kittens

When people ask me the breed of my cats, I proudly tell them domestic shorthair. It's not that I have anything against purebreeds, in fact, I love cats of all shapes, sizes, purebred or not. It's just that there are so many homeless native cats (as they are called here) struggling to survive in the streets.

We have numerous stray cats coming to the house for meals and every so often there will be a kitten who will pop up looking for food and shelter. It is so sad to see them looking from the outside where all my fat cats are playing or just lounging around. And it is so difficult to have cats adopted out. People usually prefer dogs or those with breeds. 

Bee was such a kitten, nobody knew where he came from. He was very friendly and it wasn't hard to fall in love with the little guy. I was constantly worried about him especially when I heard cars coming at high speeds. He wouldn't last out there. We took him in but had to separate him because of skin problems. Before long he was healthy and clean. At that time, my sister's friend was looking for a cat to adopt. We got in touch with them and Bee was welcomed into his new home.

Not long after, on the way home from work, there was a little orange kitten lying on the road. I thought it was dead and I went out of the car to place it on the side as it didn't seem right for the body to get run over into bits. To my surprise, it let out a meow and looked at me when I picked it up. So when I got home, I had this smile on my face and my Mom said "let me guess, you brought home a cat". A few minutes later, she was bottle feeding the kitten.

As a rule, we separate new found kittens or cats from the rest of the brood for health reasons. She stayed in my brother's room, which has now become sort of a nursery. He named her Jelly, short for Jellyfish.

She was so tiny, but very curious and adventurous. At this time, we were told that there was someone looking for a kitten as a companion. But since she was so small and still bottle feeding, we asked them to wait for a bit longer. By the time she was big enough, the person had already adopted a kitten. It was okay with us as it was a chance for the stray kitten for a good home. And then I ran into the couple who adopted Bee. They were looking for another kitten who would be his companion. In the next few days, Jelly was in her new home and best of all, she was with Bee.

I still miss those two, but I am happy for them and very grateful because I know the people who adopted them will give them the love and care they need.

A Tale of 7 Kittens

When there are strays who wander to our house for food, we don't have the heart to turn them away. As a result, we have several cats who regularly come to the house during meal times. There is a lady who cares for some of them but she cannot keep them in her house and because of limited income she cannot bring them to the vet when they get sick. A few weeks ago, one of the cats brought her kitten in our garage and left her there. It was a very small white kitten who was very thin. I tried giving her some food but she wouldn't eat and just lay there. I thought she was already dead but when I picked her up she started moving but was cold to the touch. I brought her to the vet, where she was given a vitamin shot, prescription medication and eye ointment. I told my Mom about her since we are caring for a number of cats already but she was okay with it. She also couldn't turn her back on an animal in need. We named her Sugar.

The next morning my Mom told me to go outside and look at the cage. I was surprised to find that the Mommy cat left another 2 kittens, so now they were 3. This went on for several days until they became 7 kittens.

I bought another cage and we had to put some wire across as some of them could escape because they were so tiny. There was even a morning that the Mommy cat brought a healthy looking kitten which someone was taking care of. We returned that kitten. The babies were on antibiotics and had a viral infection. My Mom patiently gives them milk from a dropper. The Mommy cat, it seemed had been nursing all the kittens even if some of them weren't her own.

We also noticed that they were scratching and had some bald spots. The vet examined them and thankfully it was not scabies but fungal infection. From experience, fungal infection is easier to treat although it is still contagious. They are being treated with Betadine. They are of varied colors and now they all look like brown kittens. 

There is one kitten who is blind in one eye and had grey markings. We called him Molasses. Sadly he passed away last week. 

We are hoping that they will grow up to be healthy kitties. We plan to have them adopted to loving homes when they are big enough and well enough. The sad thing here is that it is hard to have cats adopted out especially if they do not have breeds. 

We have also scheduled the female cats outside for spaying starting next week. It is in a NGO clinic where the spaying fees are much more affordable.