Kitten Update 1

The kitten is now five days old. Each feeding -- every three hours or so -- gives some new cause for alarm. Wiggle/squirm/cry can mean anything among "I'm too cold"; "the milk is too cold"; "the milk is too hot"; "I'm constipated"; "the Archbishop of Canterbury is a jackass"; "I'm still hungry"; "I'm too full"; "my claw is stuck in the towel"; "I just want to cuddle"; "I'm suffering from some mysterious ailment which you are powerless to diagnose or prevent".

And I have to guess which one.

Based on all of four days of experience.


This afternoon an unexpected squirt of milk from the tiny bottle went down the wrong pipe, and the kitten started to choke to death. I had to hold it upside down, heels over head, and pat its back repeatedly until it coughed up a few drops of milk.

The saga continues...


Yesterday:



Today:



UPDATE: I'm worried. The kitten refuses to eat very much despite acting as if he's hungry; his energy seems down and his belly seems to have gotten distended. I'm wondering if he's constipated and that none of the food I've been giving him is actually getting into the system. Infant kittens often have this problem. I hope he has a better chance of making it through the critical first two weeks than the Anglican Communion does of surviving reasonably intact!

UPDATE 2: The kitten made it through the night. Since it never seemed to want to eat enough -- and since the emergency vet said on the phone that indicactions were that it wasn't constipated -- I took to feeding it every 2 hours. Feed the kitten; sleep 1.5 hrs; warm the bottle; feed the kitten; sleep 1.5 hrs; warm the bottle... all night. Ugh. This kitten had better make it!

A bit distracted...

I've not posted as much this week as Lambeth deserves, due largely to the fact that my life has recently been commandeered by an unexpected kitten. A wild cat gave birth to three kittens outside my window Monday evening and by Tuesday afternoon had disappeared along with 2 of the 3. (Whether she abandoned them and 2 were eaten and wandered off, or if she simply took 2 somewhere else and left the third, I don't know.)

At any rate, though far from being an animal rights wacko, I'm not the kind of person who can sit and listen to a newborn kitten shriek and squirm and die of cold, hunger and neglect outside my window -- so the kitten is now in a box, warmed by a brand new heating pad, with a stuffed rabbit as surrogate mommy to cuddle with... and I'm spending about 30-45 minutes every 3 hours, around the clock, in bottle feeding sessions. Cost to date (for supplies, vet bill, etc) -- about $125. Plus my sanity. And it's only 4 days old. I'm told there's a light at the end of the tunnel... kittens stop nursing after about 8 weeks.

I'm resisting the urge to name it (though I'm tempted by "Possibly Schroedinger") because then I'll have yet another cat.

Kitten at 2 days old.

Kitten at 3 days old.

Kitten at 3 and a half days old.

How I now spend my life.

Every kitten needs somebunny to snuggle with.