Some weeks ago, I ventured up to the 'little garage' to peek at the 3 kittens a mother cat had given birth to in our grass catcher (device hooked to the back of a riding mower to 'catch grass' as its cut). There were 3 kittens in there and Mom was somewhere out getting food I suppose. The next day I looked and I saw 1 kitten, and heard one mewing from somewhere else. After a while I found it UNDER the grass catcher, so I carefully lifted it up and put it back in with its one sibling, also wondering where the 3rd one was...
The next day, when I checked, there was one kitten again, and again I heard the other mewing from somewhere else. This time I found it, with Mom, tucked safely in the belly of a pot belly stove we were storing up in that garage (not hooked up). I know this because when I started to look down the stove pipe, mom was coming UP the stove pipe at me. So I figured Mom and kitten were now happy in the stove belly. Odd that she didn't take the one left in the grass catcher. It was beginning to try and crawl tho, and I was afraid it would crawl out of the thing, and get lost or eaten like kitten #3 which never was seen again. So I went and got a tall box. and put the kitten in it, and set it between the stove and the grass catcher so Mom could hear and find it.
Next day... Mom and kitten were gone from the stove, and the kitten in the box was... still in the box! It seemed she had deserted it. So the only thing I could do, was take the kitten down to the house, and learn about feeding it. PetSmart had some baby bottles sized perfectly for orphaned kittens (and other creatures) and amazingly cans of 'milk replacement formula' that you mix with water and feed from the bottle... Every Three Hours. OH MY. And so I did. The kitten thrived for 4 or 5 days, even started walking around the house a bit, getting its land-legs. Oh, I didn't mention, these kittens were all of maybe 4 weeks old when we first found them; barely a handful. So after feeding her and seeing she'd be fine, I took her to the garage to see if Mom cat wanted her back... Mom was laying in the corner with a sibling kitten,.. so I left the healthy kitten in the garage and shut the door tight so they couldnt get out that way.
Later that day I went to check on them... all were gone from the corner... and only a strange weak and painful mewing was coming from the pot belly stove. We looked in and it was the kitten who had been in the corner earlier... it seemed next to death. It couldn't move its head more than a fraction, its legs were a lost coause and it was wet from ? laying in its own urine? Not sure why it was 1/2 wet. So seeing Mom and healthy kitten had left... out the window, we scooped this sick one into a box and took it up to the house. I gave her a few drops of milk from the bottle... left for an hour or two, and gave it more every few hours that nite. By morning, it was 1/2 way to normal again! So I continued the treatment, cleaned it up and today we have... Minxie! I didnt weigh her in the beginning but I'd be surprised if she was more then 8 oz... last week I weighed her and she was 11-3/8 oz, and this week 13-3/8oz!! Yes, she's coming along... and here she is!
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