diary of a rescue kitten
she was about 4 weeks old when she was abandoned. a conspicuous turn, the doting and protective queen suddenly discharged herself of all duty. instinctive practicality, a queen will conserve food supply and usually stop feeding kittens who are sick, undaunted handling of survival issues in an unattached way. kittens succumb very quickly to anemia
you can x(yz)spend a lot of energy on perplexing precious feelings. cats will face death nonplussed but it doesnt stop them, from living at least nine lives
suppose you increased the food supply?
i have tried that and it does not seem to fit the timing. response to an ailing kitten has to be immediate. hunger and digestion on an 8 hour cycle will just take a day or two to switch to a four hour cycle. thats why some cats get fat. but its too slow anyway to save an ailing kitten, they spiral down very quickly
her condition was curable, she was beyond the first few weeks when the colostrum from the queens milk is essential for building immunity. i got some KMR (a famously good quality cat milk replacer). if a kitten is lethargic it may mean low iron, prolonged (as in beyond ONE DAY) can become irreversible wasting, dehydration, loss of sucking instinct, etc. i knew she had a good chance, after de-fleaing her, she was immediately alert and hungry. back in the shelter, her queen was eyeing me, she knew i had the boopy. i saw it in her eyes. this is her one and only surviving kitten, better to know how it really is.
a granite boulder polished by a glacier in passing a blue feather found at the site petals dropping pink sailboats carry to the sound
i have seen cats do what the most compassionate person could only aspire to and other things a dark sourcer er would put money on. the queen, a young female called regina, had never shown more than curious regard, certainly was not friendly, but when i took away the boopy, she started waiting by the door to greet me.
the boopy, called melody, will become a longhaired plume tailed 'pale torty' as they are called because of the tortoiseshell patchy abstract fur pattern. however it seems that she may be a shade below pale, which makes her unique. pale tortys are rarer, tho not as rare as the blue torty.
most tortys are rust, dark brown and black with sprays of gold but this particular colony has shown several of the pale ones, whose colors are a soft mix of light grey, creamy white, yellow. two types: real-short fur, almost like sealskin, very smooth and shiny, iridescent almost. the other long haired with the style of willow trees in chinese brush paintings with mist sprinkled across the mountain tops.
made of mountains and seashells and the same things as wind currents and bird wings.
(and we people have legs
glad you didnt say mind
what was that about feeling, can you explain
conservation i said, roping a bronco catching the wind)
early morning and lights off, too much light creates harshness for a kittens eyes at this stage. all kittens have blue eyes up until about 8-10 weeks of age and then they turn permanently green or amber and sometimes patterned combinations of moss and earthtones. except for certain himalayans and siamese who have blue eyes but there are no relations with that elite group here, tho perhaps at one time there might have been a connection. her eyes are still blue.
after a week she learned how to drink from a dish, and began to crunch on crispy dry food, crumbs spilling out the sides of her funny little mouth and she dives in for another fresh chunk. like a teething brick all in one gulp
kittens learning to eat from a dish on the floor will often take the full body approach, something we should all try such as lounging and snacking in a tub of cream.
she learned to drink from the tiniest vessel (at first a sushi condiment dish, not more than a half inch high and 3 inches long but she got a little bigger and started tipping it over, then switched to a low wide salad plate, and now we use a small saucer about 4 inch diameter and rim about 2 inches up)
she waded all fours into the plate, stumbled up to her armpits in kitten gruel reveling in her bacchanalian babybody. dont worry, she has a bath afterwards every time. a savvy advocate will need to invent some kitten bib apparel, i can see zipping her into something like a snowsuit, padded and liquid repellent. maybe a wetsuit and flippers we can call it a milksuit, clockwork orange people would like that.
but now she washes herself and has grown as you can see in the latter parts of the video. she has gained about 5 ounces and is now fully engaged in playing w/special attraction to a tethered bouncy ball she loves to wrestle with. now if i can get her to use the litterbox! it has to be an aluminum broiling pan, just an inch high and a good rectangle shape. the smallest commercial plastic boxes are still too steep for her
2 days later: she has finally figured out the litter box thing. an end to chasing after her puddles with paper towels and soapy water. the boopy has graduated from kittengarten. she is very proud of herself and rightfully so.
however, a new mystery teases the tiny temptress: teething. i need a waistpack to carry the twisty plastic straws for her to chew on. she wants to bite everything. i have to wrap all the cords in electrical tape again. or just carry her around in a pouch and let her pull my hair, it seems that would be a queenly thing to do.
normally biting is a part of playfighting among littermates, essential skill, and part of important early 'education'. playfighting is a thing all kittens have to do. let them play, play with them and enjoy the spectacle. they will not hurt each other in any way seriously. and if they bite at eachother they wont need to bite at peoples hands. she has no littermates so i am it. right now my hands are pierced and scratched. she is splitsecond fast, i always forget to put on gloves.
turina, l/h pale torty age 6
