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With a great flourish, the young father whipped the towel off the basket. The Grandmother and mother began to talk at once. The father chimed in with comments about the weather and traffic. The two small children suddenly remembered what all the excitement was about, and started screaming "Kitty, Kitty, Kitty!"
Folks who are not use to finding the pertinent pints in a calliope of sounds, would have immediately headed for the drug store to buy some Aspirin and earplugs. Carrie and I did not have that option. Using her best "get the kids attention" technique of swinging a catnip mouse (works on kids too), she pulled the children to the other side of the room and quieted them. By now the Father had stopped his tirade and had collapsed on one of the chairs. Mother and Grandmother were successfully separated, and I had free access to the basket.
Two anxious blue eyes peaked out from under the lid. I lifted it slowly and a small, rather tired looking cat raised her head and said, "Mew". Her hair was unkempt, her face drawn, and her whole little body appeared exhausted. She was curled around four tiny bodies that were trying their best to nurse. I caressed the little mother cat and told her she was beautiful and she had done a good job. She thanked me by nuzzling my hand with her soft forehead.
By now, Carrie had brought several soft, clean towels into the room and placed them on the floor near the basket. I carefully placed the little mother cat on the towel, and reached back for the kittens. The kittens were bundled together by their umbilical cords. Have you ever dropped two or three necklaces into a drawer, and later had to laboriously separate them due to tangling? Well it seems the mother cat was a first time mother, and did not know that she should have bitten off the major portion of the umbilical cord as each kitten was born. Because of this, they were all tangled in a big knot!
I told the owners what the problem was and that we would separate the kittens. It seems the owners did not recognize the problem either, since this was their first "mama" cat. I carefully separated each kitten from the others by clipping the knotted umbilical cords apart. As I worked, I explained that some animals are not naturally mothers. Many young females (babies themselves) do not always instinctively know how to care for their offspring. There is a lot of knowledge to be gained from books or from your Veterinarian on the needs of your particular pet.
Well, by this time I had separated all but one of the kittens. The last on was much smaller and seemed weaker than the other three. At this point, I noticed that the tangle of umbilical cords had actually wrapped around its' left rear leg at the knee.
The circulation below the knee was completely cut off by the tightness of the cord around it. The lower leg was diminished in size to the diameter of a large rubber band. This little baby doll was never going to walk with four legs. The umbilical ligature was the only thing keeping her from bleeding to death. Once it was removed, she would quickly become toxic from the decaying lower leg and die. Nature can be cruel, but it functions by “The Law of Survival of the Fittest”. She was destined not to make that cut.
I spoke with the owners and told them what the grim future of this baby would be if left in the state she was in. They were very good people, but had a family of their own to raise. They had acquired the mother cat from a “friend” who had said it was definitely a boy. Imagine their surprise when “he” started to put on so much weight and kittens appeared. This family could not afford to care for one cat, much less an invalid kitten. Carrie and I looked at each other and decided simultaneously that we could and would find homes for Mama and her babies. The family left the clinic with their own children, but less four kittens and a Mama Cat. I heard the howls of the two children as they left and felt we’d probably gotten the better end of the deal. The little Mama cat and her healthy three kittens would not be hard to find homes for. The injured kitten was another situation altogether.
She was so tiny that she fit in the palm of my hand. Her body was covered with short, downy hair that changed from silver at the base to coal black at the tip. Her ears were two, velvet triangles on a head that was about the size of a walnut. Her tiny eyelids were still sealed and would not open for about seven or eight days. Deaf and blind she was completely helpless. The destroyed leg hung like a limp thread from her body. She yawned and you could see her rosebud mouth and tiny tongue. Then she yelled (definitely good lungs) and wanted to be fed. What was I to do? Well for the moment, I thought I’d better feed her.
Folks who are not use to finding the pertinent pints in a calliope of sounds, would have immediately headed for the drug store to buy some Aspirin and earplugs. Carrie and I did not have that option. Using her best "get the kids attention" technique of swinging a catnip mouse (works on kids too), she pulled the children to the other side of the room and quieted them. By now the Father had stopped his tirade and had collapsed on one of the chairs. Mother and Grandmother were successfully separated, and I had free access to the basket.
Two anxious blue eyes peaked out from under the lid. I lifted it slowly and a small, rather tired looking cat raised her head and said, "Mew". Her hair was unkempt, her face drawn, and her whole little body appeared exhausted. She was curled around four tiny bodies that were trying their best to nurse. I caressed the little mother cat and told her she was beautiful and she had done a good job. She thanked me by nuzzling my hand with her soft forehead.
By now, Carrie had brought several soft, clean towels into the room and placed them on the floor near the basket. I carefully placed the little mother cat on the towel, and reached back for the kittens. The kittens were bundled together by their umbilical cords. Have you ever dropped two or three necklaces into a drawer, and later had to laboriously separate them due to tangling? Well it seems the mother cat was a first time mother, and did not know that she should have bitten off the major portion of the umbilical cord as each kitten was born. Because of this, they were all tangled in a big knot!
I told the owners what the problem was and that we would separate the kittens. It seems the owners did not recognize the problem either, since this was their first "mama" cat. I carefully separated each kitten from the others by clipping the knotted umbilical cords apart. As I worked, I explained that some animals are not naturally mothers. Many young females (babies themselves) do not always instinctively know how to care for their offspring. There is a lot of knowledge to be gained from books or from your Veterinarian on the needs of your particular pet.
Well, by this time I had separated all but one of the kittens. The last on was much smaller and seemed weaker than the other three. At this point, I noticed that the tangle of umbilical cords had actually wrapped around its' left rear leg at the knee.
The circulation below the knee was completely cut off by the tightness of the cord around it. The lower leg was diminished in size to the diameter of a large rubber band. This little baby doll was never going to walk with four legs. The umbilical ligature was the only thing keeping her from bleeding to death. Once it was removed, she would quickly become toxic from the decaying lower leg and die. Nature can be cruel, but it functions by “The Law of Survival of the Fittest”. She was destined not to make that cut.
I spoke with the owners and told them what the grim future of this baby would be if left in the state she was in. They were very good people, but had a family of their own to raise. They had acquired the mother cat from a “friend” who had said it was definitely a boy. Imagine their surprise when “he” started to put on so much weight and kittens appeared. This family could not afford to care for one cat, much less an invalid kitten. Carrie and I looked at each other and decided simultaneously that we could and would find homes for Mama and her babies. The family left the clinic with their own children, but less four kittens and a Mama Cat. I heard the howls of the two children as they left and felt we’d probably gotten the better end of the deal. The little Mama cat and her healthy three kittens would not be hard to find homes for. The injured kitten was another situation altogether.
She was so tiny that she fit in the palm of my hand. Her body was covered with short, downy hair that changed from silver at the base to coal black at the tip. Her ears were two, velvet triangles on a head that was about the size of a walnut. Her tiny eyelids were still sealed and would not open for about seven or eight days. Deaf and blind she was completely helpless. The destroyed leg hung like a limp thread from her body. She yawned and you could see her rosebud mouth and tiny tongue. Then she yelled (definitely good lungs) and wanted to be fed. What was I to do? Well for the moment, I thought I’d better feed her.