You either compromise with them or you dont get along. They a so strong willed and undomesticated that they dont compromise with you, you have to work on there terms. I had a good pet cat for a couple of years. He would come over and pet himself with me when he had the time and he never sprayed in the house so we got along. On the other hand when i see a feral cat while squirrel hunting i dont hesitate to lay him down just as fast and clean as i can. They are very hard on rabbits and low nesting and ground nesting birds.
So the other day i take the trash to the dump and while divieng for a old door to salvage the hindges i heard a kitten and couldnt tell were the call came from. While i was going back to the truck i heard it again so i started looking and found a heavy duty trash bag tied up with a dead cat and five new born BRAND new born wet baby kittens in it. I rapped them up in clean rag and headed to the feed and seed. I told the owerners wife what i had and laid my six dollars on the counter. She wonted to see them so we went to the truck. My six dollars got me two babby bottles two cans of kitten formula and a bag of bovine dry colostrum. Acually i took her six more bucks today, I had no ideal there was canned kitten formula.
I fed them the colostrum the first day hoping they would build some antibodies and maybe ad in digestion and started them on the formula today. The direction i got on line said to feed them every two hours. That aint possible during the day at night they let you know when they wont to be fed but during the day four hours is about as close as it is going to get for now.
I lost one of them today and i have two more that im worried about one is weak and the other hasnt gone to the bathroom today. So now i have two tiger striped bob tail kittens and two long tail black kittens. Wont one? My daughters have banned the kittens from there houses. So i will be feeding, burping and wiping there bottoms till its over with one way or another. I had to go see about kittens twice while typing this Cats are a pain.
you end up with cats like i do. the three barn/house cats we have were all rescues from around the farm. good luck with them.
Limbrat, you do know you have to stimulate a new kitten to make it go to the bathroom?
For those of you who don't, a cotton swab dipped in warm water is used by rubbing the anal area to induce....well, you get the point.
Limbrat...
You softy. :D I don't think I could pass them up in that condition, either. Good luck. ;)
You local vet should be able to help you with this rescue, limbrat. Bless you for trying, even though I agree with ya, cats *are* a pain.
i had an alligator one time............ok twice, and they loved cats too. ;D
Well one thing for sure, Limbrat, you have a big heart. Bless You. ;) Our office kitty, Lucy came from humble beginnings, just like your kittens. You need to rub their tummies and "stimulate" them to keep their digestion working. Best of luck to you and those little kitties.
We have five..all part of the family.
There has to be a special place in the darkest pit of hell for people who abandon kittens.
My lovely wife is a cat softee...........she ran in here to read this post and man you got her respect and admiration. All of ours are rescues of one kind or another. NICE
We raised one kitten that the mother abandoned close to our back door. I found her 5 days before Katrina rolled through.
That kitten taught my daughters a good lesson. One daughter took care of it through the day and the other got up with it all through the night. Neither of them want to have to tend to a baby any time soon. It was a good lesson in my book.
Besides, it kept them occupied for the 17 days we spent without power after the storm. :)
My warehouse/shop area has a healthy population of cats.
Yesterday Shawn and I were doing some recoating of some rusty standing seam metal
on one of the sections of the building. We went over to get something on an adjacent
roof of a section which has had a portion demoed out for several years waiting a rebuild.
Well, in the meantime (years) a Mulberry had grown up in the open part of the building.
Not to mention a couple of American Elms and a China Silk or two.
The oldest cat in the neighborhood, half blind, and limping, was up on that remaining roof
section! It had obviously climbed the tree and was on that roof - about 22' above ground
level.
When we startled it, it jumped! In the area it landed I have a tarp system shedding water
off the new construction and into a loading dock area. The water drains out of the partially
completed rennovation via that interior loading dock. Well Mr. Cat has learned the ropes.
He hit the first tarp, slid to the next, and slid to the railing which holds that second set of tarps.
Hopped off and was out the door, lickety split.
:o
Darndest thing we saw that day for sure! No wonder the old codger has a limp!
If anyone wonders, yes the Mulberrys are good this year.
Snowball the black cat came here probably the same way. He's a poot
some of the time but I wouldn't trade him for anything.
Bless you for caring for the helpless.
I'm with you Zopi...
Kathy rescued a sweet little helpless kitten our dogs were playing catch with. Somehow the kitten morphed into a cat/dog and has all the house dogs trained. What's worse he has trained me to be his own personal cat butler. ??? :o ::)