Squeaky Jack

The kids rescued 2 kittens from the park, the kittens were about 1 day old, black little fur-balls, eyes shut tight, ears not up, still had umbilical cords. They were left there by the mother's owner since they were in a box with a rag and a small carton of milk.

We drove down to the local DIY center and bought a baby kitten formula and bottle. We didn't know much about baby kittens, but decided to try and give these babies a home. The sad news is one of them died a few days later, and with much tears and sadness, we dug a hole in our backyard gravesite, wrapped kitty up with some little goodbye notes, and put her safely into the hole. She is joined by 2-1/2 hamsters.

Her big brother though seemed to be strong and healthy, lots of crying, drinking formula. We learned that kittens need to be kept warm cause they can't generate their own body heat, so we set a lamp over his box. We also learned that they mother usually licks their bottoms to stimulate going pee and poop, so we used a damp tissue to rub him and get his insides moving.

A week later he was doing fine, but a few hours later took a dive for the worse. We got really worried, he wasn't crying, wasn't moving or eating, and his neck had swelled up like he had mumps. So daddy took him to the vet, and the vet gave a sad prognosis, 20% chance of survival. The vet gave him some glucose and antibiotics, and daddy brought the poor thing home to us. We had more tears, but when I saw how swollen his neck was I decided if he had so little chance of survival, we had to do something. We all took turns holding him and kept him close to our bodies for heat, and I mixed up about 1Tbsp of almond oil with a few drops of essential oils specific to infection, both viral and bacterial. We gave him a mini-oil massage, and kept trying to feed him. I didn't think he'd last the night.

Fortunately for kitty, Star Wars 1 was on TV so we all were glued to the sofa for the 2 hours, and devoted that time to holding him close. Towards the end of the show he began crying and nuzzling around looking for a nipple. We grabbed the bottle, warmed it up and stuck it in his mouth. He only drank about 1 drop, but at least he was moving and fighting to live! Still, I wasn't sure he'd make it through the night.

Next morning though, the little guy was still breathing, and he was drinking a few more sips! Yeah! Everyone was happy and excited for him. We went out and bought some pure glucose to give him (kitties can't keep their blood sugar levels up, and many kittens have died from lack of enough glucose-you can also use corn syrup, and I even gave him a little drop of pure maple syrup). But we noticed he hadn't gone poop in about 24 hours, and that worried us cause of the backlog of toxins in his body. By that evening he still hadn't pooped, so we added a drop of lavender oil to his massage, and I put about 1/8th tsp. of ground psyllium husk powder into his bottle. I also read online that a few drops of olive oil in the formula can help.

But still, no poop was coming, so I looked into enemas for kittens, and found out that you can give them one, but it's better for the vet to do it. I wouldn't even know how to start! I also found out that I could put a glycerine suppository in his butt to help move things along, but where in the world would I find one in Japan at 11pm?? So with some searching I found a recipe online and I actually had the ingredients. After boiling up the pot and letting it cool, I tried cutting a small piece to put in his rear-end, but unfortunately it just wouldn't go in, too small a hole. Oh well, we did try and now we have a year's worth of glycerine suppositories in our fridge (as if we've ever used them!--but you never know).

So, we had to rely on the herb and oil, and yeah!! About an hour later the little guy made us happy, and we breathed a sigh of relief that he was probably going to make it.

That was last weekend, and this week he opened his eyes and ears, and is walking around a bit, his little teeth are poking through, and he is sure getting fat. He's past the dangerous 2 week mark, which means we have a new cat!

As for names, we tried squeaky, but too generic. When his eyes opened only one did the first day, so daddy called him one-eyed-jack, and it stuck. He is Jack, or Squeaky Jack. He sleeps in a basket in mommy and daddy's room, sometimes Janni's room, and is a well-cared for orphan.