Cassie and her kittens, from 6 to 4 :(

As stated in the last thread, I lost Leo on 3/6/13 unexpectedly when I came back from a vet visit for Draco's eye. It was only three hours from when he was responsive to passing. He fed the best on the bottle, but despite that was still the smallest and failed to thrive. I was then worried about Draco as he was next smallest, increased his supplemental feedings and kept a close eye on all of them. Draco unexpectedly became unresponsive on 3/7/13. I took him away from the others and kept him next to me at all times, supplemental feeding (really force feeding) every hour, keeping him warm on my chest or with a hot water bottle or rice sock. By 8am on 3/8 he was responsive again, I was honestly so surprised to find him alive and so full of energy again suddenly. He got feedings every 1.5 hrs but was only eating about 1.5ml an hour- at one feeding he ate 3ml. It was all he would take. At about 2pm on 3/9 he began to slide back down hill again. He seemed to have trouble with his lungs and was having breathing episodes. He passed the night of 3/9. Both were much smaller than their four other siblings (weighing 7-8 ounces while their siblings all weigh 10-12 ounces.) RIP my baby boys <3 I fought hard for you.

Pictures of the other babies. All are spoken for by people I know personally who are amazing animal lovers. I'll get to see updates and can go by whenever I want

Scorpius- my spunky chunky boy. Weighing in at 12.5 ounces on his 3 week birthday.




Libra- the smallest at the moment weighing in at 9.9 ounces on her 3 week birthday. She's a screamer and only wants to be next to her mama lol.




Vela- she's my quiet, observant girl. She just likes to kick back and watch you. Weighed in at 10.9 ounces on her 3 week birthday.




Andromeda- my little playful girl. She loves human attention. But doesn't cooperate when taking pictures Weighed in at 10.75 ounces on her 3 week birthday.



And mamas.

Sorry about Leo and Draco. Sounds like you did everything you could for them. The other kittens look great. I love that last picture of Libra. And Andromeda sticking out her tongue is too cute. Glad you found such great homes for them.

Looks like i'm going to be having my hands WAY full. I've been helping a women with her hoarding situation, taking in a few kitties, rehoming them and taking in more from her. I had rescued 4 kittens from her and rehomed them all, then Cassie came into my care so I stopped taking any in from this woman for about a month. Just received a dire plea, two of the females have given birth- so tomorrow morning I am going to pick up the two mommies and 10-12 babies as well.

How many intact females are left-I would get them spayed if at all possible and work on dealing with the kittens/males in a bit.  Unless they are at risk of starving or in so much filth that they are at risk...My first kitten came from a family that were DIRTY!   

Also gravid spays may be best if there is a large number of pregnant females. 
 

I'm taking in the two mommas and both litters- they are only 2-3 weeks old and I know in her house where there is 15+ kitties that they do not get the attention they need, the neighbor told me a few of the kittens have already passed so i'm getting them tomorrow morning.

Almost all of the adults she has are males, I think with me taking in these two females that the only females left are about 4 months old and I think there's only maybe two of them. Those will be next in line with rescuing from her.

I wish I could afford to just take them all and get them spayed/neutered, but I am not a non-profit organization, just a 22-year-old women who does the best I can to make an impact in these animals lives. And unfortunately there are no TNR programs in my area, and the only low cost spay/neuter programs is once a month and you're only allowed to bring in two kitties each time.

It's a slow go, but we'll get there eventually.

Got ya.  I helped someone last year in over her head.  She had 4 more litters on way!  If you give me a close city I will see if I can find any places that are cheap.  I JUST found out there is place by me who does ferals for 35.  There are programs that do them for 30-40 but there are income limits/wiat periods.  New place takes them within week.

I started doing the TNR a bit younger then you...It does not ever end:S

It's so sad. I feel bad for this poor woman because she started innocently enough, feeding the strays in her neighborhood and taking them in. Now it's just out of control and the city is threatening eviction, so she came to me for help.

There's haven humane about 20 minutes from me who will do spay/neuter, ear tip, and rabies vaccination for $35. That's where I take them when I can afford it, i'm going to keep looking around though i'm hoping to find a place that will give me a discount if I bring multiple in at a time, or maybe a little cheaper than that. I also have a drop-off spot I am planning on TNR'ing, there's 11 permanent kitty residents out there- three female and the rest male. I rescued about 11 kittens out there last year, and people drop more off constantly. So frustrating. But we do all we can I suppose.

Sounds similar to the lady I helped.  Stray showed up and turned into a bigger issue.  Only thing I can say post to craigslist asking if anyone knows a cheaper place then 35 within xx miles of your city or close city.  It will get flagged soon enough but you may find out a new spot.  Also look on petco.com
 

clynn11 said:

It's so sad. I feel bad for this poor woman because she started innocently enough, feeding the strays in her neighborhood and taking them in. Now it's just out of control and the city is threatening eviction, so she came to me for help.

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It's very sad that quite a few hoarders have started like this.  I have an email friend (never met him) who used to work for one of the large UK rescue organisations and he is trying to help someone he knows where he lives who is setting up a shelter, but he has to keep pointing out to her that she must be much more organised and much more business like otherwise one of these days she will find someone complaining to the RSPCA about how the cats are being kept.

My own feelings are that in most places the best thing anyone who really wants to help can do is find ways of getting more cats neutered.

This hoarding lady, needs to have her animals spayed.......only then can she get a handle on it, if she has a lot of cats, I bet they are not all well and that is why the kittens cannot make it. I am glad you are helping. She needs foster parents for the pets and good training, maybe she can go to a no kill shelter,

She definitely needs to get a grasp on the situation, but she has obvious hoarder mentality- she only let me take one mama and babies today, saying the other mama they are going to keep and 'spay' as well as the calico kitten, and asked me to come get the other kittens in 4 weeks. So frustrating. I got one mama and babies out though.

Mama and 4 babies.. all girls (one black, two tuxedo, one tabby with socks like mom)! So glad to have gotten a litter of four females (plus mama) out of the hoarding situation. Talked to a neighbor and she's gonna try to convince the woman to let me take the other mama. We'll see how that goes.

Annnnd as for Cassie's litter Almost 4 weeks old!

Andromeda


Libra


Vela


Scorpius

That little torti is to cute!

It is a step in the right direction.  The fact she is letting anyone go is positive
 

Aw, the poor babies! But you know, they were so loved and so warm and safe... If fading kitten syndrome has to strike, at least these little ones left the world knowing that they were loved.

Wow..kudos to you for helping this woman. It seems like a losing battle sometimes with the amount of cats that are not fixed. We can only try to do it one at a time.

Cassie looks alot like my Tigger and their babes are about the same age. (mine are 4 weeks today)

Mine are a bit smaller though. Ranging from 8-12oz.

Our mating season is just ramping up.

I am sorry to hear about Draco. It's hard losing them, especially when we try so hard to save them.


 

Thanks for all the positive words and vibes everyone! We're trying to convince her to let me take the other mama and babies. We'll see what happens. The other mama is a gorgeous tortie point. She had a litter of 4 or 5, only saw them for a minute.

Came up with names for my new little family Mama is Kenya. Babies are Somalia (tabby), Egypt (all black), Zambia (tuxedo w/triangle on nose), and Mali (tuxedo w/ white nose). Will post individual pics of the new babies either tonight or tomorrow.

Wow. Can you set up a spay/neuter clinic for her? Are there enough cats that she would need to have a special s/n clinic, or could she get in on a stray/feral s/n day? Having her cats neutered, and adopting out as many as possible, would really help her. Like most hoarders, she probably wants the best for the cats, but can't see the problems inherent in taking in "just one more". Hopefully she can get into counseling and learn how to say no to more cats, so that she can take good care of the ones she has. It seems to be a learned skill with people who are involved in cat rescue work--learning your limits. And if you don't you get into trouble and so do the cats.

There's no TNR programs in the area at all. The best I have found is Haven Humane 20 minutes away which do ferals for $35 each, and they have to be brought in a live trap and get their ears tipped (which I don't think this woman would be too keen of.) And I just can't afford that right now, and she obviously can't either. I'll just have to do the best I can one at a time until I can find some other source of rescuing help. I've reached out to every rescue within an hour each direction and none will help and are all full

I'm having a neighbor try to convince her to give up the other mama and babies. I told her to let her know I can have mama cat spayed after the babies are weaned and returned to her, and how much of a safer and healthier environment they will be at my place. Hopefully she gives in.