I was presented with Lucky almost 2 months ago on a Saturday night when all the more qualified helpers were out on the town! Walkers had witnessed a kitten being grabbed and dropped by a dog and managed to prevent the dog from retrieving its prey. The farmer insisted he had no cats (only dogs) on his property and refused to take responsibility for the injured kitten. A search for the mother and other kittens proved unsuccessful so the injured kitten was brought to the local animal charity. It was roughly checked for any major injuries and rather than being taken to a second-rate veterinary clinic it was brought to me.
Estimated to be 5 or 6 weeks old, the kitten was traumatized, unable to hold its head straight, it tilted to the left and its left eye was half closed and the third eyelid was very noticeable. It had tried to eat a small amount of wet kitten food and licked at some kitten milk. It obviously had difficulty swallowing. It was late Saturday evening, I had no KMR powder and I was not feeling very optimistic. Its pitiful cry for its mother was heartrending.
Well, 2 months later Lucky Little Lilly is fine. The vet is satisfied; she's been dewormed twice, treated for fleas and had her first injections. Recently she'd been sent to a new home only to be returned to me after 10 days for so many different reasons that none of them can be believed. Still, I am sure she will find a new home as she is so uncomplicated, gets on with my own cats most of the time and I have complete trust in her (except when fresh cream is on the table).
But, when she is falling asleep and she notices that we are close by she will suddenly meow in the same heart breaking way she did when she arrived. She will then start purring. Sometimes, in her sleep she will cry out or, when she yawns, will let out this cry. I have just stroked her (she was asleep) and she cried out three times, jumped up nervously, turned around, started purring and laid herself down again. It is most disconcerting when she is on my lap, stretches herself up to my neck and lets out this cry as if she's in pain or expects her mother. If it were a child I would assume she was having nightmares. At night she sleeps (alone, so that my cat Mogi can relax and have the run of the house) in the small bedroom but doesn't make a sound. Mornings she is sitting looking out of the window and makes no hurried attempt to escape when we let her out. She seems to be completely normal and has taken everything in her stride - she had to be rehomed for a week while I was abroad and then her new permanent home fell through for no fault of her own. What can this cry mean? I never mentioned it to the vet as I assumed she would grow out of it. Could it be a sore throat - her main injuries were around her throat but the veterinary investigations centred on that area anyway. I was told that the fact that her breath smelt was the result of teething and that there was nothing else wrong with her.
I think the vet is beginning to believe that I am the one needing treatment!
Here is Lucky Little Lilly, alias Luzy and usually called Floehchen (little flea, as she was alive with fleas when she arrived.) I narrowly missed having a flea invasion in my living room as fleas were the last thing on my mind when I took her into my living room to keep her warm with hot-water bottles on that first weekend.
Estimated to be 5 or 6 weeks old, the kitten was traumatized, unable to hold its head straight, it tilted to the left and its left eye was half closed and the third eyelid was very noticeable. It had tried to eat a small amount of wet kitten food and licked at some kitten milk. It obviously had difficulty swallowing. It was late Saturday evening, I had no KMR powder and I was not feeling very optimistic. Its pitiful cry for its mother was heartrending.
Well, 2 months later Lucky Little Lilly is fine. The vet is satisfied; she's been dewormed twice, treated for fleas and had her first injections. Recently she'd been sent to a new home only to be returned to me after 10 days for so many different reasons that none of them can be believed. Still, I am sure she will find a new home as she is so uncomplicated, gets on with my own cats most of the time and I have complete trust in her (except when fresh cream is on the table).
But, when she is falling asleep and she notices that we are close by she will suddenly meow in the same heart breaking way she did when she arrived. She will then start purring. Sometimes, in her sleep she will cry out or, when she yawns, will let out this cry. I have just stroked her (she was asleep) and she cried out three times, jumped up nervously, turned around, started purring and laid herself down again. It is most disconcerting when she is on my lap, stretches herself up to my neck and lets out this cry as if she's in pain or expects her mother. If it were a child I would assume she was having nightmares. At night she sleeps (alone, so that my cat Mogi can relax and have the run of the house) in the small bedroom but doesn't make a sound. Mornings she is sitting looking out of the window and makes no hurried attempt to escape when we let her out. She seems to be completely normal and has taken everything in her stride - she had to be rehomed for a week while I was abroad and then her new permanent home fell through for no fault of her own. What can this cry mean? I never mentioned it to the vet as I assumed she would grow out of it. Could it be a sore throat - her main injuries were around her throat but the veterinary investigations centred on that area anyway. I was told that the fact that her breath smelt was the result of teething and that there was nothing else wrong with her.
I think the vet is beginning to believe that I am the one needing treatment!
Here is Lucky Little Lilly, alias Luzy and usually called Floehchen (little flea, as she was alive with fleas when she arrived.) I narrowly missed having a flea invasion in my living room as fleas were the last thing on my mind when I took her into my living room to keep her warm with hot-water bottles on that first weekend.
