We lost our baby tonight and we don't know what we did wrong. We've raised plenty of orphan kittens during our lives over the decades and never failed. We don't understand what went wrong. My co-worker's daughter found her 3 1/2 weeks ago while she was out walking her dog. She was dumped beside the road along with the rest of her litter, and the only one left alive, all her litter mates were dead. They were only about a week old. The high for the day was 47 degrees and it was raining all day. My co-worker's daughter took her home and they brought her to me the next morning. My husband and I did all the right things, we kept a heating pad in her bedding on low to keep her warm in a room set at 72 degrees, fed her KMR, and she thrived for 3 1/2 weeks with us, growing, learning to play, running around with bouts of energy. She pottied good with stimulation and was just starting to go on her own at 4 1/2 weeks. She became fussy about a week ago and started having trouble nursing. She was also cutting her teeth at this time so we attributed it to that. She was still active, playing, and running around, but we really had to coax her into eating. She wanted to chew the nipple more than nurse on it. Then over the weekend she simply refused to nurse. My husband was able to get some milk down her, enough to keep her nurished, but we worried about why she didn't want to eat. Then this morning, she woke up lethargic. We had to work at getting some milk into her but she seemed OK, not sick or running fever, but just wanted to sit and stare and not do anything. We talked about calling the vet first thing Monday morning and getting her checked to see what was wrong. She wasn't her usual self, hollering for attention and wanting out of bed to run and play, just lethargic. After her third coaxed feeding today, we put her to bed and I checked on her 2 hours later. She seemed to be sleeping on her heating pad but when I checked from the other side, I saw her eyes were wide open and I knew something was wrong. I picked her up, she was swaddled in her receiving blanket, and she was unresponsive and trying to breathe through her mouth. We held her, talked and whispered to her, cried for her, and she passed away about 10-15 minutes later.
We don't understand how she thrived for 3 1/2 weeks, then we lost her. My husband broke down and cried when she died, blaming himself for possibly doing something wrong. I know he did everything right and we've both been through the foster care thing so many times in the past. He was her primary keeper since he's retired and it's really hitting him hard. He's the one who had to bury her tonight. I've assured him that the real failure in all this is the loser who dumped her beside the road in the first place.
Her name was Bobbi and we'll make a cross for her tomorrow and in the spring, we'll turn that area where we buried her into a flower garden.
We don't understand how she thrived for 3 1/2 weeks, then we lost her. My husband broke down and cried when she died, blaming himself for possibly doing something wrong. I know he did everything right and we've both been through the foster care thing so many times in the past. He was her primary keeper since he's retired and it's really hitting him hard. He's the one who had to bury her tonight. I've assured him that the real failure in all this is the loser who dumped her beside the road in the first place.
Her name was Bobbi and we'll make a cross for her tomorrow and in the spring, we'll turn that area where we buried her into a flower garden.
