So much has happened in the last two weeks its rather hard to find a place to start. I guess firstly we'll start with the bad news.
Where once there were four kittens now there are two. Little Miss Matchstick passed away on the 1st of October. I woke up and she was normal, but by the end of my getting ready for work she was fast sliding down into a Very worrisome state. I've taken care of many kitties through this shelter and only once before have I had cause to classify a cat as "lethargic and on death's door." Matchstick was the 2nd cat ever I was that worried about and it happened so quickly. I dropped her off to the shelter director on my way to work knowing it would take a miracle. And by around 1 pm I got the call that she didn't make it. We don't know the cause of her death, but we think she just was unhealthy to begin with and wasn't able to absorb any nutrients. She never had any signs of the reason we lost the 2nd kitten.
Which brings me to the 2nd kitten. On Sept 26th, the evening after my last post, Charmin started having some motorskills problems which progressed to very little movement. Our Shelter Director came by to check it out and we decided Charmin needed to spend some time with her to get put on antibiotics and have some extra fluids. Then around 24 hours later both Sir Lancelot and Guenivere started having diarrhea. I picked up some Albon for their issue and crossed my fingers that I was simply dealing with the one symptom and not more of what Charmin was going through. Sunday it was still just the one symptom so I had hope. Then Monday morning Guenivere was lethargic and very hot to the touch. I made arrangements for our Shelter Director to get her from me at my work. Over the next several days there were ups and downs with both Charmin and Guenivere and just to be safe I put both Matchstick and Sir Lancelot on antibiotics.
By Sept 29th, Charmin was improving quite a lot and Guenivere was making very Small strides, but we were hopeful. That night Charmin actually came home to stay. She was mobile and simply needed her antibiotics which I was already giving to the other kittens, so we hoped she'd begin nursing again and continue thriving. We got our wish. Guenivere, however, stayed with our Shelter Director so she could receive the care and bottle feeding she required. On the day we lost Matchstick so unexpectedly, I actually received good news of Guenivere improving to a point where she was walking and her bowel movements were even attempting to improve.
By Oct 3rd, Little Guen had improved enough that we were going to try a weekend at home with Mama Nimue. Her mobility was improving so much and she actually attached herself to Maizy, so hope was still looking better and better. Unfortunately that was short lived. By Sunday morning, Oct 5th, Guenivere was back to being lethargic. I tried to bottle feed her multiple times, but I wasn't having any luck and I could tell she was uncomfortable again the way she was acting. Since I was in the middle of filming work at my home, I couldn't rush her over to the Shelter or to a vet. The Shelter made arrangements for someone to come pick her up. Guenivere stayed with our Shelter Director and was up and down with improvements for the whole next week. But by the 8th, things were looking dire. I stopped by the Shelter to speak with our Director that evening and to drop off my extra key for a fellow foster who was going to tend my herd while I was out of town for the weekend and she just looked terrible. She was still getting fluids and antibiotics and Albon and everything else we could do for her, but she was not improving. Then the next day I saw her again before I packed up for my trip and she had literally just passed away before I arrived.
So we're down to one original kitten from the litter and one orphan. I guess two kittens was going to be the number no matter what. We sure miss those sweet babies anyways.
But there's Good news!
Sir Lancelot and Charmin are eating whole food! They both get KMR and Wet food twice a day and they're eating like crazy. They're still nursing of course, but they're getting lots of food in their tummies! Charmin even tries to eat the dry food in her momma's bowl from time to time. I wet down some of that for her and Lancelot in thier own separate dish from the wet food and they do eat some of that at times as well.
Anyways, as a result, they're growing and playing and beginning to roughhouse. Charmin's favorite game is "vanquish the human's leg." And Lancelot tries to hold her own wrestling with Charmin. Oh, and Lancelot is Most Assuredly a Girl! So henceforth I will probably be referring to her as Lucielot (Loo-cee-lot), or Lucey. I was supposed to change her name to Morgana if she was a girl, but I just can't do that now that I'm so attached to her as a Lancelot. Lucielot is a good compromise and I'm pretty positive that it's odd enough to be Original for the shelter, which is hard to come by these days!
Nimue is doing well. She's getting more and more comfortable in the apt with the other cats every day. Maizy is still the devil and gets slapped from time to time, but I can't really help that. Nimue met a little girl the other day and bonded with her, which was a SHOCKER! She used to live with a tiny child who supposedly terrorized her, so I was watching really closely and listening in case I needed to deflect a slap in the face. But she really wanted to smell the little girl's face so she just jumped right in her lap and leaned in. It was funny, we were conducting an adoption there for a fellow foster and the whole apt gasped when it happened.
I think that's about it for a full update. I DO have pictures! I just need to get it together to upload them and post.
