I kept hearing kitty cries for 3 days. On the 4th day, a wet Tuesday morning, on my routine feeding of the stray cats behind my house, I found it! Drenched, cold, shivering, frightened kitten. In the drain. I picked it up, it’s so tiny. I dried it and kept it in a box.
I was in a dilemma. My family did not welcome the kitten with an open arm. And I will be away for a long holiday. I was very worried that if the kitten can survive the next few days, it may still be back to ground zero. Abandon. When I am away…
I wrote to SPCA to ask for help. Unfortunately the replied was SPCA does not have the manpower to care for it. The kitten is too small. I was advised to force feed it special milk for kitten, Animalac, 8 times a day. It’s not wise to expose it to SPCA or boarding environment as it needed constant, round the clock care. Also I was warned, the chance of survival is slim as it’s too young to survive without its mother. I had previously brought up my first pet Lai-Lai in such a condition too. I was hopeful miracle can happen again.
Meanwhile, I kept pumping and feeding it milk as frequent as I can while trying to find a care taker for it when I am away. I purposely stayed up late at night to feed it and woke up earlier in the morning to feed it. Feed it during my lunch break, feed it after work and whenever I can. I was not sure whether the milk went in. It also can’t open its eyes every morning. There was yellow liquid coming out from them. I had to use cotton with warm water to wipe it. It also had lots of fleas attacking it. I had to pick the fleas and destroy them. Not easy though.
On the 3rd day after I rescued it, I saw a hopeful sign. It peed! I have never been so happy to see pee. But I noticed it was extra cold. So I made 3 little blankets to cover it up. And on the 4th day, it peed and poo poo. I couldn’t be happier to see faeces too. It means the force feeding of milk was successful. Then I found two kind souls who are willing to take care of the kitten when I am away. I couldn’t be more happy then.
However on 4th night, I saw the vein near the neck turned blue. Bad sign. And it seemed weaker and struggled less when I fed it. I was still hopeful. That night, I made a final decision, that if it survived, I am going to adopt it. With or without my family’s blessing, I
will adopt.The next morning, on the 5th day, I made the milk and got the syringe ready to feed it, but the dreadful happened. I discovered it has passed on. Miracle didn’t happen for the second time. I found a patch of soil behind my house, dug a small hole and buried the tiny kitten.
Was the rescue in vain? The kitten died. Rather then walking away from the drain without it… I walked away with it in my hand, and a clear conscience. I didn’t walk away empty handed and I didn’t end up empty handed. I have peace of mind, that I did my best. I gave it a chance. It was just not fated to be my third pet.
Written on 21 Nov 2009
P/S: I would like to thank Mandie Ong, my sister-in-law and her aunt for offering help. Also thank you to all who has tried to cheer me up. I am alright, not sad. Just disappointed. However, whenever we have truely done our best… the outcome does not matter at times.
