It is with the heaviest of hearts that I write this blog. I'm numb, I don't feel like doing anything except sleeping or crying and neither accomplishes anything. About 8 or 9pm I got news of the passing of both remaining kittens from our litter. Ostara died at around 9am on Thursday, Thor died between 1 & 2pm just four ours after his sister.
The wonderful girl whose momma cat was trying to nurse them took them to her vet and the vet suggested the litter was born spontaneously a week early due to the weather. Their momma's instinct was to save herself and she gave birth to what was a live litter but with little chance of survival. I'm so deeply saddened by the loss of these little darlings even strong, loud little Thor that I can barely think. I was MOM to those 4 kittens for 3 short days and even mother's milk from a momma kitty wasn't enough to save them. From talking to numerous friends who have raised countless litters of kittens these were incredibly tiny and likely being born early - up to a week early (or earlier?) it was just more than they could handle. They weren't ready and sadly that cost them their lives.
I'm going to be contacting CARE, an organization that deals with trap-neuter-release to help deal with local cat colony population control - and see if they can come out and help us get hold of some of the strays in the back-yard and either find homes for them if even being shy might still get them a happy home, or do the TNR and then we just do what we've been doing - maintain our 'colony' as best we can.
I'm pretty sure I figured out who 'mommy' cat was - but still not entirely sure. If its the cat I think it is, she's just about a year old herself and not at all a large cat. One of our indoor kitties Haineko (Japanese for Ash-cat) is from a previous outdoor litter and he's by far the largest cat we have in the house both in weight and sheer size and he too was runt of his litter. I guess it all depends on how long the pregnancy lasted whether they survive or not.
I am truly saddened by the loss of Thor & Ostara but am truly thankful for the time I had with them, that they at least had some happy time with all four of them. That I did everything in my power to give them the best possible life for the brief time they had here on Earth. I'm also thankful that they gave me a new experience, and while it hurts to have lost them I know they're someplace warm, safe and healthy.
To Lauren Hill - the girl whose momma cat Mona took in our foster fuzzies for a short 36 hours really has my deepest thanks and sympathy as well for having had to be the one to deal with the deaths of Thor & Ostara.
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