Small Size Kitten May Indicate Cat Disease

All of the rescued kittens are putting on weight and are healthy except the calico kitten.  From the time that we rescued she has shown signs of poor health.  The eyes are draining, it is sneezing and I had to bottle feed it longer than the other cats.   

Calico kitten on the day we rescued her

At first, we thought all of the kittens were suffering from trauma, but when 4 of the kittens started to put on weight and showed signs of improved health we thought that the little calico may have a cat disease.

From the get-go, we saw that the cats push the calico kitten away from the food or the replacement milk bowl so I picked her up and fed her separately. The other thing that we noticed is that this little kitten sleeps a lot.

When I spoke to my veterinarian's office they thought that I may have found two litters of kittens and that maybe the little calico had feline herpes virus caused by the stress from being taken away from the mother cat before they were weaned or Feline Leukemia.   

Know that the kittens were dirty when I got them and too small to be away from their mom. They all suffered from trauma.

Sam the Homeless Cat is Rescued

In August of 2008, a car pulled up in front of my house, the door opened, and out came a Siamese cat. The car then backed up the hill and drove away.

The Siamese cat was left sitting on the side of the road. I ran outside to get him, but he was frightened and ran into the woods. I looked for him but could not find him, and gave up hope when winter came. Then on July 1st, 2009, Sam showed up on my front lawn. He was skin and bones and appeared as though he had been in a fight. The homeless cat that I named Sam, choose so I rescued him from a life of hardship.

In order to be successful in trapping I needed to develop a routine with the homeless cat. I developed trust with Sam by feeding him outside twice a day. I was able to lure him into the shed where there was shelter and straw bedding.

After three weeks, Sam would allow me to stand two feet from him while he ate his food. This was an indication that Sam trusted me. Sam grew to depend on me for food, water, and shelter. Trust and dependency meant that it was time to try to rescue him by trapping him.

Two days before trapping, I set the trap next to the food station. I did this to help Sam to get used to the trap. At first, he stared at the trap for a day and would not go near his food station. He finally gave in to his hunger pains and went to eat the food. On the day of trapping, I put out no food in the morning. I communicated with my neighbors to refrain from feeding Sam if he came to visit them. One hour before the evening feeding I lined the trap with heavy newspaper and then ran a trail of tuna fish down the middle of the trap. The tuna was stinky and it would attract Sam to the trap and lure him into the trap.

Sam arrived at the scene at 5:50 and promptly went into the trap. He ate the tuna, licked his paws, and walked out of the trap. Sometimes this happens, but do not be alarmed the trap door will close when the body weight is on the trigger. I successfully trapped Sam within three days.

When the trap door closed, I ran out to cover the entire trap with a blanket. Since Sam was trapped on a weekend, I could not take him directly to the veterinarians, so I brought him inside and placed his trap in the middle of my enclosed sun porch. The porch was equipped with a kitty condominium, cat toys, a food bowl, a water fountain, a cat bed, and a fleece shirt with my scent on it.

The room was a perfect area to rehabilitate Sam. I did not open the trap immediately, instead, I waited an hour before letting Sam out into the room. Sam emerged from the trap and proceeded to climb the walls. He was frantic for about five minutes before he settled down to eat. I talked to him in a soft voice and told him he was a good boy and that he was safe from harm. Sam allowed me to rescue him in the trap because he trusted me.