Saturday afternoon, Jim & Drew, two of my friends from Chicago, brought in a shivering spot of black fur into the shop -- a little kitten that was outside the Minnow, where they'd had lunch.
The kitten looked like she was about 6 weeks old, and she had lots of eye-goopies in the corners of her eyes. She was really dehydrated (not to mention rail-thin) but a few hours after she'd eaten some wet food and had some water, she was already doing better. I agreed to foster the poor little kitty, and Jim & Drew went to the store and bought her a kitten-care-package worth of supplies. She's a friendly, personable little bit of skin and bones, and after she got a first good meal and some water, she found her voice.
We've been calling her "Inkie" -- short for InkSpot. Because she's all black.
On Sunday, Bessie comes into the shop & feeds Jazper, and she took care of Inkie, too.
Here she is next to the care package of goodies that Jim & Drew bought for her.This morning, she still had bad eye-goopies, and I didn't want her to be around Jazper if she had Feline Leukemia or FEV. So, Bessie & I took her to the vet.
The good news from the vet: she'll be fine, with some food, antibiotics and TLC. The Leukemia & FEV tests came back negative.
The bad news = even though she looks like a 6 week old kitten, she's actually SIX MONTHS old! She is severely mal-nourished...
And has worms, and a bad case of ear mites, and an upper respiratory infection.
So, the worms are being taken care of (1 pill does the trick, apparently). Ears were cleaned out but there's a once-a-day drop for the mites. And a twice-a-day oral penicillin for the respiratory infection.
Because of the respiratory infection, her third eye-lid is inflamed and dries out, so sometimes it looks like she's cross-eyed. But the vet says that when the inflammation goes down (he put drops in her eyes in the check-up room), then the third eye-lid should go back to normal.
She has to stay quarantined away from Jazper for at least a week, until the respiratory infection is better.
The biggest thing is getting food into her -- which with her appetite, NOT a problem!
The vet said to not over-do it with the food, just the normal feeding routine. He said that the Fancy Feast that Drew & Jim bought is good (high calorie) and an additional vitamin mixed in with the wet food is also good.
She'll probably be on the small side her whole life, since she was mal-nourished in the first six months of her life, and the vet recommends she be spayed when she's fully healthy, because her little body shouldn't be put through the stress of having kittens.
Bessie's already quite taken with Inkie, but even if she decides not to adopt her, I don't think we'll have a problem finding a Forever Home for this personable young lady.
Right now, we'd just appreciate you all sending her purrayers and good thoughts!
♥
lotsa cuddly purrs to all of you who're helping the sweet little kitty! we hope she gets all better and grows to be a happy, healthy House Panther. we're looking forward to pictures when the little one is up to it. purrrrrrrrrrs!
ReplyDeleteYou get a participation gift for entering my contest. See my blog for details.
ReplyDeleteI can't understand why people mistreat animals. I makes absolutely no sense at all to me.
ReplyDeleteSigh. I'm glad you have such a big heart and are willing to nurse this little one back to health. You truly are a good person, Not the Mama!
Have you heard, yet?~ there's been a major pet food recall.
ReplyDeleteHere was the write-up from our local news:
http://www.wcpo.com/content/news/localshows/dontwasteyourmoney/story.aspx?content_id=4c9569c7-8739-459d-8c74-ca300b663fa0
Oh, almost forgot~ it's fantastic of you to spend all this time and money and effort on this little kitty!
ReplyDeleteMo and His Heart o' Gold~
What a wonderful thing you're doing for poor little Inkie! Yes, humans can be a pain, sometimes, but where would all of us rescues & formal ferals be without you?
ReplyDeleteInkie, you hang in there - you could still grow up to be big & fat like me!
Rocky
Hee hee. I meant "former" ferals! We're not too formal around here :-)
ReplyDeleteRocky
Welcome to the safe place Inky. Get well soon.
ReplyDeletethat is so nice you're taking care of sweet Inky. it makes us happy there are people like you out there. turn on the charms and your purr button Inky and dear Bessie may be taking you home!
ReplyDeleteAwww, how sweet! I wish I'd seen her when I visited. One of you guys shoulda shouted "Hey, Janna, come see this! Look at this kitten!"
ReplyDeleteI would have left the computer to come see her. I was so absorbed in whatever the heck I was doing, that I didn't really hear what you guys were talking about, and didn't even know she was there until you told me she'd been taken downstairs.
I hope she finds a nice home to adopt her.
Inkie is beautiful! I love black cats! And she is a very lucky girl to have found a friend like you. Do you think by the time you find her a forever home, you'll actually be able to let her go? That's the hard part. Eric stopped letting me foster animals because I kept keeping them . . .
ReplyDeleteYoor getting our good egg award! What a little kyootie she is. Poor baby, bet she'z furry happy now wif food and efurrything. Even wif hafing to take medisin!
ReplyDeleteawww, she's a cutie!
ReplyDeleteSo glad that inkie found you!
ReplyDeleteInky,
ReplyDeleteHere are some funny friends for you. Kliban
Not the Mama probably won't let you eat mousies, but enjoy the song and pictures.
I had to come back and read Inkie's story! Meowm and I will add her to our purrayers! Meowm says to give her some gentle scritches for her and I send some gentle headbutts.
ReplyDeleteinky honey you sure got dropped into a wonderful spot. you will be fine now...
ReplyDeletesmiles, auntie bee
oh, gosh, yes! many, many purrs & purrrayers for the li'l darlin'!
ReplyDeleteour mom got a kitty for the office that way--an' she did allus stay smallish after she got healthy. but she lives a healthy, happy life with 2 brofurrs and a woofie sisfur now after retiring from work! ;-D
we hope exactly the same blessed life for little inky!
purrs from
the meowers
I am so happy and proud that you are taking care of little Inky. She sure looks sweet! I am purring for her until she gets all better. I know she will find a good forever home!
ReplyDeleteInkie is such a cute kitten - I´m sure she´ll find a loving home soon!
ReplyDeleteOh sweet, "Not the Mama..." You're one of the good peoples. The world needs more warm hearts like yours...
ReplyDeleteYou are so great to take care of Inkie! Here eyes look just like mine when Mom and Dad found me. It took more than a week for mine to get back to normal, so don't get discouraged if it takes awhile. That's amazing that's she's ok after being so undernourished. Mom had a kitty like that. Well, the kitty is still alive, but now she lives with our Grandma. She has never weighed more than about 4 and a half pounds, but she's very healthy.
ReplyDeleteWe are sending lots of loving and healing purrs to Inkie so she can feel better soon. We can't wait to hear more about her!
What a cutie! An she's so lucky she found her way to you. As Psychokitty Max about upper resp. infections in little black cats, an he'll say to keep her double quarantined!
ReplyDeleteWow! Inkie is so fortunate that she wandered into your path! Great BIG kudos to you for giving her the love and affection she deserves! We are so very proud of you!
ReplyDeleteooh - pictures! glad we came back. what a cute little baby!
ReplyDeleteInkSpot, welcome to the Cat-o-sphere. You managed to find your way to a nice spot.
ReplyDeleteIs the shop big enough for two cats? Maybe Jazper could use a play buddy.
Just a thought... :)
Lots of purrs for Inkie. Rest up, eat and get healthy. Lucky for you that you got hooked up with some furry nice guys to take care of you.
ReplyDeleteWOW she is tiny - We're so happy you are taking care of her! Purrs from all of us
ReplyDeleteMo=Heart Of Gold
ReplyDeleteYou are a wonderful person Morgen
Bless her sweet heart. And yours.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad she's going to be okay! Maybe she and Jazper will be partners in crime. Or certainly partners in cuteness, since neither seems to be particularly criminal. ;)
Inkie looks very cute. It sounds like she's had a rough life so far. How wonderful that Jim & Drew rescued her and that you are fostering her.
ReplyDeleteI hope she finds a wonderful Forever Home.
bless you for fostering little inkie. she is adorable. i am sure you will find her a great forever home.
ReplyDeletejazpur is lookin good, must be all that lovin he's gettin from everyone.
Bless her little heart!!! I hate seeing the undersized poodins who didn't get enough food!!! Breaks my heart. Bless you for taking care of her so well!!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you already have potential adopters. Just make sure she gets fixed!
Luf, Us
She is furry, furry cute! Bless you for fostering her ... You may decide to keep her as a shop cat with Jazper? Black kitties are good luck kitties ...
ReplyDeleteDMM
I'm so late in replying to this! But I just wanted to let you know that Sophie is exactly the same way - was very undernourished and is tiny now because of it. When we got her we assumed she was a kitten, but she has all of her adult teeth, and the vet estimated that she's closer to a year old. So I have a tiny little perma-kitten! That being said, though, she has put on weight since she's been with me, and grown a little (she now weighs 5 pounds instead of 4), and completely flourished. I think Inkie will be fine!!
ReplyDeleteHeyo Inkie! Just saying HI!!!!
ReplyDelete