by Suzyn Barron, President of Warwick Valley Humane Society, Inc.
Did you know our general policy is to help the residents of the Towns we service before intaking unwanted animals from outside of our area? We receive countless calls from Albany to South Jersey with surrender requests and usually refer the callers to their local shelters. But sometimes, there are exceptions to the general policy depending on the circumstances. Recently, a gentleman called with a very friendly pregnant stray cat hanging around a trailer park. Although not within our jurisdiction, we decided to intake the cat who was very obviously pregnant with her enormous round belly, appearing very near to giving birth. We named this young, orange long hair female, Hillary, and set her up with a birthing box in a quiet room. Just a few days later, unbeknownst to staff, she went into labor and had two kittens. Sadly, she had not removed the sack from one which had already passed before the staff could intervene. Hillary wasn’t interested in the remaining kitten either, but he was placed near her for comfort. Another kitten was being born but it was in the breach position. Hillary was rushed to the veterinary hospital and required a C-section in an attempt to save any other kittens. The breach kitten didn’t make it, but two others survived despite the anesthesia that Hillary needed. During the C-section, Hillary was spayed as well.
Hillary is not mom material being so young herself. She had no idea what to do with the kittens and didn’t produce any milk. Around six o’clock that same night, the vet office called to pick up Hillary along with her 3 kittens who needed bottle feeding. On the way home, I kept rubbing the infants to hopefully wake them up from the medication. And I took Hillary home for the night to keep an eye on her as she was still in recovery. After making her comfortable, the journey of every two-hour bottle feeding of the three infants began. I placed them in an incubator to provide the right temperature since they are unable to regulate their own heat until they are 4 weeks old. After preparing the milk replacer I used a syringe with a nipple tip to administer the correct amount of milk for each one. And they ate like champs! At hours old, I expected them to ingest only 2 milliliters, but they easily doubled that! And have been eating well ever since. Hoagy and Huggy are orange males while Hoola is a torbie, a tortoiseshell/tiger with orange markings. Although they were deprived of colostrum from Hillary, they are all doing well so far. They have a long, uphill battle as do I with the around the clock feedings for the next two weeks. It is labor intensive to care for neonates but each day they thrive is a day to celebrate and be hopeful.
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