Midnight's 1st picture
I just wanted to give everyone an update on Midnight "Rocky" Whineybutt, or Munchkin, as I call him. As most of you who have kept up with his story know, he's the sole survivor of his litter. His sister Juliet and brothers Romeo and Shakespeare just weren't strong enough to fight off the distemper that hit a few weeks ago.
Here's another link to their story, written after I'd had a chance to calm down. It best describes their rescue and death.
Midnight is having a very hard time dealing with their loss. Until a few days ago, all he did was go from room to room. Refusing to play, refusing to make friends with the other kittens.
Even after fighting off the panleuk he wasn't out of the woods. He came down with a URI and the Clavamox wasn't helping at all. He was having difficulty breathing and had to be nebulized with Albuterol in his carrier. It's strange that none of the cats we've had to treat in that manner have been afraid of the treatment. We simply put a towel over the cage and put the tube in for the mist to come out.
The vet changed Midnight to doxycycline a few days ago. He gets half a pill a day, broken down into two doses. He's improving daily now and even played awhile yesterday. As for growing, well, that's another story.
Which I'm going to tell you now. Laura has gotten Midnight Rocky Munchkin Whineybutt totally spoiled. After losing all of the others she's clinging to him and pulling him through this. In simple English, Midnight thinks Laura is his mama!
Midnight has his own sleeping quarters. Usually curled up somewhere in Laura's bedroom. Anytime Laura ventures out of bed or off the couch, there he is. He appears to pop up out of nowhere. There's a reason for this.
He's being bottle fed. Laura washed out a Clavamox bottle and mixes Midnight up some kitten formula a friend of mine sent to me and hand feeds him. She takes him in her lap on the couch and gives him dropper after dropper until it's all gone. Here's a short video showing how much he appreciates her servitude. Here's the video.
It IS servitude, because he won't drink the milk out of a bowl. He gets roughly 4 ounces a day of the formula. He's also eating his dry food and also gets just a smidgen of Nutra-Cal. He was a very tiny, malnourished kitty when we brought him home. We're doing everything we can to put weight on him and boost his immune system.
He's so funny to watch with Laura. She can be sitting on the couch watching TV. The next thing you know, there he is climbing into her lap like a hungry toddler wanting fed.
He goes back to the vet in a few more weeks for his booster feline distemper vaccine and a checkup. It's been a very tough, uphill battle. I have confidence he'll pull through this and I couldn't have made that statement even a week ago.
It's hard knowing his litter mates may have survived if we'd known about Tamiflu. It's also going to be a lot of work replacing the carpet we had to tear up to rid the house of the virus. We'll be putting down tile, hopefully this weekend. I may need someone to pull me up off of my knees after I've been down there awhile!
My friends on Facebook, people I've never even met, have embraced these kittens and helped them financially every step of the way. They're contributing this week to purchase the tile we need because the bare floor can't be sanitized and also to cover the cat food for the rest of the month.
If any of you would like to see our rescues,here's the link (link broken July 2015). This doesn't include Furby and Lola and the dogs. Michael (PoC), please don't look at that page or it will make you TIRED! It's comparable to catering to a full house 24/7!
Until next time....
Elisa
Please continue to keep Mr. Whineybutt in your thoughts. And Laura too, because she's now servant to a cat. LOL.