The Kitten Crisis of '09

Last night the wild grey cat that hangs around that I haven't been able to catch to get spayed since she popped out kittens last year decides to have a litter of kittens on the chair on our front porch. Right out in the open. I wonder if she knew she was going to be in trouble?

At any rate, I was up all night checking on her, made her a box to have the kittens in, etc. She let me pick her and the kittens up and move them twice. At 1am she had a 4th kitten and never even tried to clean it up. Just went limp. It was still attached by the umbilical an hour later. It was snowing and the poor thing was still wet! I managed to get the umbilical broken and put the kitten by mom's head and she cleaned it but made no move to clean herself. She had placenta half way out.

I left her alone until this morning hoping she would make some progress and afraid if I bothered her too much she would take off and leave the kittens. This morning she had made no progress, placenta still hanging out of her, but she was at least feeding the kittens really well. She was oozing fluids though. I made a call to the vets to get her in. I also put her into a crate and locked the crate in my bathroom. I guess if she makes it she will be living in my bathroom until the kittens are weaned. *rolls eyes*

The verdict? Most likely dead kitten in the birth canal. She is at the vets right now getting oxytocin injections to see if she can expel it on her own. If not she needs a c-section.

So this cat, that some jerk dumped off out here and that isn;t even actually mine, is going to cost me at least $100. And if she needs the c-section it is going to be $280 to $500.

My limit was $250. I can't see letting her die for a $30 difference but I told the vet, as I bawled my eyes out, that if she got in there and it looked like it was going to go over the $280 to just put her down and I'd bottle feed the kittens.


*sigh*


I'll know by tonight what the verdict is on cost and whether or not mama cat is going to live or die.

This makes me so mad. If people didn't just toss unwanted pets out of their car when they drove down the road assuming farm folk can always use more cats and dogs i wouldn't be stuck spending my hard earned money to take care of animals I never wanted in the first place but have too much compassion to just turn my back on. You know, I have my own animals to take care of.

GR.