The Little Kitten That Could

July 31, 2008

Meet Henry.

When Henry first came to our clinic he weighed 6 oz. and looked like a limp noodle. A family with a litter of kittens began to notice that Henry wasn’t growing as well as the rest of his siblings. Henry’s cat mom (the “queen”) didn’t want to take care of Henry. He was a reject. A bona-fide runt.

Henry’s human mom didn’t want him to suffer but at the same time couldn’t afford to pay his medical bills. So we agreed to “adopt” him and do the best we could to nurse him back to health.

It wasn’t easy.

At first we didn’t want to give Henry a name, because that’s always bad luck. Anyone who works in the field of veterinary medicine knows that as soon as you give any sick, orphaned animal a name–something bad happens.

So at first we just called him “Kitty.”

When Kitty first came to us he was very pathetic. He was too weak to stand and barely had enough energy to lift his head. One eye was swollen shut with an infection. It was hard to tell if he could even see at all. His pupils barely responded to light. He looked a lot like E.T. and refused to nurse from the bottle. When we attempted to force feed him he screamed his head off–at least we knew the lungs worked!

After 24 hours in our care Kitty wasn’t looking much better. We decided to try tube feeding him, which involves passing a small rubber tube down the esophagus and injecting it with small amounts of milk replacer. It worked! The first time we did it he almost seemed to smile.

Since that was Friday I agreed to take Kitty home for the weekend and give him scheduled feedings every 2 hours. All the staff agreed that if he could make it through the weekend–he had a pretty good chance. So I packed up all the supplies I needed to take care of him–carrier, towels, formula, syringes, antibiotics, etc. When I got home my husband said, “that’s a lot of stuff for such a small kitty.” Always the comedian!

In case he had something infectious, I kept him away from my cats. I spent practicularly that whole weekend camped on the floor in my bathroom! But I couldn’t believe it–by the time Monday rolled around, not only was Kitty eating canned food and kibble on his own–he was walking, jumping, purring, playing with toys, and using the litterbox! Crazy! A total transformation.

The picture posted above was taken on Monday, the day I took him back to the hospital. We kept him another week to bulk him up a bit more and finish his course of antibiotics. He tested negative for feline leukemia and FIV. His sparkling personality quickly found him a home (where he became Henry). He’s growing up with three other cats so he’ll be sure to learn a lot about kitten etiquette from his new siblings.

Apparently little Henry just needed a kickstart. It’s amazing what good nutrition can do!