Last weekend, we received a call from the East St. Louis Fire Department about a mama cat that had been attacked by a dog. They scared the dog off, but mama laid in the yard, unable to move. They could hear her kittens crying out nearby. They knew she needed help.
The department helped us round up the kittens and mama and we brought the family into our rescue. We took them to a partner veterinarian, and learned some very unfortunate news. Mama’s prognosis was grave with internal injuries, and the best thing we could do for her was to provide humane euthanasia and end her suffering. Her two kittens hadn’t even opened their eyes yet, which presented a challenge. In order for the kittens to survive, we needed to find a source of milk–whether bottlefeeding or another mama.
We had a foster home skilled at bottlefeeding on deck, but kittens always thrive best with a mama’s milk. Thankfully, our friends at Belleville Area Humane Society had recently rescued a mama with kittens almost exactly the same age. We introduced the orphan kittens to their mama, and were excited to see her accept them as her own! In fact, they snuggled in so hard that we couldn’t tell the orphan kittens from those in her own litter!
We are so thankful to BAHS for providing assistance and allowing us to transfer the kittens into their care. By working together and allowing this mama cat to do what she does best, we were able to save two teeny tiny lives.