In my last article, I mentioned taking care of a newborn kitten during the month of Ramadhan. Today, I am going to share the story.
In the second week of Ramadhan, my cousin Lola called me about a litter of six kittens – approximately one week old - that she had found in her garden with no mother in sight. Having no cat experience at all, Lola and her husband had to google ways of taking care of the newborns and later took them to the vet nearby their house for a check.
The nurse who checked them assured the couple that the kittens had a full tummy, meaning the mother was around, so there was no need to worry about getting them fed.
However, when placing them back where they found them, the kitten’s continuous cries all night forced the couple to bring them inside and feed them the next day.
Unfortunately, three died at their watch and when she called me, Lola was desperate and didn’t know what to do as all animal rescues on social media were refusing to take them due to the hard work that accompanies them.
Feeling sorry for her, I told her to bring the rest to my house to see if I could save them. The three tabby kittens were starved and with obvious flu symptoms that – surprisingly - the veterinary nurse failed to notice.
The smallest of the three was the loudest of the lot that I named her: Hazeem Al Ra’ad (Thunderclap). After an emergency call to my vet to remind me of how to take care of a newborn kittens-something I haven’t done in years! – I started by giving them milk every two hours.
They barely drank and two of them died the very next day, leaving Hazeem behind. When I took her for a check the following day, the vet wasn’t hopeful at all: she was too weak with the possibility of being blind due to the untreated flu. He told me plainly that she’d be dead within a few days “So don’t name her or get too attached.”
He gave her a tiny amount of antibiotics that could either help or kill her. All I had to do was to continue feeding her every two hours, keep her warm and her bladder and bowel empty after every meal. I decided to follow the Japanese school of sending positive messages to the dying kitten and luring her back into the world of the living.
I created a silly song with a weird far eastern tune that I kept repeating whenever I was around her: “Ya Hazeem Al Ra’ad! Ana Hazeem Al Ra’ad!” (O’ Thunderclap! I’m Thunderclap!). And it worked wonders! The kitten pulled through miraculously and started gaining weight slowly. She was much smaller than the normal kittens but can see and the vet could not believe her progress he called her ‘little miracle.’
When Hazeem completed her first month, it was time to wean her from milk and start her on hard food. I moved her to the bathroom for more space and decided to keep her for two more weeks before putting her outside.
Luckily, two more kittens that were also rescued by Lola and were almost her age joined her: Tali and Munya. The kittens got on well with each other and after a week, I put them all out to join the rest of the Kitzanians.
Hazeem is almost four-month-old now and because of her human upbringing, she rarely meows and spends her day soaking in the water bowl to cool herself (and Munya learned to follow suit!). Welcome to Kitzania, little kittens!
rashabooks@yahoo.com
The writer is a certified skills trainer and author of The World According to Bahja
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