It all started with Twitter.
Skincube:
found a newborn kitten under the deck of our yard. am i supposed to take it to a shelter?
@ka0kitty I can't keep him, I already have a kitten, and this one is too young. His eyes aren't even open yet :( @ka0kitty they open at 10am. it finally calmed down and fell asleep. is your friend nearby? uh oh... he just woke up. @ka0kitty well, i'm on my way to the shelter now. if it doesn't work out i'll let you know! @vincentlavious Better to take him to a shelter where he has some chance of survival. I'm not gonna leave it outside in this heat.
So my friend Lauren's boyfriend, Ramiro, found a kitten under his deck during the Station Fire in September and tweeted about it. I didn't see the tweet, but I got a text message from my friend Elaine who asked me if I could take it to the Burbank animal shelter for Ramiro. I said yeah, not a problem. So she gave him my address and he came right over with the kitten in a small cardboard box. Now when she said he was bringing over a kitten, I was thinking a KITTEN. A fuzzy animal, cuter than anything you had ever seen. I was surprised to see that this kitten was only as big as the palm of my hand, eyes closed and couldn't walk yet. You would never know that it was a cat. I told him that would keep it and see what I could do with it. Very grateful, he left.
The kitten was flea infested and was very dehydrated. There was no way that this animal would be kept alive in the animal shelter. So I made it my mission to save this animal's fragile life.
Skincube:
left kitten in care of people who have experience in raising baby cats. it will be cared 4 and loved. twitter is useful! thanks @ka0kitty <3 And MUCH thx to Darlene and her family 4 taking him in! Cat might be taken to a shelter, but at least it has a fighting chance now. :)
First comes first, it needed kitten formula. I made a trip to PETCO and got a couple bottles and a can of Firstborn kitten formula. I brought the kitten with me to ask an employee how old they would say the kitten was. Someone told me a couple weeks old. Standing in line I was talking to mom about the kitten. The kitten started to cry in the box. A lady standing in line in front of me spun around and looked at the box. She told me she overheard what I was saying but didn't know I had the kitten with me. She asked me how I got him, and I told her it was a rescue from my friend. She was so touched by the fact that I wanted to try and save this animal that she offered to buy the bottles and formula for me. I thanked her, she wished me luck and we went our separate ways.
I brought the kitten to my Aunt Debbie's house to see what she had to say about it. She showed me how to feed it. It took a while, but we finally got him to latch onto the bottle and drink. His little belly bloated from all the formula he drank, I was afraid to feed him anymore. She wasn't too sure that the kitten would even last through the night.
When I got home I got on the computer and did some research. Turns out that the kitten was only a few days old, not a couple weeks. I learned how to help him go to the bathroom. I had to take a wet cloth and wipe his bottom to stimulate his urine and bowel movements. I also found out that could bathe the kitten with a washcloth and baby shampoo. I washed him to help get rid of some of the fleas. When I bathed him I watched all the fleas and blood go down the drain. That worried me a bit. I dried him off and put him back in the box.
I slept that night with the kitten in the box on my nightstand next to my head. When I woke the next morning I was afraid to look in the box at the kitten. I didn't know what to expect, a dead kitten or just a sleepy one. I looked at him and saw his little belly rise and fall with each breath. Relieved, I woke him up, fed him, made him go to the bathroom and put him back in the box.
I would have to wake up every two hours at night to feed him. It got tiring, but it was well worth the work and effort. Mom would watch him while I was at school and would bring him in the car when she picked me up. I grew very attached to him.
Wherever I went the kitten came with me. Boy Scout meetings, band practice, choir practice, church, everywhere. Everyone began to know him and always asked me how he was doing. After a few days I gave the kitten a name, Smokey. Proper for not only his beautiful gray fur, but under the circumstances in which he was found.
Skincube:
@ahalady89 Smokey! Thats a fitting name since he was found during the Station Fire. When I found him it was raining ashes too! Thanks again!
It was truly amazing. I got to see Smokey open his eyes for the first time, take his first steps, learn how to eat solid food and use the litter box. He still stayed in my room in a pet carrier at night. I would have all the neighborhood kids coming over to hold him and play with him.
Lauren and Ramiro came over for a visit. They couldn't believe how big and healthy he was.
After about a month, mom and dad decided to let me keep Smokey. They saw the responsibility and love I had for this cat. I was thrilled to keep him.
I gave Smokey the birthday September 1, 2009. He is now almost 8 months old. He is my miracle cat. So many people thought that he wouldn't live, but I didn't give up hope.
Smokey will always be my baby. :)
