nouvelles

Little Monkey, the last kitten of Jess

Mon, 16 May 2011 16:21:43 +0100

Unfortunately we were not able to save Jess's last kitten, Little Monkey.

After three days of intensive care the vet called us. The prognoses were not good. He still had difficulty to swallow even though he was very hungry and he had a wound in his neck. When the vet tried to put a tube through his eusophagus she hit on something hard: his vertebra. As he needed an anesthetic anyway for putting him down, we asked if she could still have a look to see whether it was still possible to operate. But the damage was too big. His eusophagus was completely torn. But Little Monkey was a fighter. Even when the vet gave him his last injection he didn't want to give up.

His last photos at the vet's.

We still think of him and how he was defending himself in this hole on the school yard without his mum. Sleep well little one.

Meet Jess and her kittens

Mon, 30 Mar 2015 15:03:50 +0100

We had a call from a concerned lady who had seen Jess on the streets of La Roche sur Yon for the last few years. She told us that Jess was limping and was exhausted as she had a new litter of kittens. So we went along to have a look.

Jess was living on the grounds of a lycée which was closed for the holidays, but we could see her with two of her kittens through the fence.

The school where she lived with her 5 kittens

She did seem to be in a sorry state. So we went to the SPA and borrowed a cage trap from them which we installed in the courtyard of the school.

Jess was caught pretty rapidly and we took her to the vet to be checked and given an ID chip. Even though she had been living on the streets for a few years she was not at all wild and responded just like a normal family cat and let the vet examine her without any fuss.

Jess on our bed

The vet found that she was a bit worn out and also had a healed fracture of her right hind leg which explained her limp. She was still lactating.

Meanwhile the trap had been set for the kittens and soon after we got home we got a call to tell us that one of the kittens had been caught. However, when we saw it we were horrified to discover that it was only about 4 weeks old. When we had seen them at a distance they looked to be the size of a fully weaned kitten, but that was due to them being very fluffy.

Tigy, the first one caught

As they still depended on their mother, we went into overdrive in our efforts to catch the kittens. As well as the cage trap from the SPA we also pressed into service two smaller cage traps used for catching rats. Marie-France, the lady who contacted us in the first place, mobilised practically the whole of her block of flats to keep an eye on the cages.

This quickly paid dividends and within 24 hours we had taken delivery of 3 more bundles of fluff.

Monkey

Ellie

Beau

The downside was that there was still one kitten roaming free and the holidays were over. This gave us less freedom for access to the school grounds and the extra noise made the kitten more frightened. As the traps had food in them, we also started to attract cats from the neighbourhood who behaved agressively towards the kitten.

After a few days we were dispairing of ever catching the last holdout when suddenly, yesterday, one of the school employees appeared at Marie-France's door with the kitten. She called us to come and get it as it was in a bad state. So, taking Jess with us, we rushed to Marie-France's place to pick it up. One look was enough to show that it needed professional care, so we headed off to our friendly vet straight away.

Whilst on the way, Jess licked it and spoke to it but it was very apathetic.

On arrival at the vet's, the vet took it's temperature and then fitted it with an IV drip and put it on some warming bottles. It was in a terrible state: dehydrated, hypothermic and unable to swallow. She initially thought that it had tetanus, but called us today to say that it looked like it had been bitten in the neck by another cat, so its throat was swollen. That's why it couldn't swallow. She is attempting to fit it with a tube, so that she can feed it. We'll keep you up to date when we get more information.

First Open Day 2011

Sat, 19 Mar 2011 18:29:48 +0100

Elmo and his new friend Tchica

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 21:09:25 +0100

Expo de Château Guibert in la Mainborgère

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 20:47:44 +0100

... on 20 and 21 November 2010

Helping a newborn kitten to breath

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 19:56:36 +0100

Last night we got a call: a cat was giving birth to her kittens, but she wouldn't lick her first kitten clean and bite off the placenta. We came straight away. I've seen chicks being born, but never kittens.

When we arrived they were rubbing the first kitten dry in a warm blanket. We cut the cord of the placenta with a sterilized pair of scissors. Whilst we were busy with the first one, the second kitten came. The animal lay still. We actually thought it was dead. But no, it still moved. I picked it up. It was still wet, with placenta and umbilical cord (the others were all watching in horror), and I held it upside down. It was still not breathing. Only after some more rubbing and massaging did it open its mouth. She tried to breath. However there was some moisture coming out of her mouth. Meanwhile, we also called the vet to ask what else we could do. He brought us some drops to put into its nose.

After a while, continually slowly rubbing the animal with a towel it began to breathe more easily and faster, first through its mouth and then also through its nose. But it had become so weak that it couldn't drink from its mum. We gave it some “kitten milk” with a syringe which it emptied totally. Eventually by showing it the mum's nipple it began to drink properly.

The two kittens and the mother are doing well. It was a very special experience and worth the effort. We saved the little kittens life.