Long Story with a happy ending for you cat lovers.
We get a lot of stray cats in the area. Mostly because my neighbour is a crazy bird lady and has dozens of bird feeders. So a lot of stray/lost cats tend to migrate to this area. Whenever I see a new cat I check the local “Lost” ads to see if there is a match. So way back in June, there was a new kitty in my yard. She was cute with long fur and a little bob tail. She did match a “Lost” ad. Her name was Coco. She wouldn’t let me get near her. I contacted the owner. Long story short, the owner didn’t seem very interested in getting her back. I kept texting her when I saw the cat saying “She’s here right now” with a picture and the owner would either not respond back or say “I can’t get a drive” (even though she lives like 10 minute walk away). There was also something strange in that she told me and my neighbor who also contacted her different streets as her address. Eventually, I just stopped contacting her.
I felt so bad for this little cat and continued to feed her everyday. Eventually I earned her trust and she let me pet her. I couldn’t take her in since we already had a cat and Ricky was very adamant about “no more pets” due to our constant vet bills. I contacted several rescues but they could’t take her as they were all full. There 4 cat rescues in my City but they don’t have any actual shelters. Just a network of fosters.
Then I noticed she was getting bigger, most likely pregnant. After I lost my kitty, Savana, early last month and then Winnie 2 weeks ago, I finally talked Ricky into letting me foster her. The rescues pays all the bills, we just provide daily care and a home. I made him agree by promising I would not ask to adopt any cat until after all our vet bills are paid off. So 2 weeks ago, on a Sunday evening, I noticed her in the yard looking HUGE. Like ready to pop out kittens any minute. I wanted to bring her in so I set up a space in the laundry room. The I couldn’t catch her. I spent most of Monday outside looking for her. No luck. Then Tuesday morning, I found her in my neighbours yard. She looked really strange. I brought her in. She no longer had the big pregnant belly. Just a huge hard lump hear her back leg that was making her limp. Her bum area was wet as if she had delivered at least some babies.
I contacted the rescue. They advised I put her back out in case she had newborns outside somewhere. So I did. Then later that day I saw her in my yard, acting strange. Almost like she was trying to pee but couldn’t and kept repositioning. I took a video and sent it to the rescue. They were very concerned as it looked like she was in distress. By the time they got back to me, I couldn’t find her. But I did find 1 dead newborn kitten in my neighbours yard They sent 2 people out to help me. No luck. Early evening a bunch of people and some neighbours were all out looking for her, well after dark. No luck. It was looking grim. If she was in distress, she may have died.
Next morning, first thing I went out looking. I found her!!! I was so relieved. She still had the lump but seemed okay otherwise. She ate some food and I took her to the vet. They did an Xray. There were 3 kittens inside. Vet couldn’t tell if they were dead or alive. They rushed her into surgery. It took 2 1/2 hours. There were 3 live kittens. Small but in pretty good shape. Coco was not so good. The vet concluded that she’d been kicked. Nothing else could have done the damage that was done. There was a big hematoma and all the muscles were detached from the abdomen wall. He stitched her up. Her prognosis was guarded. She would need to be kept very immobilized so the stitches wouldn’t tear. The vet said it was a miracle that Mom and babies survived with the condition she was in. The babies were bottle fed. The rescue kept me updated with pictures but the head rescue lady who is very experienced with babies and injuries brought Coconut (new life new name) and her babies home.
She kept me updated with pictures. The babies eventually started nursing from Coconut and two weeks later, they are all doing well. (Pics to follow). Since I wasn’t able to foster Coconut, they asked if I would be still foster another cat. I said yes. Last Sunday around 9 pm I got a call. A kitty needed help. They found a young cat by the highway and couldn’t find an owner. So they brought him to me to foster. His name is Reece. He got neutered on Wednesday. He’s very sweet and friendly but as of yet will not leave the laundry room. I’m hoping he will come out of his shell soon.
Mama shortly after the surgery:
Babies:
This one is a little bobtail like Mama