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Zoey
Location: Palm Bay, Florida, USA
Zoey is an adorable orange tabby. I took her in when she was abandon on the side of the road at seven weeks old. My neighbor came over to see her and fell in love with her. Two weeks later she became my neighbor’s kitten. She’s now a beautiful and healthy nine month old kitten and gets lots of love and attention from everyone.
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Snap
Location: Cork, Ireland
I do some volunteer work for a local animal charity, and this week a litter of three feral kittens was found in someone’s garden. Since nobody was available to take them to foster… I took them! This is Snap, the largest and friendliest of the bunch; seems to be around five weeks old, and adjusting to being around people very quickly! Her two siblings are long haired.
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Melvin the Miracle Kitty
Location: Palm Harbor, Florida, USA
Due to a recent rescue of a darling little Himalayan with more problems than a 80 year old man on life support, I’ve decided to start up a blog to document his struggle through all of the challenges he’s faced. The only problem, I have no idea where to start and how to get readers! I was hoping that maybe you could help.
Now, some background information: our little kitty, Melvin, came to us by way of Craigslist from an accidental litter between two purebred Himalayans. His previous owner was caring, but somewhat unaware of all the underlying problems her two cats had. When we got him, he was very sleepy, and slept around 22 hours a day. He was also extremely tiny. We figured that he was drowsy due to how tiny he was and thought nothing of it. But one thing I did notice was that he didn’t eat nearly enough for a kitten that had been “weaned”.
I tried to feed him as much as possible, even resorted to a bottle, but he still only took down about a tablespoon a day. Then the diarrhea hit. As soon as that came along, we rushed him to the vet.
The emergency vet took one look at him and said “abandoned kitten?” thinking that he was younger than he is. I told her that he was actually two months old and she was shocked. Melvin weighed only nine ounces on that day. He had severe emaciation and dehydration and on top of that, a terrible ear infection. He was given a dextrose solution as well as an injection directly into his skin to aid with the dehydration and then fed Science Diet A/D. The vet gave us the food, some syringes and sent us on our way. Our instructions were to give him 40 to 60 ccs a day. That wasn’t going to happen. He could only get down about half of that, so he returned to the vet.
Through some research and a few tests, the vet came to the conclusion that our little Melvin has dwarfism! Now, this is the same gene that causes “teacup” Persians to be so small. It is NOT something that should be bred! Not only that, his mother rejected him and his previous owner had no clue that Melvin was sneaking food from her dish to stay alive. Melvin is only going to get to be about two to three pounds when completely grown, and all the while, he is going to have to be monitored and cared for due to the many intestinal problems he may have. All this PLUS the constant requirements of grooming he is going to need. And on top of that, he has crossbite AND overbite, so he’ll need to have dental visits often.
Anyways, he’s getting better. He no longer sleeps all day, in fact, he’s a wild little guy and runs rampant through the house. Of all of our cats, he’s the most easily entertained.
I want this blog as a personal account to the dangers of owning anything “teacup”. That cats should be bred for health, not looks. Also, Melvin is such a fighter, he deserves to be shared with the world. Kind of like his own personal memoir, but written by me. Lol
Here’s him after a much needed bath (he came to us completely covered in dried milk and mats):
And here he is after he was brushed and blowdried out.
Also: Melvin is up to 12 ounces, now. His tummy stays full and he eats like a pig. He can finally eat on his own and is doing great with the litter box. All in all, he’s becoming an amazing little kitten.
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Rio
Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
Rio is the sweetest little girl born to a stray mama cat in the valley. I adopted her from a woman that was doing her part to spay and neuter the feral cats in her neighborhood, not an easy feat. Fortunately Rio was able to come into the world and melts the hearts of all who come to see her. She’s a spunky little gal that loves to explore, play with feathers and beg her new mama for just one more little treat.
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Frankie
Location: Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA
Frankie was born to a stray along with a sibling that had passed. A few days after we hadn’t seen the mom we feared they all had perished! But while some men were laying fiber optics in our backyard, I stepped out to ask them something & they turned off their machine. I heard the tiniest of mews, and lo & behold, there he was hidden behind an old wheelbarrow between our garage & storage shed! Dirty & hungry but no-worse-for-wear, I scooped him up & he was ours for life! Although cat #2 he reigns supreme – now a whopping 17 lbs! He & Buddy (see my avatar) are the best of friends & we are blessed to have their love, their devotion & sometimes their terrorism! Purrfection!
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Pixie
Location: Lake Stevens, Washington, USA
This is little Pixie, the day we brought her home. She was ten weeks old and totally charmed us with her big, blue eyes. My hubby (who says he’s “not a kitty person”) carried her home inside his coat and cuddled with her the entire first day. She was a gift to my daughter for finally learning to sleep in her own bed. Little did we know that by getting Pixie, we’d be moving the human baby out of our bed, but the furbaby would be moving in!
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Autumn & Rain
Location: Williamsport, Pennsylvania, USA
We just got Autumn & Rain yesterday from a lady in Milton. She was very kind to bring them to me. They are very active kittens. They are very loved. And they are mommy’s babies.
