Lyra and Oliver

Another cardboard box arrived at the home of one of our Foster Care providers on Sunday. This time there were two kittens that looked to be 4 or 5 days old inside. The orange tabby, who we have named Oliver, appeared to be in pretty good shape but his sister Lyra was struggling. After examining her further, it was determined she had a fever, and her back leg was broken and swollen. In addition, her body was rigid, and she was breathing rapidly.

The decision to have a kitten or puppy put to sleep is a tough call for our Foster Care team members. We always choose to fight for these helpless babies first, but in this case, we knew Lyra was suffering and the humane thing to do would be to have her euthanized. She was rushed to the emergency vet and Lyra took her last breath being held by the Foster Care volunteer who wished this little girl’s life had not ended before it had really even gotten started.

Oliver and Lyra were found by a 70-year-old woman in Farmington, Missouri laying by themselves in the grass outside her home. When we see one kitten after another brought to us because they no longer have a mother to care for them it makes us ask, “What’s the reason for all these absent moms?”

We suspect they were most likely in the process of moving their kittens and something frightened them off before everyone got relocated. But in the case of Lyra, we feel the mother knew something was not right with her. We have seen in other situations through the years, mothers purposely turning their backs on a kitten that was either seriously ill or injured. It’s tough to witness this but that’s the way things are done in the animal world.