So Much to Unpack

Some of the kittens that SNUGGLE Pet Rescue gets don't always start out in the hands of a compassionate person whose first thought, after stumbling upon injured or sick kittens without a mother is, "I've got to save these poor babies."

For the 4, 2-1/2-week-old kittens who arrived last night, they began their life, after somehow being separated from their mother, in the hands of children. The kittens were discovered on the front porch of a home in Farmington, Missouri. No one seems to know where they came from or what happened to their mother.

What the kids soon discovered was how much fun these kittens were to play with. For us who love animals, we want to believe that all young people would be excited to have kittens to lovingly take care of. That was not the case with the kids who got Gracie, Graham, Grayson and Gremlin. Instead, they thought it would be more fun to throw the kittens back and forth to each other as if they were a ball. All the while the children's parents did nothing.

The woman who contacted SNUGGLE Pet Rescue learned of the kittens from a friend of hers, whose daughter was exchanging messages with the young animal abusers on Facebook. When the mother learned what was going on, she went to the home where the kittens were to talk to the kid's parents. Their response was shocking, "They are just going to die anyway and when they do, we'll feed them to our snake."

That was when the mother demanded that she be given the kittens. Thankfully, she left with the four babies, who were covered in some kind of oil and had caked mud on their fur and in their nose and ears. Driving home with crying kittens in her car, she was so grateful that her daughter knew what the kids were doing was wrong and said something. Not knowing what to do next, she contacted a friend who was known to feed stray cats, thinking she was her best option for getting the kittens some help. That is the woman who contacted SNUGGLE Pet Rescue.

When she arrived last night Grayson had died while she and her fiancé were driving to our Foster Care Volunteer's home. The woman was crying; she was so upset that she had not been able to keep him alive. Equally upsetting was that the children who had the kittens could be so cruel, and that their parents did nothing to stop them. That is what we are struggling with too. We asked whether Animal Control had been contacted. The matter-of-fact response we got was, "They won't do anything."

Knowing that these children think it's perfectly okay to mistreat an animal and not be punished for it is unconscionable. But how do you change their mindset, when there is no parental interest in stopping this behavior now before they more than likely do it again. The schools can try to implement humane education programs but more than likely in Farmington, Missouri this is not a very high priority.

So, what's to be done? For now, we are focused on Gracie, Graham and Gremlin. We owe it to them to fight with everything we can to keep them alive after inhumane children nearly killed them.

The intake of the 3 surviving kittens took longer than normal. Our Foster Care Volunteer was relieved to see, when she did the initial assessment, that none of the kittens had any broken bones. They needed so much extra attention though to make them more comfortable as well as giving their battered bodies the support needed to get stronger. The two biggest concerns were their blowout diarrhea and their pale gums. The first things they got were a vitamin B-12 shot, a dose of Capstar to get rid of the fleas, medicine for the diarrhea and Boudreaux's Butt Paste for their red bottoms. Undoubtedly, the kittens have worms, but the deworming will need to wait so as not to overwhelm their compromised systems.

All the kittens reeked of pee and poop but because they were cold, they could not be given a bath. They were wiped off though and they will get a bath later today after they have had time to recover a little longer from the ordeal they have been through.

When the kittens were offered their first bottle, they were ravenous. They had probably gone at least 2 days without food. Because it's so important to not overfeed a kitten, they got enough to satisfy their hunger, with more feedings to follow. Since they are starting to get their teeth, it won't be too much longer before they can be offered solid food.

When we look at Gracie, Graham and Gremlin we are so grateful someone was paying attention and chose to step in to save these kittens. It is now up to SNUGGLE Pet Rescue to not let them die like their brother Grayson did. We know how to save kittens, but how do you save children that feel it's okay to be cruel to animals? That is what we are trying to figure out. Unfortunately, there is no fast and easy solution. Even though it's an enormous challenge, what happened to these kittens cannot be forgotten. We're going to remain focused on bringing about the change needed. How, when or where we're not sure yet, but we're not giving up.