Stella and Stetson

A good-hearted man drove 3 hours from Popular Bluff, Missouri where three kittens were born 2 days ago under his car. Their mother is an inexperienced 7 months old who was not feeding her babies. One of the kittens died right away and after that happened the man tried to get the two surviving kittens to drink from a bottle. Having no luck, he reached out to us.  What immediately caught the eye of our Foster Care Volunteer was the blood around the ear of the little boy, who we've named Stetson. His right ear was partially standing up, which is not normal for a kitten this young. The ears are not supposed to start opening and straightening out until they are between

7 and 12 days old. There was enough of an opening though for a fly to lay eggs inside. Looking in the tiny ear a single maggot was spotted. Using a cotton ball dipped in rubbing alcohol, our volunteer gently swabbed the ear. It’s a good thing that kittens ear canals are not open at this age which hopefully has prevented any maggots from burrowing deeper into the ear. Stetson is still tilting the right side of his head so we will monitor him in case there are any more maggots further down. We are also keeping an eye on Stetson's sister Stella, whose ear is not the light pink color it should be.

In addition to the maggots, Stetson had the distinct smell that identifies Coccidia, which is an intestinal tract bacteria. The go-to medicine for Coccidia has always been Albon but in recent years it's proving not to be as effective. So, Stetson was given Panacur instead and to be safe, Stella got some also.  Both kittens were also given Capstar and vitamin B-12 sub-que injections. We always wait an hour after giving the B-12 to feed newly arrived kittens. When offered a bottle brother and sister started drinking right away. It's always such a reassuring sign they are eating when their little ears start to almost vibrate. We always joke that's a sign they are, “Plugged in.”