The Man Tried

Three kittens born in Festus, Missouri on August 15, almost got a taste of something way too early. Their mother gave birth in the garage and the homeowner realized, after a day, he had not seen her. He felt bad for the babies, so he took action.

He knew that an animal organization was doing adoptions at the local pet store, so he put the kittens on a towel in a cardboard box and drove to the store with them. When he asked one of the volunteers if they would take the litter they looked in the box he was carrying and said, "No. They're too young."

Not offering any other options, the man decided he would just have to figure out how to take care of the kittens himself. A customer who had come to the store to buy dog food, overheard the conversation between the man and the volunteer and when she saw the man walking down the cat food aisle looking at canned cat food with a puzzled look on his face, she intervened.

The concerned woman asked the man if she could help. Seeming to be relieved, he wanted her advice on what type of cat food he should buy to feed the kittens that were now in the box meowing. When the woman heard the question she replied, "Why don't you let me take the kittens and I know of an organization that will be glad to take the babies." The man was really grateful and after they parted, she immediately called SNUGGLE Pet Rescue.

Pansey, Patty and Pauly arrived at our Foster Care Volunteer's home late yesterday. The normal steps were taken to check them out and start providing the care they needed. It was not surprising that all three had fleas, so they got a dose of Capstar.

The first meal the kittens were offered after their mother disappeared thankfully was not canned cat food. It's unlikely they would have even eaten it though, but if the man had forced the food into their mouth this could have led to them having digestive problems, diarrhea or throwing up. Instead, what Pansey, Patty and Pauly got was what they should be given and that was a bottle with healthy formula inside that meets their nutritional needs at their young age.

We appreciate what the man did. We also want to remind people that kittens should not be offered canned food until they are completely weaned, which is typically between 8 to 10 weeks old. It's important to start out with a small amount of the canned food and then pour warm formula over the top. This is the best method to use to convince kittens to gradually give up the formula and switch to canned and then dry food.

Now that SNUGGLE Pet Rescue has Pansey, Patty and Pauley they are well on their way to getting everything they need to grow up to be healthy.