They Are All Together

It's not often that SNUGGLE Pet Rescue gets to care for a mother cat and her kittens. In most cases, there is a tragic reason why our foster's mothers are no longer in their lives. But not this time.

Gertrude and her two daughters, Gabrielle and Goldie, were living in House Springs, Missouri. About a year ago, a family moved out of the neighborhood and left their cats behind. When they got hungry the abandoned felines went in search of food and ended up being cared for by a woman who lived behind the house where they had come from. Gertrude was one of those cats.

Gabrielle and Goldie were born approximately 4 weeks ago. As the number of cats continued to increase, the woman who was feeding the strays contacted St. Louis Feral Cat Outreach. Thankfully, 8 cats were trapped, leaving just the mother and 2 kittens. Since the kittens were too young to spay and neuter, the plan was to wait until they were old enough and then it would be Gertrude, Gabrielle and Goldie's turn to get trapped.

Before this could happen, it was discovered Gabrielle had a problem with her right front leg. It appeared to be broken and there were some oozing wounds. So, the plan changed. The kittens were lying in the dirt in an area with a number of snake holes when they were caught and taken straight to the vet. This happened yesterday.

At this time, Gabrielle's leg is so swollen it was not possible to determine from the x-rays if her leg is broken or dislocated. The vet did clean the wounds, which appear to have been caused by some kind of bite. When our Foster Care Volunteer left the emergency vet 5 hours later, Gabrielle was looking better. The medication she is on, which includes pain meds, will make her more comfortable. She has an appointment with our regular vet tomorrow, at which time we should have a better idea of what is going on with Gabrielle's leg. We were told yesterday; it may be necessary to remove it.

Meanwhile, Gabrielle and Goldie are back with their mother. It turns out she is friendly, so she was brought to our Foster Care Volunteer's home so she could resume caring for her babies. Our volunteer described the reunion, "I wish I had my camera ready because Goldie practically tackled her mother when she was put in the playpen because she was so happy to see her."

This sure proves the incredible bond cats have with their babies, making us even more grateful that Gertrude, Gabrielle and Goldie are together.

If you need help with trapping feral or stray cats, click on the ink below:

https://stlfco.org/