Waddles

May 29 was a busy intake day for SNUGGLE Pet Rescue. First to arrive was Hanes, who we told you about yesterday. Then we got a call from a woman who explained, “I found a kitten by itself in the attic and there is something wrong with the back legs. Can you take it?”

Looking at the photo she texted it was hard to tell exactly what the problem was. Before going through the normal intake procedures, the Foster Care provider examined the new arrivals mostly hairless back legs, first. The skin was flaking and peeling and there were tiny bumps on his pads which felt like tough leather. Because of previous cases we’ve treated, it was determined the kitten had been exposed to some kind of chemical which had burned his back legs and feet.

We named the week-old kitten Waddles. There were good signs noted on his record from that first day. We were pleased he was putting weight on his legs and moving around in his carrier. He weighed 6.8 ounces, which was just about normal. He took to a bottle right away and was drinking the desired amount of formula. When he was stimulated the first time, Dawn Dish soap was used to gently wash his back legs. Because he was so young and not able to groom himself, we did not have to worry he had ingested any of the chemicals. Over the next couple of days, repeated washings of his back legs was stopping the peeling and flaking.

On June 1 Waddles started to show signs of not wanting to eat. This led to switching from a bottle to tube feeding him. More supportive care was given but it was not enough. When the Foster Care provider want to feed him at 2:30 am on June 3, she discovered Waddles had passed away since she had last fed him several hours earlier.

Finding a deceased kitten in the middle of the night that you had put so much time and effort into saving is the hardest part of fostering neonates or newborn kittens. They can fail so suddenly no matter how hard you try to keep them alive. Waddles is another one of our kittens we wish could have beat the odds.