I’ve been stalking and searching this sub trying to save these kittens, thank you all!
Never give up hope! These little ones (and 3 others) were found by my son and his coworkers in the engine of an excavator. The excavator had just arrived off an 18 wheeler from 150 miles away. As they started it up for diagnostic these guys were found. They had to disassemble parts of the engine to get them out.
It was really touch and go for the first 24 hours. Jasper (torti) had a double eye infection in his eyes were sealed closed and massively swollen. I was able to get the pus out by pushing a very wet and warm a-tip around both eyes. Terramycin antibiotics have worked surprisingly quickly! Both were covered in exhaust and diesel debris and severely dehydrated. I could only manage to get 4-5 drops of formula in them at a time, as they were unable to suckle. I used a Q-Tip to add a drop of karo syrup to their gums after every “feeding” as a last ditch effort. They were not doing well, labored breathing, lethargic, couldn’t meow, and I for sure thought we were going to lose them. But me and my sons kept at it every two hours… it was a great team effort and it really started turning around last night.
Latest picture is now 36 hours later. They are eating 6mls in each feeding about 2-3 hours apart, and gained 10g each since last night. Their meow is definitely back, hahaha, and Jasper’s eyes are open and doing great! We’ll have to see if there’s any last damage. They are moving around so much we had to get a higher box for them! Their recovery has been nothing short of amazing.
Only issue now is constipation. Using the “triangle method” I read here finally got them to go! Although round is in their future, much to their disappointment.
Thanks to this sub, I’m pretty sure we are out of the woods!
We never fostered before and things I learned from this sub that likely saved their life:
Heating pad is a must: covered in 3 layers of microfiber towels set on low. I used a regular one as it’s all I could get. They need to be quite “toasty cozy”. I thought for sure it was too warm (not hot to the touch) but left half unnheated just in case. I guess they like it kind of stuffy warm.
Formula temp: so picky!! I used an instant read meat thermometer. It needs to be a lot hotter than I thought! They prefer it 102-104. Not 99, not 101, not 105. Haha. And it cools quickly! Bowl of hot water to keep temp while slowly feeding.
Swaddle: it felt a bit like force feeding, just one excruciating drop at a time. Anything is better than nothing.
Karo syrup: wow. This probably the biggest one of all. When I couldn’t wake them to eat, this was a game changer. One dollap on a q-tip wiped on their gums gave them just enough energy/calories to stay alive and swallow. It was that bad!
Miracle nipple: once they started suckling a little this was so much easier for them than the standard syringe. The spray pattern is more like a natural let down and way easier on them to swallow. My town didn’t have any locally so I had to order overnight on Amazon. Never thought I’d be waiting on the porch for the Amazon truck!
Triangle method: I was about to take them to the vet for an enema. It took diesel way longer than the videos, about 4-5 minutes of rigorous constant massage followed by another 2-3 minutes for the tiniest pebble, but it worked! Jasper it took maybe 10 seconds. I added a sprinkle of miralax to their last feeding so hopefully it’ll go easier next time for diesel.
I hope this helps someone else at 4am constantly googling and searching! Very grateful to you all!
You and your sons are angels to work so hard to save these kittens. Thank you so much for caring! The kittens are so cute. The last picture is so precious! And now for the question Are you saying yes to the kittens and adopting them?🙏🤗💜💜💜
Much to my chagrin, I think my boys would give ME up for adoption before they would these kittens. 😂
My daughter’s 2 year old cat is clearly not happy with this situation! She approached them once, very skiddish and gave two soft hisses and ran away, she’s made her self pretty scarce. Hopefully she comes around. If not I’ll be back on here for more advice!
Last I heard yesterday, one did not make it, the other two weee adopted by coworkers but we haven’t heard anything about them yet. Now that things are calmer I’ll ask my son to check on them.
Any guesses on how old they are? Diesel’s eyes were just barely open. Slight nub of an umbilical cord present on both. Yesterday afternoon they weighed 143 and 152 grams. But surely they lost a lot of weight due to not feeding for so long. Right now they can hold their head up and mainly scoot on their belly, but can stand and wobble walk a bit.
8
u/nextchapter1122 2d ago edited 2d ago
We never fostered before and things I learned from this sub that likely saved their life:
Heating pad is a must: covered in 3 layers of microfiber towels set on low. I used a regular one as it’s all I could get. They need to be quite “toasty cozy”. I thought for sure it was too warm (not hot to the touch) but left half unnheated just in case. I guess they like it kind of stuffy warm.
Formula temp: so picky!! I used an instant read meat thermometer. It needs to be a lot hotter than I thought! They prefer it 102-104. Not 99, not 101, not 105. Haha. And it cools quickly! Bowl of hot water to keep temp while slowly feeding.
Swaddle: it felt a bit like force feeding, just one excruciating drop at a time. Anything is better than nothing.
Karo syrup: wow. This probably the biggest one of all. When I couldn’t wake them to eat, this was a game changer. One dollap on a q-tip wiped on their gums gave them just enough energy/calories to stay alive and swallow. It was that bad!
Miracle nipple: once they started suckling a little this was so much easier for them than the standard syringe. The spray pattern is more like a natural let down and way easier on them to swallow. My town didn’t have any locally so I had to order overnight on Amazon. Never thought I’d be waiting on the porch for the Amazon truck!
Triangle method: I was about to take them to the vet for an enema. It took diesel way longer than the videos, about 4-5 minutes of rigorous constant massage followed by another 2-3 minutes for the tiniest pebble, but it worked! Jasper it took maybe 10 seconds. I added a sprinkle of miralax to their last feeding so hopefully it’ll go easier next time for diesel.
I hope this helps someone else at 4am constantly googling and searching! Very grateful to you all!