About a week ago, a friend of ours brought us a tiny newborn kitten to care for. According to her, the mother cat had rejected all the kittens in the litter, and the little one she brought us is the only one to survive. Unfortunately, the kitten lost one of its back paws due to having the umbilical cord wrapped around it.
My oldest daughter and I have been caring for the kitten as best we can—we have been feeding it and helping it pee and poo every two or three hours. We have been giving it canned kitten formula using a syringe with a small nipple on the end. We made it a little nest in a small pet carrier to keep it safe from our other cats, and we put a heating pad under it set on low to keep it warm. We gave it a little stuffed pet toy for comfort, so it can have something fuzzy to snuggle up to. We have also been keeping puppy pads under it to catch drainage from its wound, plus any pee or poo between feedings, which we change frequently, and using anti-bacterial wipes to keep the pet carrier as sanitary as we can.
Despite losing its foot, the kitten has been doing surprisingly well. It eats very well, and seems very vigorous and healthy otherwise—sometimes when we come near to its nest, it even tries to climb the door of its carrier! Apparently, it already associates us with food, even though its eyes are not even open yet. It crawls all over its little nest as if nothing is even wrong—but I am still very worried about the wound it has—I am very afraid that if infection sets up in it, that it will kill it.
So a few days ago, I took it to the vet. He looked it over and said it was too small to give antibiotics to, and prescribed an antibiotic cream called Mupirocin for its injury. He said its eyes should start opening some time within the next week. He said it was too small for him to determine what sex the kitten is. He, too, was surprised at how well the kitten is doing in spite of everything.
Still, I am worried about its injury. I am going to spend the rest of this paragraph describing the injury in more detail—if such a frank description might trigger you or bother you in any way, please skip to the next paragraph. When its foot came off, it fell off right at the joint. You can actually see the bone at the end of it, and yesterday some pieces of necrotic flesh came off. I am worried that it is going to keep getting worse, especially since the kitten keeps trying to scoot around the carrier, and uses the stump to push itself around, and as a result, has rubbed the scab off a time or two. I wonder if it actually needs to have part of the leg amputated, so it can be stitched up properly and perhaps it will heal better. I cannot tell from looking if the flesh at the end of its stump is dead or just inflamed. We have been trying to keep a bandage on it but it keeps coming off—I am afraid to bandage it too tightly for fear of cutting the circulation off, like what happened when the cord was wrapped around its foot.
I have made an appointment for a second opinion for Friday. I kind of feel like that vet just sort of blew me off and wasn’t really that concerned with whether or not the kitten makes it. Hopefully the people at the animal hospital won’t be the same way—this little kitten seems determined to try and survive, and it deserves a fair chance.
In the meantime, I would appreciate any advice anyone can give on helping us provide the best care we possibly can to this little one. I have thought about trying to immobilize its injured leg in order to keep if from re-injuring itself—but could this create circulation problems that could possibly make the chance of a severe infection even more likely? What other practical advice do any of you have for helping a kitten in this situation?
Also, I am pretty broke at the moment—I just got laid off from my job. So if I can avoid surgery, that would be good, since I don’t know if I can afford it—especially during a month or so when we will likely get severely behind on our regular bills anyway. Still, I am going to try to do the very best I can for this little one. It has shown that it is one determined little kitty. I think I am going to name it Trooper.
Thank you everyone for any tips or advice you can give.
Wednesday, Mar 30, 2022 · 8:17:37 PM +00:00 · tonyahky
Update—
I just got back from my job interview, and it went very well. They were really friendly, and when I told them I would love working at their location, the supervisor said, “Let’s get the ball rolling.” I hope that means I’ll be hearing from HR soon! I still don’t know when I will start training though.
I want to thank everybody for their advice and suggestions. I will definitely keep the leg covered, and also try making a sling to carry it in so it can get more caregiver contact—and keep that leg hanging so it will be immobilized. I am going to try wrapping it using a glove finger to help hold the sterile dressings in place.
I still don’t know exactly what treatment the vet on Friday will prescribe—or how much it will cost—though some online estimates claim such an operation can run anywhere from $800 to $1200. I am going to try to call some of the local vet offices (you can never get anybody from the shelters on the phone) to see if anybody knows of any places that will help with some of the costs.
I found some places online where I could qualify for an online personal loan in that amount and get the money by the next day. I get my last full paycheck that day as well. If I have to I will go ahead and pay the cost of the surgery on Friday, so it can get done immediately—I am pretty sure this is what the kitten actually needs, so I am going to tell them that unless they think there is some reason why they can’t do it, this what I want.
I will then use the loan to cover my bills, most of which aren’t actually due until the 4th or 5th. Then if some of you guys want to help me repay the loan, we could do some sort of fundraiser then—I want to be certain the kitten is going to get the help it needs, and if I just pay it on the spot, it will get done. I am also looking for some gig work this week to hold me over in the meantime until I can get a paycheck from the new job. I will write another diary on Friday giving you guys an update on everything.