Neglect is abuse.

While I understand on a superficial level that animal hoarders come from a place of goodness rather than a place of abuse (they hold on to the animals, not to hurt them but because they don't think anyone else can take care of them), it's still painful and frustrating to be one of the people that works to clean up that mess.


Last week the rescue I volunteer with (www.alleycatsandangels.org) took in 7 kittens that were supposed to be between 7 and 9 weeks old.  The smallest one weighed only 7 ounces. The largest was only just over a pound.  Most were around 12 ounces.  Mind you, a typical 8 week old kitten should be around 2 pounds.  They were so malnourished, dehydrated and underweight I couldn't get blood from them.  They had crusty eyes, some sort of upper respiratory thing going on and felt like tiny, fragile, delicate little cats.  Like little glass cats, with frail bones. Not like the roustabout kittens I'm expecting at 7 weeks.

'little man'

This little guy was the smallest.  When kittens like this come in, I don't move them out to foster homes. I can't risk losing foster homes because something painful and horrible happens.  I can't risk spreading whatever they have to other kitties in the program.  I can't put the burden of care on another foster that signed up for fun and cute.

So into the double decker ferret cage they went.  The three that weighed the most on the top, the four smallest on the bottom - in hopes of cutting down on the food competition.  I haven't seen these kittens drink water.  I'm not sure they know what to do with it.  So a week later I'm still adding lots of water to the food I give them.

The little man pictured above ate like a beast at first.  In this picture his sad face is smeared with food.  He was all 'munch munch munch' so I was kind of hoping he would make it, even as frail as he was.  He jumped a whopping 3 ounces in 3 days.  And then he plateaued.  He still ate some, but not as well as before.  I was concerned.  But he held on, yet I was worried.

tiny cadbury

So last Thursday, when I got home from work and rescue errands later one night, I was shocked and alarmed to find this guy (tiny cadbury), from the larger group, the monkey that had climbed the bars and been meowing at me an awful lot, lying in the litter box, unable to lift his head, gums white, surrounded by mucus diarrhea.  So we went to the emergency vet.

Things didn't work out.  I was hoping for some supportive care that would get him through whatever.  But it didn't work out that way.  His heart gave out before I had been gone two hours.  It was a sad, sad night.  But I went home and checked on the remaining 6 and weighed everyone and tried to encourage them to eat some food, made sure they were warm, no one was dehydrated.  All those things.

But Friday night I got home and my little man still wasn't eating.  His head wasn't limp, but his gums were white.  I tried some of the things I had learned from the emergency vet on Thursday, a little Karo syrup on the gums to boost his blood sugar.  A little bit of sub-cutaneous fluids to hydrate him.  A little love.  But when he used the litter box I knew there was a problem.  His stool was solid, but black.

the lower level of the ferret cage, these are great for kittens

Foster homes call me a lot worried about blood in the stool.  I always tell them that in general, blood you can see isn't blood to worry about.  It can be stress, poop too hard, all kinds of things.  But those things are not things that kill kittens.  When you see red blood it's lower intestine, on the way out.  When the stool is black, it means there's bleeding in the gut and / or small intestine.  This is the bad blood.  And little man's gums were white, he was anemic and he was loosing blood in his intestines.

So at 2:40 am, we went to the emergency vet.  It was a different doctor from the previous night, and he quickly found a sore on the kitten's tongue that explained the loss of appetite.  It also explained the bleeding, as there were likely other sores from his tongue on down and at least one of them was bleeding.  The options included blood transfusions (that would need to be repeated and might not work) or euthanasia.  Since he was only 9 ounces at this point, and having been through similar situations with tiny cats, I reminded myself that death is a human issue, not a cat issue.  As in, I am the one that's afraid, I am the one that doesn't want to have to make that decision.  For the cat or kitten, the pain and suffering is theirs to endure.  And I could let this guy's suffering stop.  So, the decision was made, and I stayed there and stroked his tiny head as the doctor administered the injection.

this little girl doesn't have a name but is now the smallest

Based on the observations of the sores, we think these guys all have Calicivirus (the bodies have been sent for confirmation).  And the doctor also felt that the virus had been transmitted to the kittens, by the mother, before they were born.

All of my personal cats and all of our rescue cats are vaccinated against this disease (and several others) when they get their 'distemper' or FVRCP vaccine.  I suspect that since the mom's in this situation hadn't had proper medical care the mom's were able to pass this onto these tiny kittens that just didn't have what they needed to fight disease.

Over the past week, during treatment and care of these kitties someone said to me that hoarding was at least not an 'evil' crime.  But watching this and another litter a volunteer poured her soul into pass away slowly from pneumonia and herpes virus complications, my thought is that neglect is very much evil.

No, you didn't beat or break an animal, you didn't set them on fire or shoot them with guns or drown them in a river.  But you neglected a LIVING THING.  Misguided or not, it's neglect.  Neglect is why the adult cats that had these unwanted kittens were not spayed or neutered.  Neglect is why those same cats were not vaccinated.  Neglect is why there was no food or water these kittens could eat.

Neglect is still abuse.

this larger, medium haired calico seems to be doing well

In our human world, laws are such that when people don't take their children to the doctor because they don't believe in treating disease and they die, charges are pressed.  If you left your baby in a pile of filth and didn't feed it while you were smoking meth, you would be arrested and charged.  You might get a manslaughter charge instead of murder, but it would still be wrong, there would still be a penalty.  No one would say 'well, he/she only kept the child home with because he/she is mentally unstable and thought home was the best place for it'.  People would quickly recognize it for the horrible event it was.

So when you look at these photos: These crusty eyes, dirty ears, cats weighing ounces that should have weighed pounds...  and so far, two kittens that didn't survive a week in my (and vet) care.  I only wish you could feel how brittle they are.  They have fat full bellies now, but their ribs and bones and tiny toes still don't have enough flesh to cover them.  They get stuck as they walk because they don't have the toe flesh to retract the claw into.

When you read this, when you look at these pictures, know that this is not simply sad.  It's not just neglect.

This is abuse.

Foster Kitty City

About a year ago my husband and I started fostering for Alley Cats and Angels. We had adopted two cats from them (Trilli and Dexter) and had been extremely happy with the experience.

I've worked at a no-kill shelter in Winston Salem, the Forsyth Humane Society (as a paid employee, not a volunteer) and had adopted from other rescues in the past.

Alley Cats was different in that they don't have a shelter, all of their animals are in foster homes. This means that even though they work with feral cats and kittens that need socialization prior to being placed in homes, their cats and kittens end up being better socialized than most shelter animals (in our opinion).

They also provide excellent medical care and just seem to be better organized than a lot of other volunteer run rescues. I've adopted before and had trouble getting my new pets medical or information or all of the 'advertised' medical care and such hadn't actually been done. Alley Cats and Angels even calls to check up after the adoption and gives you two weeks to make sure your new pet works with your household or you can have a full refund of your adoption fee.

When we started to foster we had the same concerns that I believe a lot of foster homes do. Will I fall in love with these pets? How will I ever be able to part with them when the time comes? What will our other pets think?

We prepared ourselves for this, but also thought long and hard about it and knew that what we were doing was making 'nice kitties' for other people's homes. We don't have room in our home for any more cats as 'full time' residents, but having a foster cat and kitten can be fun, fun for our pets and we feel like we're really doing something good.

Our pets have ended up enjoying it too. They get 'socialized' to other pets, and with kittens the older ones get new inspiration to play and have fun. It's the kind of interaction that really makes me happy to see.

There are a few I've loved more than others, but all have moved on to new homes without any tears. Part of this is because I feel very confident that Alley Cats and Angels is placing our fosters in great homes where they will truly be loving and be loved.

I like to think that what we are doing is a good thing. People that may have never had a pet before might fall in love with cats because we raised up a kitten to be a super well socialized companion. I believe that people that have animals are kinder, gentler people. They are generally more caring of others and more caring of their environment. I know it seems like just a kitten, but I truly believe by giving people nice pets we are making a world full of better people.

I am writing this because I want to encourage more people to foster. The emotional rewards are great, and you get the joy of giving a safe and happy, albeit temporary, home to an animal who needs one.

I've heard of people having bad foster experiences with a rescue that wouldn't return calls or didn't pay for medical care or whatnot. Even if you've had a bad foster experience elsewhere, if you're in our area, give Alley Cats and Angels a chance - if you're not local, please try another rescue.

All rescues are NOT created equal! There are great ones out there run by great people that would really appreciate a little extra help. Fostering can really change lives, not just for your fostered pet - but for the people who will be forever changed by adopting the pet you helped raise!