So when I walk in the front door, I see an older woman I've never seen there before sitting behind the desk talking to a man who was there to adopt a cat. And she sounded very much like someone who was the boss, so that strengthened my assumption that she was indeed the owner.
And yes, it turned out she was, and she knew who I was because one of the managers mentions me to her all the time because of all the supplies I bring, and also I have trimmed some bushes and wild woods growth for free.
But wait, there's more! LOL
At some point I headed into the first cat room right off the reception area, the man who was there to adopt a cat left and followed one of the managers to the vet's office because the cat he was adopting needed a rabies shot, and that manager had told him the shelter would have that done, and the shelter owner wander down the hallway toward the back of the shelter to do something, so there was no staff in the reception area up front.
Just then an older man walks in the front door, and I hear all this high pitched kitten meowing. So I look out of the cat room I'm in and I see him holding a small cat carrier, so I figured pretty quickly he must be bringing some kittens in. And as there was no one else up front, I went out to talk to him to see what he had, and wait for the shelter owner or staff to come back up front.
Turns out this man had called in from the shelter's thrift store several miles away, and got the ok to bring in 2 kittens he had found, saying the mother had been killed somehow. Just then the shelter owner came back up front, so I got out of the way.
It seems this guy had said the kittens were at least many weeks old, when they were actually 2 weeks old at most. Their eyes weren't even open yet, they were that tiny. And they were in bad shape, all grimy, etc, and crying, crying, crying. The man had left some powdered kitten milk, and said they were starving, which of course they would be with no mama. And he hadn't mentioned trying to feed them himself. So the shelter owner mixed up some of the kitten milk & got a couple of oral syringes to feed them with. She started feeding one, and asked if I would like to try feeding the other! Yikes! I said ok, and she showed me her technique.
I sat on a nearby bench and gave it a try, but it was easier said then done, you have to be so gentle and not try to force feed them, so they don't choke and breath in the liquid. The shelter owner eventually gave me the kitten she had been feeding, and took the one I had and fed it. After that she went to get some cotton balls to help clean the kittens, and handed me the kitten she had as she left, so I was holding both of them! One was all black, the other black and white.
When the shelter owner got back she brought some wet cotton balls, and started cleaning the kittens' faces to get all the gunk off them, especially around the eyes. She then mentioned that the kittens might be crying because they needed to pee, and that kittens often need some help with that at first from the mama cat licking them in the crotch area to get things started. Though I hadn't thought of this until she mentioned it, I have seen this in some cat videos, so I understood what she meant, though when she picked up one of the kittens from me my hand was a bit wet, so I presumed that kitten had already gotten "going" to some extent. The shelter owner used a wet cotton ball in place of a mama cat's help, and got both kittens to pee some.
I know, more than you ever wanted to know about this stuff! LOL
Then the shelter owner finally had to go home, and I ended up holding both kittens again, as a 2nd manager who was still there went to get a heating pad and a cat carrier to put them in, and then put that on top of the heating pad to keep them warm. At some point I had received a tiny blanket I had in my lap for the kittens to snuggle in, but now they went into the warmed cat carrier.
The shelter owner had called someone she knew to come get the kittens to foster them till they got bigger, and that woman showed up a bit later and picked them up. Whew! What a day! So hopefully all goes well with them, and maybe they well end up back at the shelter when they are bigger, to go up for adoption.
One sad note, however. I heard that one of the adult cats at the shelter died after suddenly getting sick. I didn't get all the details, but it sounded like MAYBE there was some miscommunication in terms of how sick the cat was, so that vet treatment wasn't sought as promptly as it should have been. Also, when I went into another of the cat rooms I discovered very faint bloody cat footprints on the floor, but couldn't find any cat that seemed to be bleeding or in distress. I did tell a staff member about it.
So how was YOUR day? 😉
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