No one knew if this kitten would survive her first 24 hours, but now three weeks later, she is gaining weight and has exceeded everyone's exceptions.
Aura the kitten was born to a feral cat mama rescued by TinyKittens in Langley, British Columbia (Canada). Her caregiver, Shelly soon noticed that while her four siblings had gotten bigger after six hours, the tiny tortie had lost weight.
"A look inside her mouth revealed a large cleft palate (holes between the roof of her mouth and her nasal passages), which means she will need to be tube fed every 2-4 hours around the clock," Shelly said.
They didn't know if the kitten would make it through the night, but Aura refused to give up and everyone was fighting alongside her.
"Aura is happy, strong, feisty and has a strong will to live. She is not struggling to breathe… She is tolerating tube feeding extremely well."
"As long as her quality of life remains good, we will continue to support her in every way possible."
Sweet Aura cuddling with her mama Chloe.
When the kitten is old enough, she will have surgery to repair her cleft palate.
"Ideally, she needs her adult teeth for the best surgical outcome, so we are going to try our best to grow her big and healthy until she's 4-6 months old, and then surgery."
The little tortie still has a long road ahead and a guarded prognosis, but her caregivers are doing everything possible to help her grow big and strong.
At just a few days old, Aura's tortitude was already shining through. A cleft palate doesn't slow her down at all. "Aura is one tough little cookie."
Aura reached a big milestone when she doubled her birth weight.
"Normally, we like kittens to double their birth weights in the first week or so, but because of her cleft palate, tube feeding and overall guarded prognosis, we were thrilled that she had hit this milestone just one day shy of her two week birthday."
"She has lived a very worthwhile three weeks and is doing much better than expected," Shelly said.
"If you'd like to help cats and kittens like these, support Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) efforts in your community and advocate for spaying, neutering and compassion."
"When she was born, we didn't know if Aura would make it 24 hours, let alone to her 150th tube feeding," Shelly said.
"She did... And she proved everyone wrong."
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Watch her journey in this cute video:
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