On September 30th, an abandoned kitten was found in a trailer park after a person heard her distressing cries. The Good Samaritan took her home but the tiny feline refused food and wouldn't stop crying.
They reached out to a woman, who had raised orphaned kittens, hoping she could help.
The woman and her husband saw their plea and immediately offer to take the kitten. "Abandoned kittens have an abysmal survival rate, even with human intervention.The kitten's skin had lost much elasticity indicating that she was seriously dehydrated," the husband (reddit user snarl817) told Love Meow.
When they arrived to pick up the kitten, they checked around the trailer park but couldn't find the mother cat or other kittens.
"We got her bundled up in a cat carrier and went to Walmart for a carton of kitten formula and some unflavored electrolyte drink. To help with rehydration, we would mix the formula 50/50 with the electrolyte drink."
The tiny purrito loved her snuggly blanket that kept her warm and comfy, but she still refused to eat despite constantly crying out of hunger.
"She didn't want to eat and refused to latch on to the nipple. She weighed in at a paltry 3.2oz, and her body temperature was low," he told Love Meow.
Despite feeding the kitten with NutriCal to help boost her strength, she still didn't want to eat.
"Early the next morning at around 3AM, my wife remembered that the Bat Sanctuary feeds orphaned bat pups by soaking latex free sponges in formula. She cut a wedge sponge in half, trimmed it down, put formula in the tip, and gently placed it in the kitten's mouth. The kitten latched on and started eating."
Over the next few days, the kitten was slowly putting on weight.
When she lost her voice meowing and her eyes started getting runny, they took her to the vet who determined that the kitten had the beginnings of a URI and an eye infection.
"We caught it early before symptoms really showed up," he told Love Meow.
"My wife was sent home with an ointment for the kitten's eyes, a prescription for antibiotics, instructions to bring the kitten back every week for a checkup, and assurances that barring anything catastrophic, that the kitten would live a healthy life."
They named her Mavis after the character from Hotel Transylvania.
"My wife is probably the only reason she's survived this long. She's been getting up in the middle of the night to feed Mavis, bathe her, and make her potty. Me? I've been taking pictures, giving cuddles, heating up the rice sock, and fetching things while my wife is busy feeding her."
Mavis fell asleep in her warm bed after getting a full belly.
Two weeks after the rescue, Mavis got back on her paws, meowing up a storm.
The couple is keeping their little rescue baby so she will be loved and spoilt for the rest of her life at a place she calls her own.
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