In the first week of May this year we found a tiny starving kitten locked in with the intact males in the house. We were not even aware he existed prior to dad hearing his cries. He must have been born when the door was still open to that room. And either of the lactating mothers must have been feeding them unbeknownst to us. Then once PeeWee was locked in that room to prevent more pregnancies, there was no way for the kitten to be fed. He was born in late March and as such his eyes and ears were open, but he still needed a momma to nurse from.
I had a queen with one surviving kitten “Duckie” in my room. We gave the kitten to the queen, Paisley, in hopes she would accept and take care of him. Paisley was amazing and started to look after B.B. right away. I fell in love with this sweet, beautiful kitten. And I believe he loved me too, his secondary Momma.
Everything was going fine until Paisley’s milk dried up. Duckie was 10 days to 2 weeks older than B.B., and he had started eating cat food before we had been able to entice B.B. to. B.B. would not co-operate and eat cat food, just tried to nurse. This, ultimately, would be his demise.
The only thing he would eat was cream (from a cow). Coffee cream in a small glass dish he would lap out of. And for a time this was enough. But, he got a cold and would not eat much. We tried syringing the cream into his mouth, but he was too stubborn. He lost a lot of ground not eating much.
Above is a photo of B.B. and Bennie, both born off the queen, Bernie. Bernie went into heat very soon after birthing B.B. and got pregnant again immediately. Before we were able to trap PeeWee (completely feral cat that was let in by my cat hoarding father while I was away visiting my fiance in November of 2023) into the “den.”
Rest in peace my special guy. I love you and treasure our time together.
