Last evening, what started out as a simple evening walk, ended quite differently from what I had imagined. Had been lazing around the whole day and hence by evening I needed to stretch my limbs. I decided to take a walk up to Great Eastern Galleria with my friend Monali who had come to visit, see her off and then walk around sector 4.
It had been raining the whole day and had just stopped raining. Outside my house there is a stretch of road where on one side there are societies and on the other side the land is empty and has been given for farming as no construction is possible due to the overhead high tension wires. We were just near the patch of land when we heard a weird yelping/purring sort of a noise. I looked around but could see nothing but my friend spotted a tiny little kitten at the roadside near the society boundary wall. It was completely drenched and shivering. We looked around and saw no cats or anything remotely connected to the kitten that could suggest what could be done. The only idea we could think of was to contact Dr. Dhopatkar (the local veterinarian) and find a way out.
Monali was getting late, so she went ahead while I started off towards Dr. Dhopatkar's clinic. Fortunately it's very nearby and by the time I reached there it had started raining again. Anyways he hadn't come, so was wondering what to do when I suddenly noticed that there were contact details of an animal shelter called
Apna Home Charitable Trust For Animal Welfare just next to his clinic. Took their number and decided to go back and investigate. On reaching the place I realized that the kitten's movement had slowed and it was getting completely drenched. Suddenly I heard another sound from the other side of the road. On investigating I soon found out that there were 2 more kittens in the mud covered in dirt and wet. They looked worse. Now I panicked. I called up Apna Home and spoke to Dr. Sangita. She asked me to see if I could spot the mother or find out from which society the kittens had been discarded. Tried for a while but wasn't able to find either. Went back to the Doc. He had come.
Took a carton from him and came back. Picked all the 3 and was about to leave when I suddenly felt that I should look around for any more kittens. I had heard that cat litters usually varied from 2-4 in size. Went back and searched and there was another one trying to come out of the grass. Grabbed it and put it in the carton. It had started to rain quite heavily now. Took them to the doc. He wrote down a list of medicines that was needed and instructed me on all that was required of me to do to make sure they survived. Found out from the doctor that they were just 2 weeks old.
I took the kittens and medicines and got back home. First thing I needed to do was, clean them
up, dry them and feed them. Cleaning wasn't a problem. Did that brilliantly. The problem was with the feeding and the thing that had to be done after the feeding. Now normally one wouldn't have a problem feeding cats but try feeding a kitten that has not learnt to eat on its own and that too with a syringe, then the fun begins. Well the one on the top left which was the adventurous of the lot and had in fact crossed the road didn't like the idea of being fed that way. Though it couldn't stand straight and toppled every time it tried to stand, boy it had attitude. It was hissing and spitting at me :D
Well, thanks to my friend Suman who has a hell lot more experience about cats than me and who
keeps telling me small stories about his cats, I had learnt that holding a cat by its scruff totally immobilizes it. I tried it and it was true. That seriously helped a lot. Managed to feed them a few ml of milk each. Problem was with the medicines. The taste wasn't to their liking. Couldn't make them eat the de-worming medicine.
The next problem that I faced was that, I had to make them... ummm.. eliminate :P Now a mother usually licks to stimulate and make the kittens do their thing. So i tried to simulate the effect with cotton swabs. A couple of them peed but the others weren't ready to cooperate. With my work done, put them back in the carton and they were soon asleep. Unlike puppies who prefer yelping all night long (prior experience) kittens are a lot more disciplined. Slept peacefully all night without any disturbance.
The next day, i.e. today, fed them a couple of times (morning and after, repeated the same ritual as last night) and took them to Apna Home at Kharghar. My friend Chandrashekhar knew the place, so didn't have much trouble finding the place (It would have been impossible to find the place alone). The place has 77 animals including cats, dogs, owls and turtles (these I managed to see) I found out that they would be able to keep the animals for 2 months and then something needs to be done about them. I took care of the lodging and feeding expenses for the 2 months but what is worrying me most is how do I find them homes? I am not a cat person, but I may end up taking one up. But what about the rest? I can't manage to keep 4 cats in the house. I just hope I can find people who would be nice enough to take home an abandoned kitten. I mean even if they keep it in their society and just give it food twice a day, that would suffice. Cats are anyways independent animals. Well all I can do is keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best.
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