It’s amazing what a little TLC and medicine can do. The kitten is showing signs of getting better, and she’s got a great appetite now! I’ve been giving her kitten milk, a little bit of homemade chicken bone broth and cooked egg, she’s gaining a bit of weight with it slowly but surely. This new food in her system is giving her strength, last night she was playing with a crumbled paper ball and my fingers. This is the first time she’s displayed playful behavior since bringing her home, when before she was lethargic when awake and slept a lot.

She’s learned to use a litter box now, we had some accidents for the first two nights, one in a corner and one in her bed, but now she knows what to do. Heh. She likes being close to me but is too scared to be held or petted, as most ferals are, yet she still sits close to me and watches me on my phone or sweep up any dry food and litter. She wants to be close, she’s just unsure still. I have to gain her trust. These things take time, but I'm used to it with my other black cat, who was very much the same at that age, and now he’s a lap cat who goes on adventures with me.

I'm keeping in touch with the other fosterers, and they say one of the other kittens is in critical care, the illness morphed into something much more severe and he was vomiting. He was taken to a clinic yesterday and today he stopped vomiting, but is still very weak. Poor little one, I hope he gets better. The other two are showing a lot of improvement, they’re very playful though congested, I suggested using a humidifier, as that is what I'm using in conjunction with gently cleaning the kitten’s eyes every morning.

Now I'm wondering what to name her. I’m thinking of the name Dusk, but my bro likes the name Ebony. What names, preferably gender neutral, would suit a kitten? Doesn’t have to relate to her fur color either. But I just can’t keep calling her ‘kitten’, especially when I take her in for her first vaccinations.

We successfully captured the kittens, they were really easy to lure out with a can of food, mama cat wasn’t as easily tricked however and she escaped upstairs. Took most of the morning to get her, but she went into a bathroom and was cornered. She’ll be taken in to be fixed and receive any medical care she may need. Between the three of us, we decided to foster one each with one kitten staying with the mom.

I took the black kitten. Gosh she’s so tiny and thin, picking her up I could feel each rib, her back leg bones are jutting out, and the little bit of food she ate makes her stomach look bloated on her small frame. I took her to the animal clinic and explained the situation and where I found her.

They determined she was six weeks old, but very underweight, coming at only 11 ounces, on average a kitten her age should be ideally 16-20 ounces. Because of this malnourishment, she has the body of a four week old. They strongly recommended I give her cat milk for a month to hopefully stimulate some growth. She was also suffering from early symptoms of an upper respiratory infection, so I'll need to give her some antibiotics for ten days. The other kittens all have this too and are bring treated.

She didn’t fight us or the vet handling her, and they explained it might be because she’s very weak and sick, they didn’t want to be a downer but said to not get too attached, kittens like this sometimes don’t make it. I understood that, but I still want to give her the best chance at life. My other black cat came from a similar situation, he was found nearly frozen under my truck at only eight weeks old. I thought he was going to die on me twice that week, but he was a fighter, and five years later he’s become quite the adventure cat.

All I can do for this little one is provide warmth, food, and try to gain her trust. She’s lucky we found her, winter is coming fast, I don’t think she and her siblings would’ve survived being so malnourished and sick. She’s being quarantined from my other cats in a nice quiet place, and I just gave her some kitten milk which she accepted then fell asleep. She looks very happy now, but seeing her stretched out, ugh, she’s too too thin for a six week old.

Send some good vibes toward her for a fast recovery. I’ll keep you all updated on her status.