Feelin' Lucky?

After the Birthday Weekend, and Monday at That School Up North, I was looking forward to a routine day. No such luck. 

We began our day in the overgrown pasture. It started to mist as we were making our way back to the gate. I realized something was amiss when neither Missy nor Rocky came a runnin' for a treat. I investigated. Good Lord! Missy had something in her mouth. Again.

I finally got her to drop it-- and it was much more interesting than a treat!-- put their leashes on them and high tailed it back to the house where I grabbed a clean towel and then headed back to the pasture, hoping I could remember where she'd dropped it.

Luckily, I found it. And I did look everywhere for its nest. No such luck. So I took it inside. I mean, what was I to do? It's not like it was a mouse or a baby rat. (I once saw a swarm of fire ants on a small rat and I didn't want that to happen to it.)

Lucky

Fast forward 10 hours or so and you'll find Miss M pulling the two-week-old-kitten-rescue-night-shift in the quarantined guest room surrounded by eye droppers and syringes and baby kitten bottles and kitten rescue formula and towel swatches that are supposed to substitute for mothers' tongues.

As an aside, this may surprise. I have no crappy old books on kitten rescue. But it's amazing how fast news and information travels these days. I sent Miss M that photo (taken on my phone) as soon as I had Lucky settled in her nest on top of my seed germinating heat pad. Within minutes Kat had emailed with a web site on how to care for rescued kittens-- including feral kittens.

Lucky. Lucky to still be alive after having been in Missy's mouth. (Lucky weighs 5 ounces. Missy weighs about 1520 ounces.) Lucky to not be eaten to death by fire ants or picked apart while still alive by buzzards. Lucky to be warm & dry. 

So we'll see what happens. There are good signs-- when stimulated after feeding, Lucky pees! But at this stage of the game-- no matter how well we care for Lucky-- it's luck of the draw. Did Missy pull the runt from the litter or the most robust? Was its mother reasonably healthy and virus free? (I know who its mother is, by the way, but cannot attest to it health.) Can we-- not being mother cats-- balance heat and water? Lucky is at least lucky we understand enzymes. 

I was surprised to see how low the protein content of the kitten rescue formula was. 

Wish Lucky good luck. Or Pray. However you think you control the universe, please ask the universe to be kind to Lucky.