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spinbaby

(15,199 posts)
Wed Sep 14, 2022, 04:20 PM Sep 2022

I'm just sick

You may remember that I was bottle feeding two tiny kittens who were in bad shape when I got them. They’re doing great—no worries. Yesterday we found two more from the same litter—underweight and covered with fleas and fly strike. They needed lots of cleanup, warmth, and feeding, but look like they’ll pull through.

Today we found the fifth kitten. It wad too late for this one because the flies had hatched and the maggots had started eating it alive. All I could do was rush it to my vet to be euthanized.

These kittens are from a kind of grey gardens hoarding situation—think hoarded decaying mansion with old people who feed cats, but do nothing else about caring for them. I’ve been trapping and fixing their cats for three years now and will never catch up. They have some unknown number of indoor cats, too, some of whom I’ve also fixed. Everything is horrifyingly unsanitary. And there is, I’ve discovered, no agency that will do anything about any of it.

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I'm just sick (Original Post) spinbaby Sep 2022 OP
Oh dear shenmue Sep 2022 #1
That's so horrible. Bless you for all you do to help and for helping the fifth kitten cross the skylucy Sep 2022 #2
Different states have different laws about what is Phoenix61 Sep 2022 #3
Not here spinbaby Sep 2022 #8
What state are you in? That sounds like an opportunity for Humane Society or others?? Evolve Dammit Sep 2022 #12
Ty so much for helping them SheltieLover Sep 2022 #4
I'm so sorry. onecaliberal Sep 2022 #5
Thank you--are there rescue groups (not agencies) in your area? Nt spooky3 Sep 2022 #6
How horrible! Bayard Sep 2022 #7
I've rescued several maggoty kittens. I've been lucky, but it's a bad situation. It could be that Karadeniz Sep 2022 #9
It was bad spinbaby Sep 2022 #10
Oh my. That must have been horrifying. MontanaMama Sep 2022 #11
Bless you for what you have done in this situation and for the cats that live in this sad condition. japple Sep 2022 #13
OMG - what you describe is absolutely heroic! bluboid Sep 2022 #14
Express ticket to nirvana for you spinbaby. rubbersole Sep 2022 #15
You should be happy that you were able to save four of them! Many years ago housecat Sep 2022 #16
this happened to a friend of a friend. barbtries Sep 2022 #21
These stories make perfect sense. There are dimensions we humans only know in dreams. housecat Sep 2022 #22
what i usually tell people barbtries Sep 2022 #23
I can't define love, but I know it is so powerful it crosses lines between dimensions and species housecat Sep 2022 #24
Thanks for helping cate94 Sep 2022 #17
Board of Health? Animal Welfare? Elder welfare checkup? Any of those 3 could enter the house... Hekate Sep 2022 #18
Oh gawd, how heartbreaking. Sky Jewels Sep 2022 #19
you're a hero barbtries Sep 2022 #20
thank you, dear rescuer. peacebuzzard Sep 2022 #25

skylucy

(3,854 posts)
2. That's so horrible. Bless you for all you do to help and for helping the fifth kitten cross the
Wed Sep 14, 2022, 04:26 PM
Sep 2022

Rainbow Bridge.

Phoenix61

(17,648 posts)
3. Different states have different laws about what is
Wed Sep 14, 2022, 04:27 PM
Sep 2022

considered animal hoarding. Animal control should respond to hoarding situations. Should being the operative word. They are good about responding where I live but I’m sure that’s not the case everywhere.

Karadeniz

(23,423 posts)
9. I've rescued several maggoty kittens. I've been lucky, but it's a bad situation. It could be that
Wed Sep 14, 2022, 05:12 PM
Sep 2022

with that one, your purpose was to stop its pain. So sorry.. I know this won't keep you from continuing your much needed work. By the way, a flea spray with pyrethrine will kill maggots if the wound isn't so deep that you'd just be poisoning the poor thing.

spinbaby

(15,199 posts)
10. It was bad
Wed Sep 14, 2022, 05:43 PM
Sep 2022

The vet said there was no alternative, but I knew that the second I turned it over and looked at its backside.

MontanaMama

(24,023 posts)
11. Oh my. That must have been horrifying.
Wed Sep 14, 2022, 06:28 PM
Sep 2022

Thank you for what you’ve done for the little ones…and for helping their litter mate to the other side. I’m so sorry you had to go through that.

japple

(10,326 posts)
13. Bless you for what you have done in this situation and for the cats that live in this sad condition.
Wed Sep 14, 2022, 06:34 PM
Sep 2022

I hope you can find like-minded souls to help you. Are you TNR'ing the cats or trapping/fixing/ and sending to local AC, humane shelters, or rescues? My heart breaks for all of these innocent kitties who are born to such a sad life. I work in cat rescue and this season has been murder. So many cats and kittens being surrendered to AC because people adopted them from shelters, didn't get them fixed, and now the kittens are being given up. I took 15 cats from the county AC to a rescue group today. The rescue was able to help only because another rescue had to cancel 20 sp/neuter appointments and she jumped in and got them. They will be the lucky ones.

bluboid

(681 posts)
14. OMG - what you describe is absolutely heroic!
Wed Sep 14, 2022, 06:37 PM
Sep 2022

please always take care of yourself when you work with animal rescue. my heart goes out to you & all the critters you've rescued!

housecat

(3,138 posts)
16. You should be happy that you were able to save four of them! Many years ago
Wed Sep 14, 2022, 06:46 PM
Sep 2022

a little kitten followed my husband home, so of course he brought it inside and handed me an adorable gift. The kitten had markings resembling a South American margay, so we named him Margay. He had a maggot that was so deep in his neck the little guy had to have surgery to remove it. While he was there he got fixed. We had sixteen years together before he had to be euthanized. When we returned home from the vet, still crying, we saw something amazing. Margay's climbing tree had pink blossoms. Inside the garage there was a long ribbon of pink blossoms from the cat door to the middle of the floor. It was Margay letting us know that he was ok. Of course we call it the Margay tree.

barbtries

(29,792 posts)
21. this happened to a friend of a friend.
Wed Sep 14, 2022, 07:25 PM
Sep 2022

Last edited Wed Sep 14, 2022, 09:17 PM - Edit history (1)

she had a dog for many years loved it madly and when it died, she buried it in her backyard. Within days there was a kitten sitting on the dog's grave. She adopted the kitten of course and had that pet furrever.

When my friend told me this story, I immediately said, "Her dog sent her a kitten so she wouldn't be lonely!" and my friend, ever skeptical, said, well, that's what my friend believes too.

Explain it otherwise. A turtle showed up out of the blue in my son's backyard - on my daughter's 23rd birthday. I worked at a glass shop for 18 years and at one point in all those years, we had a mouse in my house. I complained to my co-worker that "what we need is a mouser." Within 10 minutes a cat showed up at the door of the office. I should have named her Mary Poppins but I did name her Tinkerbelle and she was indeed a great cat who kept the mice out of our house. except for that one time when she brought one into the house to show her babies - it was still alive

these experiences keep me believing in spirit despite my atheism.

housecat

(3,138 posts)
22. These stories make perfect sense. There are dimensions we humans only know in dreams.
Wed Sep 14, 2022, 08:24 PM
Sep 2022

But animals are freer to visit them, probably because they don't have the baggage humans are burdened with. Spirituality is very real. Religion is not. Perhaps what you call atheism is a rejection of the bullshit about God or gods or whatever people can use to control others in the name of "religion." IMO Western religion is about social control and has nothing to do with spirituality, and you seem to know that.

barbtries

(29,792 posts)
23. what i usually tell people
Wed Sep 14, 2022, 09:15 PM
Sep 2022

is i don't believe in any gawd that gives a rat's ass about me personally.

i believe in love though

cate94

(2,888 posts)
17. Thanks for helping
Wed Sep 14, 2022, 07:02 PM
Sep 2022

If not for you, all of them would have suffered the same fate as the last kitten.

Hekate

(94,665 posts)
18. Board of Health? Animal Welfare? Elder welfare checkup? Any of those 3 could enter the house...
Wed Sep 14, 2022, 07:05 PM
Sep 2022

I’m so very sorry — you are doing good and kind deeds — I know sometimes it has to be frustrating as hell when it seems no one will take action.

Take care of yourself, too.

barbtries

(29,792 posts)
20. you're a hero
Wed Sep 14, 2022, 07:18 PM
Sep 2022

to those cats. thank you! don't dwell on the poor little lost baby, it's a great thing you did saving the other 4 of them and hopefully they'll be cared for and adopted out to loving homes, healthy and fixed.

peacebuzzard

(5,267 posts)
25. thank you, dear rescuer.
Thu Sep 15, 2022, 11:08 AM
Sep 2022

You are an angel.

So sad that so many critters unseen are consumed by maggots, CWD, starvation, poaching, and climate disasters that cry and succumb in their desperate pain, alone.
But thanks to you, it matters to these little kitties you have saved and awarded these babies with a chance at a better life.

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