DON'T SCARE ME LIKE THAT

When I was given this batch to foster, I was told to watch over Viper, the smallest (or the runt if you will) of the batch. He was smaller and definitely seemed more fragile than his siblings. He didn't eat nearly as much as his brother and sister did when it came to feeding time and he never seemed to suckle very long on his mother either.

Well, after a few too many days of not eating or drinking as much as he should have, it ended up culminating into a very scary 24 hours for me when I found him Saturday morning all dazed, barely able to walk or focus his eyes on me and seemed very dehydrated.

I called *VOKRA right away and rushed him to the Operations Centre where I met Karen, the President of VOKRA. She gave him a bunch of medications and fluids (a bit too many for me to remember or even list) and it brought him back a bit, although he was still very lethargic. I was sent home with some critical care food, drops and medication. Viper seemed to do better that afternoon and into the evening, but seemed to take a turn for the worst after I gave him his drops just before midnight. He threw up almost immediately afterwards and a couple more times after that and proceeded to go limp, with his eyes half opened. 

It was an extremely frightening sight.

Although it was midnight, I made an emergency call into VOKRA and Karen called me back shortly afterwards. I gave her details of the situation, but Karen and I did not know what else we could do for Viper. He was breathing, but not responsive. Karen told me that if he was crying or whimpering in pain, then I would have to take him to the 24-hour vet and get further instructions from her after they assessed Viper. However, Viper was not crying or meowing at all ... he just seemed, well ... out of it.

So, I told Karen that I would stay up all night with Viper and give her a status report in the morning.

I then took Viper to my room, squeezed him into one of my micro fiber socks to keep him warm and laid him on a towel next to me in bed and I watched over him most of the night, ensuring that I had my hand on him to keep him warm and watched that he was still breathing. He would make a few sounds throughout the night, like little sighs and meows but never moved more than an inch or two all night.

At about 8 am, my husband said that Karen emailed me with this simple question: "Did he make it?"

I woke up to find Viper still breathing (*thank goodness*) and proceeded to get up to hand feed him his critical care food and give him warm water via a syringe. I proceeded to do this every hour until he gained back some strength.

I am happy to report that by late afternoon, he was wobbling around and playing with his brother and sister and by late evening he was back to his cute, adorable self.

All night, while I was looking after Viper, I had this feeling that it was not his time to leave us and I kept giving him good vibes and thoughts when I was caressing him. You can say I was almost willing him to stay alive.

Such a little fighter he is!

Viper looking so much better

Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Association

https://www.facebook.com/VOKRA

Adoption application:

http://www.orphankittenrescue.com/adoption_application/