Morris's Story

About a week into the 2004 fall semester I received a call from health services, saying a student had found a kitten on campus and left it with them. It was delivered to my office a few minutes later. Luckily, it was a warm day. Chill is the biggest danger to young kittens and a kitten should never be fed until it is warmed up.  This baby -- soon to become known as Mr. Orange -- was not even two days old. He still had his cord and some dried blood on him. Mama Kitty had probably been startled during a move and dropped him. It would be quite a challenge to help him survive, but I was stuck with it.

I brought out the blankets and feeding supplies and prepared for the 2-hour routine of feeding, burping (yes, even kittens need burping) and massaging his little tummy. Kittens that have been with their mother for a few days or weeks often have a difficult time adjusting to man-made nipples, but this baby was so new at it that he took to his new feeding equipment quickly. 

Soon word got out that I had a new kitten and Tracy and Sarah volunteered to take turns at feeding.  At night Mr. Orange went home with me in a tiny box where he would spend the night next to my pillow so that I would hear him when he was hungry.  After a few days of this routine, it dawned on Sarah that she had a nursing cat at home and that maybe her cat would be a surrogate. Luna’s kittens were quite a bit older, but we thought it was worth a try, so off went Mr. Orange to try out the new plan.  During the first attempt to connect mama and baby, the baby wasn’t interested. During the second attempt, Luna didn’t show an interest.  Then there were a couple of successful feeding sessions which was very encouraging. Unfortunately, it never became a dependable routine. Luna didn’t exactly come running when Mr. Orange was hungry, so eventually Sarah gave up on the surrogate idea.

Meanwhile, Sarah’s husband, Alan, had become very attached to our little orange kitty and decided he wanted to foster him for a while. This was a wonderful arrangement since Alan is self employed and home during the day. Their son even got involved when he was home from school.  A kitten is not ready to start weaning until at least 4 weeks and bottle fed kittens are usually slower to develop, so are often not ready until 5-6 weeks of age. Alan knew that any time it became too much,  Mr. Orange could come back to me, but he stuck it out for a long and tedious 5 weeks. ADMIRABLE !

By now we had an adoptive parent ready to take Mr. Orange (soon to become Morris) as soon as he was ready. I took our miracle kitten back to my house to wean him and litter box train him, and to get him used to being home alone for longer periods of time. He was about half the size he would have been if he had been nursed by his mom, but otherwise he was healthy, active, and just learning to play. He had spent his six weeks in a foster home with people, a dog, and other cats. He was a perfect candidate for his new home with Mary, and quickly found a warm spotted friend named Butler.  Thanks to our village efforts, we had another wonderful story to tell.

A special thanks to the Reuter family and Tracy Lovelace.