Furry Friday ~ The life of Charlie the Cat

This is Charlie the Cat who came to us at approximately 3 weeks old. He along with 5 of his litter mates were picked up by a rescuer and taken off the side of a road. It took them a couple days just to capture them all as they were feral. A call was made, they took 3, we took 3. They were malnourished, cold & clearly in trouble. I reached out to rescuer number 1 to let her know how night one went, and she had stated she lost 2 from her side as I let her know we lost the female on our side. So, for the next 4 days we fought like hell to keep our last 2 alive and thriving.

We thought we were out of the woods only to wake to kitten number 4 (hers) and kitten 5 (ours) had passed in the night despite our best efforts. I knew what was happening. They were dying from fading kitten syndrome which is one of the most heartbreaking events you can deal with when dealing with a litter. If you are an animal lover, I encourage you to look up the phenomenon of FADING KITTEN SYNDROME. It is a heart wrenching condition that is poorly understood because there is no way to tell what litter or when it will strike. I don't relax until my kits get to 5 or 6 weeks as I've seen it often enough to know, be on the ready.

Fading kitten syndrome: Factors predisposing to ‘faders’ and treatment options

I started getting internally angry at everyone who leaves their cats out (it's a proven fact indoor cats live much longer than outside cats) and at anyone not spaying or neutering their pets. If you're not a conscientious breeder & dealing with pure bred cats, you owe it to your cats to spay and neuter them & I absolutely believe in catch and release at the very least for feral cats. I just went through the range of emotions one might when loosing so much in a short span of time. Then I pulled up my big girl panties and moved forward with what we had left.

Free and Low Cost Vet Clinics in Illinois

One kitten from a litter of six. You can bet this last kitten was going to be held all day, all night and every minute in between and monitored to an excessive amount to try to keep him alive. It is almost always the case, when you start losing them to fading kitten syndrome - you're going to lose them all. I couldn't live with those odds. It was gutting me, and my heart couldn't deal with it. So, I decided I was going to hold this last kitten on my chest next to my heart from here on out. We made it through day 1, post losses, then day 2 and so it went. Charlie was surviving against all odds against him. He started to pick up in his energy levels. He would come to you to be held or sit near or on you for warmth and he was very curious about our eldest dog at the time, Bitsy. Bitsy was the "mother" of the house & a better parent and disciplinarian then we ever could be, but she was also very accepting of new "critters" coming in & instinctively knew what they needed.

I watched his weight daily; made sure he was fed often throughout the day and sure enough, he was showing signs of thriving. Somewhere in week 3 with us, he began to play. He would chase the string toy we made him, go from shelf to shelf in the cat condo enclosure we had in the living room and started consistently using his cat box. I knew he had made it.

And, for the big upgrade, Charlie began to purr and respond to voices. He would seek me out when I was in my sewing room insisting, I pick him up for his nap. So, I would hold him until he was done being held. No negotiating, Charlie got what Charlie wanted. He made it to 6 weeks, then 9 weeks and I began to feel like he was absolutely safe. He was going in the right direction all the way around.

Charlie was curious, playful, affectionate & doing all the "things" a small kitten should be doing. His appetite was on point, he followed me around appropriately, played with the dogs and so on. He was thriving and we couldn't be happier. We also noticed he was quite a playful ham. Goofy as can be and had us in stitches. So, we did what any responsible owner would do, we renamed him. He would now be known as "Charlie Chaplin". It fit him perfectly.

Charlie is my love bug, and he comes to me 3 to 4 times a day for "shirt collar suckling" and cuddles just like when he was a wee lil kitten. At night, he seeks me out and gets under the covers to cuddle for his nighttime siesta. He is not often far from me anywhere in the house. You could say, I'm his surrogate momma. Charlie Chaplin thrives and the vet said he had no issues to worry about. He is a healthy, happy, curious, vaccinated and neutered male, 16.3lb tabby cat.

And he still comes to me daily for his late afternoon, laying right on my heart, naps!