My older son was 14 months old and had only been walking for the past month. I was 4 months pregnant with our second son. I had two adult female cats at home, Biscuit and Chicken, and they could not have possibly cared less about the litter. All five kittens were outwardly healthy, and had received dewormer before they came to my home. I kept them in a basement bathroom (my basement was finished and kind of nice for a 50 year old house of only 1700 square feet). I was armed with a tin of KMR (oddly enough, my initials....see how I was cut out to be a vet tech? hehe) and two 2 oz bottles. And a husband who is addicted to cats.
The kittens just LOVED the boy. And the boy was terrified of the kittens, but also drawn to them. Keep in mind that this boy is an Aspie, and as with myself, is a cat whisperer. So this two foot high pair of blue fleece footie pajamas would toddle over to the writhing mass of kitten fluff and try to squat down to pet one. The entire litter would move en masse toward the new, tall creature and attempt to scale the heights while the boy screamed and cried. It was a very difficult few days for the boy, until he got used to them.
Because they were identical, I made teensy tiny little collars out of fabric leavings and ribbon that I had. The kittens' temporary names were Blue, Black, Beige, Red, and Rainbow. Red and Rainbow were female, the rest male. And within a week I had homes for three of the kittens. But nobody wanted them until they were completely weaned and litter box trained, and I wouldn't release them until 8 weeks old. It is kind of a thing for me to keep a litter or family together until then.
Blue suddenly stopped eating 7 days after I brought the kittens into my home. He became lethargic and listless for a day. I took all five to work with me the night Blue began to act sick. I was working with a favorite veterinarian of mine, and he did a thorough exam on poor little Blue. The doc said that I could run some bloodwork, but that Blue was likely suffering from panleukopenia, which is also known as Feline Distemper and Feline Parvovirus. He said that if this was so, I could check a smear of Blue's blood and see how many white blood cells I could find. If there were a diminished or absent amount, this was panleuk and I had to provide supportive care and hope he pulls through.
I pulled a quarter of a cc of blood from Blue, crying inside as I did, and checked three blood smears. Just to be safe. I found three white blood cells total on three slides. And, I have to say, I am pretty awesome at creating readable blood smear slides. They all have a full body, monolayer, and feathered edge. So I knew my little Blue was sick, and the rest would also come down with the sickness soon. Panleuk is a common disease in kittens, and it is preventable with vaccines *if* the maternal antibodies remain in the kitten's system until a vaccine is able to be given. First vaccines don't even get suggested till 8 weeks, though some breeders give them at 6 weeks. The kittens were barely six weeks old. So there was no preventing the disease.
I gave Blue some warmed fluids under his skin and a shot of an antibiotic. And prayed for the best.
The next day, Beige and Red fell ill. Then Black the following day. Then Rainbow. Blue began to improve on the third day, as did Red and Rainbow. Black died overnight the first day of his illness and Beige was euthanized on Day 2 of his. I was treating them all with subcutaneous fluids and antibiotics (for secondary infection, not for the virus itself. antibiotics are for bacterial infections). Red never woke up on Day 5, after she had gone back to eating and drinking. I have no idea what happened there. And Rainbow was euthanized by me at 4am while my veterinarian slept on Day 6 of her ordeal. She had improved, then rapidly declined. When I had taken her in to work with me that final night, her temperature (normal is 101-103 in cats) was at 98 degrees. She was unable to keep circulation up. The vet had approved the euthanasia before he went to bed, and offered to help when it came time. I was crying so hard that I couldn't let him see me like that. And as I injected the diluted pink fluid into her dehydrated, flat vein.....she slipped away to the Rainbow Bridge.
I went home the next morning to my one surviving kitten, Blue.Throughout the week of dying kittens, I had discussed the problems the babies were having with their potential new owners. All had decided they weren't ready for the remaining kitten, and so I had nowhere to send him at 8 weeks old. Due to the emotional trauma of losing 4 kittens in a week, the husband and I decided to keep him. And because panleukopenia can cause lifelong cerebellar deficits, we named him Scooter because he would scoot-jump instead of walk normally.
The name no longer makes sense. Within a few months of being christened Scooter, he figured out how to move his legs properly and has been relatively graceful ever since. He and my boys are the best of friends, and Scooter prefers the company of children to adults any day. He does torment our other cats a few times a month. He likes to hump them as if he was a dog showing dominant behavior. But then again, the other boy cats are twice his size, so I am sure it is necessary. :)
Scooter has a purr that warms even my brittle, tarnished heart. He climbs on my lap some nights and shoves his wet little nose into my face and purrs so hard i can't help but stroke his thick, soft, bouncy fur. And he is so adorable in that he makes suckling noises on his paw when he is blissful. He is in love with those sticky-paper lint rollers also. He carries them around by the sticky paper and licks them and chases them. It's....endearing.
My life and home would not be complete without Scooter. I love him very much, and I am glad he survived.
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