Comings and Goings

So it has been a bit since I posted. Things have just been a little crazy. But here is what has been going on. Bubbles and Quinn became well enough to come back home with us, but on that same day their brother Eric had to go to stay at the shelter because he was sick with a bad upper respiratory infection. Thankfully he only had to stay a few days.

However, all the kittens were exhibiting slightly odd symptoms. As a result I had Batty and Buffy (who seemed healthy) in my bedroom, Bailey and Eric (who had URI signs) in the spare bathroom and Bubbles and Quinn (dehydration) in the foster room. It was a little crazy.

Eventually, all the kittens but Bailey started having the same odd symptoms: lack of eating and dehydration for now known reason. So we decided to have Bailey go back to the shelter (they are all old enough) and go up for adoption so that he would not get sick being with the other kittens.

A few days later I was volunteering at the shelter manning an informational table on fostering when one of the volunteers came out of the cat adoption area to tell me that she thought Bailey was wheezing. So I went in to check him out. He was visiting with potential adopters and was active and playing so I was not initially too concerned. The potential adopters had some questions about him and decided that they wanted to adopt him so they gave him back to me to go fill out the adoption paperwork and talk with staff.

Unfortunately when I actually got my hands on Bailey I could tell that he was really struggling to breathe and that it was more than the mild URI symptoms that he had shown in my home. I immediately took him back to a staff member to be evaluated and more than one agreed that his breathing was not right and there was no way he could be adopted that day. I felt bad disappointing his potential adopters but we could not send them home with a sick kitten.

I took Bailey home hoping that he was breathing heavy because he had been visited with a lot that day and it was very hot in the shelter since the air system was being repaired and he spent his whole life in my air conditioned home. But after 24 hours back in my home his breathing had not improved so he went in to see the vet that Monday. The vet said that he either had pneumonia or a partially collapsed lung and he would need to stay in foster with me for a least a month to receive treatment. She also looked at his brother Quinn who I brought in for some fluids since he was still dehydrated. When she learned that the whole litter was having problems and that their mother had had mastitis, she put them all on medication for two weeks.

I am happy to report that the medications were just "what the doctor ordered" and everyone is doing well. Two weeks after being put on medications all the kittens except for Bailey are healthy enough to go up for adoption and will be leaving tomorrow. Bailey is improving well, but to be safe we are going to keep him on the medication for the full month since lung problems like this one can be really hard to beat.

So as of tomorrow morning I will be going from having 6 foster kittens to having just one. Although if fate is on my side and a special new little kitten named Beth manages to survive her life saving surgery I will have two. I am keeping my fingers crossed.