Friday, July 13, 2018

The Three Stooges of Summer


Last week we were cattle farm sitting for a neighbor who was out of town. We were driving the dirt road to their farm at dusk when I saw something in the middle of the dusty road. It was a small orange kitten laying in the dirt. We stopped to see if it was still alive and I got out of the truck to check. The kitten looked at me and meowed, I saw no blood, no bones and it got up and climbed me meowing loudly. And then I heard more meows coming from the woods/pasture to my left. Out pops two more kittens from the tall grass. They all are meowing and climbing me like a tree. They are not feral, love humans and were very dehydrated. As it was getting dark and we still had to check cattle, back to our house we drove. Three hungry kittens climbing all over our diesel farm truck bouncing along the country roads. At home, I grabbed my kitten zip tent from the garage, put the wards in there and a bowl of water until we got back.


This is called a puppy tent and it is a lifesaver for me. You can unzip the top and bottom, easy to clean, drys in the sun, the animals can breath and stay cool but also stay caged as needed. The fabric is strong and the zippers well made. I have fostered 4 litters with this tent and it is great shape. I can fold it up after use. I got the 4ft in diameter and can place 6 kitten in here with litter and a bed. The fabric is easy in their paws, no metal clanging  cage rattle to traumatize me nor them. I can put this in any room of my house and the kitten mess stays inside the tent. The kittens can see out, are safe from the older cats and they seem calmer inside the tent. Worth getting this if you foster or raise baby animals.



That night I evaluated the three kittens. They were thin, covered in fleas and ticks. Into the tub with the blue Dawn for a bath. After tick picking, ear cleaning, bath and dusting of DE powder I put them to bed in the kitten tent. The white and tabby kitten has a swollen neck an infection from ear mites and needed antibiotics. Luckily, I had some in powder form to mix with H2O. She had a rough 3 days then the swelling went down and she could eat. I checked the kitten tent and saw more ticks dying inside the tent. I cleaned that out and bathed the kittens- again. Seed ticks, blue ticks, red ticks, lone star ticks - just about every single kind of tick out here was on them- hidden in their fur, anus, paws -everywhere. We put the collected ticks in an alcohol filled jar. Seed ticks are the hardest to get out. But the Dawn works best for cleaning infested kittens. 


I took the stooges to the vet to get their weight, shots and wormer. They are 9 weeks, weigh 2.5 lbs and had a heavy worm load. As I foster I have wormer on hand along with flea drops. Now I am looking for homes for these kittens. We have enough adult cats as it is in our own farm. Kittens are plentiful here in the Ozarks right now. This will be an issue. But we are getting these kittens fixed in 3 weeks and will figure out where to bring them after that.



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