Oh, dear

Oh, dear. Oh, dear, oh, dear,  oh, dear...

Took Nell out this morning and found this wee thing in the ditch bottom along the way.  It's not the only one. Yesterday Mr L saw a litter of 6 or 7 kittens with mother cat not far from the spot we found this one and another kitten today. The other one had the strength to run away, this one didn't and clearly its days were numbered if left. Clearly a runt as the others are all much larger, so its size belies its age and rather than the 5 weeks or so that it looks, we think it must be around 8 weeks.

It looks very much as though the whole litter has been dumped, along with Mum.

It's very small compared to its siblings and very bony. Its head is enormous in comparison to its body. It has conjunctivitis too. What could we do? I turned around and brought it home whilst Nell and her dad completed their walk.

Fortunately, after a little sleep in my arms, it turned out to have strength remaining with which to eat (I mashed  up some of Cat's Whiskas for it). 

Even more fortunately, we bought a cat litter tray last week (in order to find out if Cat is litter-trained and if we might consider taking her away in the motorhome with us). I filled the tray and hey presto, the wee thing obliged and used it! Rather lends weight to the theory that this family were raised in a home and then taken out and dumped?

I have made a bed from a log basket lined with a towel and she has discovered it and had a nap. I have bathed her eyes and removed her ticks and overall I rather think that she might make it. Earlier this morning we were convinced that she would die.

I've made some enquiries to see if a proper rescue person can be found and also if we can get some goat milk for her. I don't want to risk cow's milk as she is really quite weak.

No. We can't keep her. Of course we can't keep her... can we? We've just taken on Cat and already have a dog. She'll have to go... but at the moment she is in Steve's arms and purring like an engine.