Sunday, August 21, 2011 at 9:31pm
My week began on monday morning as I drove north on the TPE to work. There were dark clouds gathering in the distance and I was sure it would rain. I recall chuckling to myself, "will it flood?". There were already a few patients when I reached the clinic and I decided to start seeing them before my usual morning kopi-C. It was a rather stressful morning. Not only was the clinic crowded, but there were a few more serious cases which needed more time. Around 10 something am, one of my staff's head popped in through the counter window, and with eyes opened big big said, "Doctor, a cat just gave birth in Room 2! HOW???" I was just about to call the next patient and I remember feeling irritated. I had previously told them to keep the Room 2 door closed at all times. I replied in an irritated manner, " I already told you all to keep Room 2 closed before! Just deal with it, I'm busy!" I continued seeing patients for about another hour. Then, when I called another patient in, my staff's head popped in again and said, "Doctor, this patient helped us to clean them up already, but the mother cat ran away!" I was like, "Huh??? ran away???" The patient entered my consultation room and I quickly thanked her for her kind act of helping us and the kittens. It was rather messy as I would find out later. We went through her problem and I decided to waive her consultation fees to thank her for her kind act. I gave my staff some money to buy some milk from 7-11 next door to feed the cats. I immediately put out an SOS on facebook for help. Closer to 12 noon. The rain lightened. The Mother cat had given birth to 2 tiny kittens and ran off. My staff took the kittens to our resident Cat lady who usually sits at the next block. I grabbed my camera not knowing it was without its CF card and ran out once I had cleared my patient load. They were so small and tiny and their umbilical cord was still attached. My other Staff Wee went with me and she brought a 3ml syringe. I took a series of photos without realizing that my camera had no memory card. I ran back to the clinic but there were a few more patients. I treated them and then put the card into my camera and ran back to take a few more photos. I thought Cat Lady who uses my bathroom everyday to bath would take care of them. Later on, closer to our closing time in the afternoon, someone came to tell us that an RC member saw the kittens and took them to SPCA. I immediately called up SPCA but the person told me that it would be hard for them to survive without the mother and if they were brought to SPCA, well.....she didn't explicitly say it, but I got the sense that the kittens would be put down. I was feeling rather sad, but well, there was nothing I could do about it. they were gone already, or so I thought. When I arrived at work the next morning on tuesday, I found them in the same box outside my clinic. Cat lady told me that apparently SPCA had rejected the resident who brought them there and they were back. The kitties soft weak mewing could be heard. They had not fed since the day before and they were not strong at all. You had to strain to hear their cry. I decided to bring the kitties into the clinic and my staff Wee warmed up yesterday's milk and took the responsibility of feeding them. After we closed at 3pm, I drove to Pet Lover Centre at Eastpoint and bought a bottle and some milk powder. I went back to the clinic early before we started the night clinic and fed the 2 kitties. They took better to the the bottle and that night, when Lynn came over, we decided to bring them home. I sent an email to some Singapore cat welfare society but all I got was an automated reply followed by some email telling me they had sent out word to their network. Big fat hairy help all these animal societies.........no advise whatsoever on how to take care of kittens. Anyway, we took care of the kittens and I made intermittent updates here on FB. I brought the kitties everyday to the clinic and we took turns feeding them. We put hot water in 2 water bottles multiple times in the day and wrapped them with cloth to provide some warmth. We lined the box with towels and Lynn threw in a pair of my tennis socks for them to hug. Every night, we would use a cotton pad to wipe each of them. The Kitties were doing well. By Thursday, they were a terror. clawing the box and mewing loudly. I was glad to hear their mewing get louder and stronger. They also started to poo and pee, which from what I read, are good signs. I put the box just outside my room towards the back of the clinic so we could hear when they were hungry. Our patients were curious and fascinated by them. I tried to bring them to the mother 1 more time. She seemed curious when she heard their mewing from the box, but when I took one of them out to let her see, she back away and bared her teeth with a hiss. On Friday night, we changed their box when we got home. We even bought a new set of towels for them. They were still mewing loudly and trying to claw their way out of the box. Nothing out of the ordinary. But on saturday morning, I noticed one of them was weaker. The nicer looking one with stripes on its face. He was rather quiet. Lynn drove me to work and we had coffee together. She wanted to take them to see a vet. I began seeing patients at 830am and it started to get busy. About 930am, Lynn called me in to room 2 to check on them. The weaker kitten was even weaker. In fact he was gasping. I knew it wasn't good and told her and my staff that he would not survive. For those of us who have done resus in the wards, it was exactly the same thing. Only thing is I couldn't do anything at all. Saturday was busy for me and Lynn went off to the vet with both kitties. It was crowded but they gave her priority. by that time, the kitty was already a bit stiff but still gasping. The Vet recommended putting him down and she agreed. The other kitty seemed ok at that time. The Vet said he would take care of the body. Lynn called me after and told me she would go home first. Our striped face kitty was dead. I finished up at the clinic at 1230pm and left for home. When I reached home and checked on the other kitty, he too was not doing well. There was a gurgling sound when he breathed and he was very still. I think he aspirated or something. By 4pm he was dead. It has been a strange week with ups and downs. I still can't believe that a cat would just choose our clinic to run into during a heavy rainstorm, give birth and then run off. I wanted to believe that there was some other purpose to all of this. It would have been nice if they had survived and continued to live in the community as our clinic cats. I wonder if I had done something wrong? handled them too roughly (I really just grab them with my bare hands when I feed them)? Maybe I over fed them that morning and caused them to aspirate? I don't know. But such is life. It is unpredictable and surprising at times. Tomorrow is monday again. I miss hearing their mewing. I wonder if it will rain heavily again tomorrow?
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