Shhhh…the baby’s sleeping!
Oriole, a 3 day old newborn kitten, was diagnosed with a large cleft palate yesterday after failing to gain weight like his littermates. So, I’ve had to take him from mom (he’ll aspirate her milk up his nose and down his lungs if left to nurse). He’s being tube-fed formula every 2 hours, kept warm with a microwavable clay thing wrapped in a blanket, and stimulated to urinate/defecate with a wet warm cotton ball. After his skull stops growing so rapidly (about 5 months old), he’ll have surgery to correct the cleft palate.
Here Oriole is with a full belly, empty bladder, and newly microwaved warmy.
