Day #234 – Kittens

Gatlinburg TN

Today, Fran came by my rig to ask me whether I’d seen the kittens yet.  “What kittens?” I asked.  “The newborn kittens,” she replied.  Off we went, at a good clip, to see the little ones.

When I arrived at the campers’ site, two of the kittens were curled up together on the outdoor carpet and one was trying to crawl across gravel next to the carpet.  I gently picked up the kitten that was on gravel and put it back on the carpet.  The RV owners were trying (unsuccessfully) to feed the kittens from a bottle with a hard plastic tip.

It probably happened this way:  On Wednesday, July 14, MomCat climbed into the undercarriage of a big RV that was parked in South Carolina.  On Thursday, the owners of the rig drove it to our campground in Tennessee.  This morning, when they heard their rig “crying,” they took the front end apart to find three newborn kittens.

The RV owners made it plain they could not cope with the kittens and did not want them.  They were not interested in taking them back to South Carolina to be reunited with their mother.  Things got a bit confusing.  The manager called Animal Control and Kelly and I took the three kittens back to our rig.  Kelly searched the ‘Net for a vet and I started warming the kittens.  The one who had been on gravel was cold.  Kelly had no luck finding a vet, but we did find a website devoted to newborn feral cats.  Based on what we learned, Kelly went off to the pet store. 

After the kittens were warm, I bathed and dried them thoroughly.  By then, Kelly had returned with formula and bottles and the fun started.  We fed the kittens every two hours.  We told each other they would probably not survive.  We tried to not fall in love with them.  Later in the evening, the owner of the RV knocked on my door.  They had found a fourth kitten.  He was very cold and barely responsive.  I warmed him, bathed him, and tried to feed him.

These kittens have been without their mother for at least a day.  They will probably die.  If they do die, they will do so while being held and loved, in a warm and dry space.