Lily

On Easter weekend 2001, one of our wild outdoor cats had 3 little grey kittens. I was charmed with the little white-nosed one, and we watched their progress. The little mother cat wasn't very good at mothering, though, and kept them out in the dirt, and then on our deck. The babies struggled with eye infections, and my little white nose developed a serious problem with her eyes. We watched the struggle... she wasn't able to learn to eat, and her mother gobbled up the food that we tried to slip out to her when she was alone. The little family would go out into the back yard to play in the evenings, but little white nose wasn't able to make the trip... she couldn't see, and apparently, she was weak. But, she loved her little family, and she'd be so glad to see them when they came back from playtime. We were afraid to interfere with the family dynamics of an untamed mother cat, though, and just watched. Mother's milk started to fail, though, and little white nose failed, too, getting thinner instead of growing. And then, one day, she was gone.

I don't remember now how much time passed. At least a full day, maybe two -- ? We were afraid the worst had happened, and my mother planned to look for her little body the next day. I lay in bed that night, sad, and prayed for a miracle... that I'd have my little white nose in the bed with me in the morning. It didn't even seem like a realistic prayer to me, but it was certainly what I wanted.

The doorbell rang early the next morning, and my mother answered. Our neighbor was standing there with a box... with a rolled up towel... and my little white nose tucked in between two towel "sausage rolls." He said, "I thought this might be yours." My mother said, "Yes." He said, "I think it might be blind." My mother said, "Yes." And, he told her how they'd tried to feed her, and that the milk they'd offered had soured.

So, my mother took the baby, got me, and we headed to the kitchen. She warmed 1/2 & 1/2 and got out our cat feeding syringe, and dropped warm milk in the baby's mouth... and she swallowed, and swallowed, and swallowed. We debated about how often kittens would need to be fed, and thought maybe every four hours or something. We tried to "offer" her to our old kitty, thinking that Honey might like a baby to sleep with, but Honey said "no" to that idea. :) So, I took the baby with me, and went back to bed.

Lord, help Thou my unbelief!

I think it was about two hours later when we tried warm 1/2 & 1/2 again, and boy, this time, it wasn't about just swallowing... it was about slurping! And, she just got better and stronger from there!

She did lose one eye, and the other is noticeably impaired... but SHE doesn't seem to know that, and she certainly didn't let it slow her down.

Her name is Lily (because she was born on Easter weekend -- she's an Easter Lily :)), and she is my baby. And when I was playing with my camera a few nights ago, she decided that she would go ahead and go to sleep... in my bed. :) I joined her shortly.