Meet Mira

My brother found a baby kitten—I mean a teeny, tiny little kitten. He waited for hours for Momma kitty to come back. When she didn’t, he brought the baby to me. He sent me photos of her, and I knew she was small. But it wasn’t until I saw a video and heard her cry that I knew that she was practically an infant. She wasn’t just a kitten. She was a baby kitten. She was so small when I first met her that she could fit comfortably in the palm of my hand.

I fell in love with her the instant I laid eyes on her.

According to our vet (I might have panicked a bit when I realized just how young she actually was and rushed her to the vet on my lunch break.) told us that she’s about two weeks old. Without a Momma kitty to take care of her, the vet said she would have a 50/50 shot at survival.

Did you know that with baby kittens, they have to be fed once every two hours? If they don’t eat as often as they should, their blood sugar tanks. Baby kittens also have to be kept warm. Warmer than you and me. If their temperature drops too low, they won’t make it either. They don’t even know how to use the bathroom on their own. Momma kitty has to stimulate them to go. Without stimulation, they’ll eventually go on their own, but it’s much harder on them and could lead to bladder infections. Also, you can’t feed them just anything. They need a special formula that acts as a replacement for Momma kitty’s milk.

I learned how to be a kitty momma in under 30 minutes at my vet’s office. They supplied me with the information and the supplies necessary to take care of her. And I have to admit, I was terrified. A fifty percent chance of survival isn’t very high. What if I did something wrong? There was suddenly a cute and cuddly, teeny, tiny baby that was dependent on me for her survival. Was I capable of keeping her alive?

I honestly wasn’t sure at the time, but I sure as hell was going to try. My other options seemed far too bleak. I could have left her at a shelter—but shelters are full of cats without homes. They’re understaffed just like everywhere else, and at best, kitty would have been given to a volunteer who would do just as I was planning on doing. We could have taken her back to where she was found and kept waiting for her momma kitty, but we didn’t know how long she’d already gone without eating.

The vet and her tech said that kitty looked healthy for her age. They encouraged me to keep her. It wasn’t that I didn’t want her. I just wasn’t sure if my fiancé was going to let me keep her. He loves animals too, he just doesn’t take to them as quickly as I do. Especially when there’s a chance that the animal might not make it.

I had to go back to work, so my husband-to-be faithfully attempted to feed kitty. Of course, when I got back to work I had to tell my coworkers about her. She’s an adorable kitten and my coworkers all love animals—cats especially. One coworker told me her daughter’s boyfriend has a Momma kitty that just had kittens. They were just about two weeks old as well—and suddenly, baby kitty’s chance for survival increased.

If we could get my friend’s Momma kitty to adopt my kitten into her litter, she would be looked after by an expert cat momma. It was a chance we simply couldn’t miss out on. So we set about creating a plan. My coworker and I both had the following day off work. We would introduce baby and momma the next day.

When I got home, I found out kitty wasn’t latching well to the bottle. If kittens don’t latch to the bottle, it makes it much harder for them to get a decent amount of food.

Luckily, I have a friend who has fostered young kittens before. I remembered seeing her Facebook Live feeds of her taking care of very tiny kittens. When I realized we were having troubles with our baby girl, I Facebooked her right away asking for help. This friend is so amazing that she skipped a class to come help us out. She also left me with a lot of really good resources. One of which is the Kitten Lady. If you ever find an abandoned kitten, or want to help out your local shelter, check out her website: http://www.kittenlady.org/savekittens/

Despite our best efforts, kitty still wouldn’t latch. The best we could do at that point, was to force feed her 2 ml every 2 hours with an eye dropper. We just had to make sure that she was getting enough food to keep her blood sugar up until we could introduce her to Momma kitty.

I went to my local grocery store to purchase some eye droppers but I couldn’t find them. When I asked the Pharmacist about where they were located she told me that they didn’t sell any. When I explained what I needed it for, she began rummaging around in a few of her drawers. She came up with a syringe and offered it to me for free. When I offered to pay for it she waved it off and wished me luck with kitty.

My heart melted yet again. There were so many different people that were dropping everything to help me rescue this kitten. My vet clinic, my coworkers, my kitten fostering friend, the pharmacist—all people that didn’t have to help me, but did.

I know I write a lot of dark stories, but I want you to know that this little kitten made me see just how amazing people can be. She reminded me of all the little miracles that exist in our world. She reminded me of the light. I named her Mira, short for Miracle (or Mirajane--she has quite the fighting spirit!), because of all that she has taught me.

It was a miracle that my brother found her during her time of need. It was a miracle that my vet clinic saw us without an appointment and provided us with the information and supplies we needed to keep her alive. It was a miracle that when I was struggling, I had a friend that had already fostered kittens her age and was willing to stop everything she was doing to help us. It was a miracle that my coworker’s daughter’s boyfriend’s cat had just had kittens two weeks prior and that they were more than willing to help us out. It was a miracle that the pharmacist gave me what I needed when she didn’t have to. It was a miracle that my brother found her and brought her to me. It was a miracle that she had survived on her own for as long as she had.

And it was a miracle when, at 2 o’clock in the morning, she finally latched to the bottle and began actually feeding. She had finally eaten her fill after hours of only getting the bare minimum. In her glee, just as she was falling asleep, she began purring. It was then that I named her Mira, my little miracle.

She purred from then on out, whenever I picked her up to take care of her. I loved her when I first set eyes on her, but I was so afraid of hurting her, of failing her, that it wasn’t until I actually managed to help her that I realized just how much I loved her.

For those of you that are curious, Momma kitty accepted Mira almost immediately. She sniffed her when we first placed Mira near, but she didn’t make a single fuss when Mira snuggled in for a feeding. Afterword she even gave her a bath! Just like that, baby Mira was adopted and her chances of survival sky rocked in comparison to her staying with us.

Just thought I would share a positive post with you! Isn’t she just adorable?

-Larkynn