The preemie that made it.. (pics)

My cat, Simba, had a previous pregnancy where she gave birth to a stillborn kitten. After several months she became pregnant again and I feared that she would have similar problems with this one.

Patch was born a week preemature on 10-18-05. It's now been a month and the kitten has survived and strived. No one thought he would make it because of how tiny he was when he was born. He had almost no fur on his legs, tail and tummy and had problems staying warm. But he was a fighter. I thought I'd share some of his pics I've collected over the last month.



Patch was 3 days old when I took this picture and had already grown an inch. He had doubled his birth weight and started growing fur on his legs and tail.



Here he is three days old, not much bigger then a lighter.



Simba hugs her baby to keep him warm.



The oddest thing I found with this pregnancy was that Cueball (the father) would sometimes take over keeping baby Patch warm while Simba got some time off. Vet told me that most male cats don't want anything to do with the baby or mama (until the female goes into heat again).. Here they are, cuddling as a family.

(continued)

 

Patch finally opens his eyes at 3 weeks of age.



3 weeks old.



*yawn*

Now over a month old, Patch is running and playing like a normal kitten. I found him playing hide and seek games with my neutred male this morning. The kitten would pounce on the big gentle giant and then run and hide. Bear would seek the kitten out, run out to the middle of the room and Patch would charge after him.

 

Awwwww

That is so wonderful.

 

Thanks for sharing..that is wonderful that he has done so well!

 

Yes, thank you for share. An inspiration, and a cute one at that.

 

Very cute! And i don't mean to be an asshole, but have you thought about having your cat fixed now?

 

Sooooooo cute! I am glad he made it!

 

these are my honey..but this pic was taken half year ago,they have grown up.

also cute,but not mine..

 

Decided to post an update. Patch is almost (1-3-06) 12 weeks old and doing wonderfully. He's actually big for his age. Here are some new pics.

My cats don't go outside... Ever. They have to go through 3 doors to even get to the outside. My male cat is fixed but I rescued a male cat from someone and at the time didn't have the money to fix my unfixed female. I didn't intend on her getting pregnant. The male is no longer here and in the spring she is getting fixed.

 

aww she's so pretty! i'm happy she's doing well

 

Awww that's so cute

 

aww they are really cute - make sure you get her neutered though - we dont want anymore unwanted kittens in this world xxx

 

even if she's an indoor kitty i'd say to get her fixed too. i heard somewhere that it helps them live longer and it's healthier. not sure if that's true..

 

Money has just been really tight for a long time. It's a never ending cycle. As soon as I start to get out of debt it's winter again which means less work. No one will hire me because of my piercings and because I don't have a car. I do end up surviving just fine but it means no money for those things. I had intentions to have both my cats fixed but could only afford one at the time. The vet told me that it was more important to get the male fixed because he can impregnate more then one female.

 

Yeah. Are you planning to keep patch? He will need to be fixed too.

 

Yes, I am keeping Patch even though he's in his kitten "terrible two's" right now.. but he won't be ready to be fixed for at least another 7 months so I'm not worried about it. Simba is in heat and it's just annoying..

Yes, I plan on getting him fixed.. no more kittens being raised here...

 

That's absolutely precious. I'm so glad to hear that both mama cat and baby kitty are doing so beautifully.

I was surprised to hear that she only had one kitten! All of my female cats always gave birth to litters, at the very least 3 kittens. We did have some stillborns, and also a few that died shortly after birth. That was always tough to deal with. My one mama cat did not want us to take her baby that died. She started hissing and wanted to keep the baby with her, even though she had 4 other kittens that were thriving. It made me feel bad, it made me feel like she was mourning her baby. Anyone who ever says that animals don't feel things emotionally, I just don't buy it.

 

Honestly, she was the runt of her litter and always stayed a little on the smaller side. We have a 8 - 10 month old female (roommate's cat) who is already bigger then Simba is at 3 years old. She had one still born kitten about 5 months before she had Patch. She also had a weird stage where she birthed something 2 months after she had the still born but it didn't even look like a fetus so I don't know. She probably was never meant to have kittens and I feel really bad that she went through what she did. If I hadn't taken in the male cat I already know he would have died or had to have been euthanized.

 

Oh, what a beautiful kitty! He is lovely, thanks for sharing his miracle story!

love,
mom

 

In the UK, animal charities and vets have an agreement where anyone on low-income or benefits can have their pets fixed for a nominal fee. Don't they do this in the States?
Oh, and Patch is beautiful.