To the editor:
Sixteen kittens came in two weeks. I am so thankful to our foster families, Julie Damboise, Helen Widdecomb and Jean Nadeau. I had five orphaned kittens approximately 3 weeks old that required around-the-clock feeding.
One little guy passed away as we just got him too late. The young kittens need immediate care as they dehydrate quickly. Immediately take a tissue or cotton ball dipped lightly in baby oil and gently touch and pat his/her little private areas. The young kittens are not able to eliminate without help as their mother stimulates them until the necessary muscles have matured.
An inexpensive kitten formula is a can of evaporated milk with equal parts of water, add one half teaspoon of Karo syrup and two jars of Stage 1 chicken baby food with chicken broth. Shake well and serve at room temperature by syringe until the kitten turns away from it. Be sure to simulate his private areas again. If you hold him with his back in the palm of your hand and with your left thumb across his tummy, you will feel his muscles start to contract when he is ready to eliminate and he will get a surprised, dreamy look on his face when the urine flows. Be prepared that he will holler when the contractions start for a BM, but keep gently patting and cleaning away until the contractions stop. It is necessary to do this until he is about 4 weeks old and the muscled have matured.
The owner of three of these kittens has accepted that we can spay/neuter their adult cat so that will end the kitten saga in that home. The rest of our kittens are orphans so we cannot access the adult cat. However, we also fixed two more beautiful male feral cats this month and placed them in a very responsible farmer’s barn in Mapleton. We have made a difference in the lives of 97 animals in our first 5 months. Nice!
Our Sammy was adopted and Emma has a “possible” home. It is exciting to see an adult animal find a perfect home. Little Emmett of last week’s paper has found a future home in Woodland, and 2 sets of 2 little sisters may have home in Caribou soon.
We received letters from New Sweden school children thanking Peanut Butter for teaching good pet care to them. The children designed their thank you cards. Others wrote a lovely note telling us the education spot they liked most.
Starting June 1, we will charge an adoption fee of $40 for kittens under the age of 4 months. This will include a fully paid spay/neuter voucher in their adoption papers. Cats older than 4 months will still be free and they will still have all the items listed below with their adoption.
Halfway Home Homeless Cats have leukemia tests, all age appropriate shots, clear of any parasites and spayed/neutered before adoption — $130 worth of health care. We do socialization activities to assess the personality for the most suitable adoption.
When funds are available, we offer fully paid spay/neuter vouchers for low-income, elderly and disabled pet owners. I am hard of hearing so when calling for a spay/neuter voucher, speak very slowly and clearly into the machine. Two calls were not returned because the message was so fast I couldn’t make it out.
The next pet food delivery should be at the animal hospital at 2 p.m. on June 11th. Shop & Save in Caribou keeps a food cart for you to leave a food donation when you shop. Thank you for your help.
The winner of the beautiful cat quilt made by Cindy Harvey was Bob French of Caribou. Many beautiful animals benefited from this fundraiser. It raised $500 for the medical bills and that is a huge help. Last month’s combined medical bills were slightly over $1,000. That was only for one month.
88 Bennett Drive Redemption continues to turn over your returnable bottle money. Our City Wide Yard Sale booth at Valley Woodworking netted $212. All of this money went directly on the vet bills.
Please e-mail me at Milton@mfx.net if you wish to be on our newsletter mailing. Our correct legal name is Halfway Home Pet Rescue dba Madawaska Lake Homeless Cats. Our address is 773 S Shore Rd., Stockholm, ME 04783.Thank you.
Stockholm
