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  A rescue mission with a difference by Allison Kennedy  
   
 

I was at the hospice when there was a knock at the door, I opened it to see a young chap.  He explained that the shop around the corner had given him our address and then he went on to tell me how the previous night he had been walking his dog across the fields in Sinfin when his dog started sniffing and barking at a cardboard box which was just lying in the ditch in the field.  The man went to investigate and when he opened the box there were 6 helpless little kittens which were crying for their mum.  He quickly picked the box up and took them home.  He looked on the internet and got some tips on how to take care of them.  The next day he had called around places to see if any other rescue organisation would take the kittens off his hands as he was a builder and didn’t have time to take care of them.  Nobody could help him, until he came to the hospice.  I don’t know why I said I would help as I had no clue how to take care of the kittens but I immediately said yes. He showed me the kittens in the box, oh no what had I done? They were so small, I immediately started to panic as I had never handled kittens before, I was so used to the old and poorly cats.

I took them straight down to Blagreaves Veterinary Surgery to get them checked over and to find out what they needed to survive.  Abdul checked them and told me at least two of them may not survive because they were so small and weak.  The Veterinary Nurses showed me how to feed them and make them go to the toilet, they told me they would need feeding every 2 hours.  Every 2 hours I thought it would at least be every 4 hours like a human baby!  Anyway I took them home and then the journey began.

 
                         
  saint francis hospice rescue kittens 1   saint francis hospice rescue kittens 2  
                         
  saint francis hospice rescue kittens 3   saint francis hospice rescue kittens 4  
                         
  saint francis hospice rescue kittens 5   saint francis hospice rescue kittens 6  
                         
 

I was setting my alarm every 2 hours through the day and night. I couldn’t believe how tired I was.  I was sure that 3 of the kittens were boys and 3 were girls so my little boy and me named them Rocket, Bumble Bee and Shamus for the boys and Matilda, Tinkerbell and Ariel for the girls.  The two smallest ones started getting stronger and stronger as did the others.  Shamus a few times went down hill and we thought he was not going to survive but he surprised us all when he ended up being one of the biggest.  At 6 weeks we had them checked and sexed by one of the Veterinary nurses. I had only got one of them right; Rocket was a boy ‘Matilda’ 'Tinkerbell' and ‘Ariel’ were actually boys and ‘Shamus’ and ‘Bumble Bee’ were actually girls.
By this time we had started to look for good homes for them.  Thanks to Claire and Graham they found brilliant homes for three of the kittens.  ‘Tinkerbell’ and ‘Bumble Bee’ went to their new home together and are now know as ‘Bertie and Bumble’. Shamus went to one of our volunteers Sue and she is now known as ‘Cookie’.  Then Ariel the only long-haired kitten went to a lovely family who had a slightly older kitten for him to make friends with, he was re-named Paddy.  Then finally the last 2 kittens went together, they are now called Gizmo and Simba.
I was a bit sad to see them go but at the same time it was very, very hard work and to know they were going to fantastic homes and there were 6 healthy, beautiful cats at the end of it, it was well, well worth it.

~ Allison Kennedy

 
                         
  saint francis rescue kittens7  
  Bertie, Bumble and Cookie.          
                         
  saint reancic rescue kittens 8  
  Simba, Gizmo and Paddy.            
                         
 

Claire and Graham are very proud of Allison’s achievement and wish to congratulate her on her remarkable rescue mission and on behalf of all 6 kittens thank her very much for her time, love and dedication. It is so nice to know that five months on all six kittens are now in loving homes enjoying a normal and happy life. Above are photo's of the kittens which have been taken recently. You can see they are all looking well and healthy. Thanks also goes to the kind and loving people who offered these adorable little kittens a loving home.

 
                         
   
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