We made kittens today!

Well, we didn’t, Goldie and some one night stand tom cat are the actual parents. But we saved them, so we are taking the credit.

Goldie’s mom was dropped off at an office. Goldie and several others were born there. The rest of the kittens got homes, but Goldie just stayed. But Goldie did what kittens do and she grew up. Then she was pregnant. Her human mom had trouble catching her, but finally caught her Tuesday. Our next surgery opening was today, Friday, so she boarded her until today.

It was obvious that Goldie was eminently due. We even thought it was possible that she would have them before she was scheduled for her ovariohysterectomy. But she didn’t and Friday morning we did surgery.

As soon as I cut into the abdomen, it was obvious that Goldie’s kittens were almost full term. I quickly cut out the uterus and handed it off to Jenny. Stephanie delivered five furred kittens and the staff quickly started work.

Not only is being born a high risk event, but the kittens were under the influence of the same anesthic that Goldie was under, but are much more affected by it.

Kittens were taken out of the uterus and separated from the placenta in less time than it took to write about it. Each kitten was taken by a staff member and dried off and rubbed to stimulate breathing.

At first, there few signs of life. While I was intent on tying arteries, closing the abdominal wall precisely and generally finishing surgery, the staff was concentrating on nurturing those faint signs of life.

Finally Stephanie’s kitten gasped, but then nothing more. Cally’s kitten was the first to start breathing regularly. Then Steph’s gasped a few times more. Then RachelLee’s and Jared’s both started breathing about the same time that Stephanie’s kitten started really breathing.

Gena’s was the last to take a breath. I knew this because when I looked up from surgery, Gena went from a little discouraged to actually doing a little happy dance!

All five kittens are breathing. Brian is nuking towels and keeping everyone in hot towels. M’Kinzy helps by taking first Steph’s and then another kitten when the staff members are called away. Before I know it, all of the kittens have names.

Cally decided that her calico kitten’s ears are abnormally big and names hers Yoda. Jared takes a teasing for how gentle he is with his kitten, but he names his black kitten The Dark Knight. Somehow the tortishell of Stephanie gets named Garth and maybe that is Garth Vader not Garth Brooks, but there is not agreement in this.

Gena’s orange one gets named Apple and they couldn’t provide me with a reason for that. The orange and white one of RachelLee gets named peaches. (Think peaches and cream for that one.)

So within two minutes, the five kittens have names. We work with them for a while more. All of the kittens are breathing and mewing and with mom as she is recovering.

They are certainly not out of the woods. I go back later and tube feed them to help get some nutrition and a fair start at life.

We won’t get paid for reviving kittens. The owner isn’t really interested in more kittens. We have already agreed to take them on our spay program when they are six weeks old. Most may have just left them in the bucket in the uterus. We certainly would have been more productive today and made more money if we had.

But that is not why I became a veterinarian and it just doesn’t seem right to me. So today at Guardian Animal Medical Center, we made kittens. I am proud of my staff, for working hard with me and for the teamwork that I saw that made this possible. We made kittens.

 

MJ Wixsom practices veterinarian medicine at Guardian Animal Medical Center in Flatwoods, Ky. For questions, call 606-928-6566.