My cat mama was seen on the roof of a San Francisco Bay Area preschool, carrying her nesting kittens in her mouth from one eve to another. Later that day, my brother and I were found on the ground below. We'd fallen out of the nest, about 12 feet! My brother was a little black kitten, barely alive, found on the concrete. I was the orange one, found on the grass with a bloody nose. Staff scooped us up and Kim, my new mom, took us to a vet. She was very afraid that they were going to have to euthanize both of us. She also didn't know what to do with us if we were ok! We waited what seemed like a very long time at the vet, and when we finally got checked out, the doctor said that my brother had to be euthanized. My new mom and I were very sad. My mom let me say goodbye to him. I crawled over to him and sniffed him. The doctor told my mom that we were both boys and were 2 weeks old. My mom left the office with me and some kitten formula, sad about my brother, but grateful that I was ok. She'd tentatively decided to adopt me, since she didn't know how to get me back onto the roof with my cat mama, and since I was just so cute!
The rest of that day I slept in a box while Mom worked. She tried to feed me, but I didn't want it. I wouldn't pee either. Mom was starting to get really worried. She brought me home from work to Mike's house. Mike is my new dad. He was very surprised to see me, but he loved me right away! Since they couldn't get me to eat, and since they thought my legs looked funny, they brought me to an emergancy vet. They were very nice and helped my mom and dad out a lot. In fact, they were back two more times that weekend when I still wouldn't eat or pee! They told them I was a healthy little boy, with no broken bones! It turned out my funny looking legs weren't broken, they were just young kitten "jellylegs"! Whew!
At first taking care of me was a lot of work. When I refused to eat, I had to be fed with a syringe, which I fought. I made things very difficult. Then I began to love to eat from my bottle, and I needed late night feedings too! I couldn't go to the bathroom by myself, so my mom and dad had to help me by wiping my bottom with a wet cottonball. I hated this! I would cry and cry. I didn't poop for quite a few days, and my mom and dad were very worried. Gradually I began to be able to go potty by myself. My mom and dad knew this when I peed on my dad three times in the same day, without any help!
I made it through all of that though, and I'm growing every day. I do new things all the time. I'm working very hard at becoming a big boy. I've grown from about 8 ounces to over a pound, in just three weeks. (Update: And now, at 4 months I'm 7 pounds!) I was nearly immobile when my mom and dad first got me, but now I run, climb, and jump all over the place!
My mom and dad named
me Rory after much discussion and hesitation. They wanted to find
a meaningful name that suited me. Rory means "Red King" and it fits
me just right! I have a middle name too. It's Kitwana, which means "destined to survive".
Update: My mom and dad have been working to take care of my feral mother, brothers and sisters, and cousins in the big feral colony I came from. 4 young, tame-able kittens have been taken to the shelter for adoption, 4 older kittens have been trapped, spayed/neutered, and released, and 2 other kittens have been adopted by the preschool's staff just like me! We're still working hard at rounding up the rest of the mamas and babies for spaying and neutering! Wish us luck.!