Clock was so small and sickly that her foster mom didn’t know if she would survive. But thanks to her might will to live Clock is now one of the strongest in her litter.
Jen Marder of Wrenn Rescues was finally able to foster a litter of sickly kittens that had been stuck in a shelter for more than two weeks.
These kitties were in pretty rough shape. They were extremely skinny and had respiratory illnesses.
The runt
Clock, the runt of the litter, stood out the most with her big bulging eyes. She was smaller than the rest of her siblings, Hickory, Dickory, and Dock.
She was a lot smaller than them. Marder just couldn’t believe how poor of a condition these cats were in.
Though the kittens were about 6 to 8-weeks-old, Clock was the weight of a 3-week-old kitten.But Clock’s mother, Goose, was small to begin with at just 5.4 lbs.
“Despite everything she must have been through, she is a sweet girl who loves to rub against me and lay cuddled up against my leg,” Marder told Love Meow. “Clock was the smallest of the litter. I was really worried she wouldn’t make it, but she had such spirit. She wasn’t giving up, and I wasn’t going to give up on her.”
Clock required syringe feedings. But with a little bit of love, Clock was able to eat on her own in just a few days.
“(The moment) she started nibbling the syringe, I finally started to think we would be okay,” Marder said. “It took a lot of time and work, but I got them healthy, and their weights to where they should be.”
Tiny but mighty
Clock’s weight doubled in under two weeks. Even her severe underbite couldn’t slow down the drive she had to eat enough to grow strong.
“In the coming weeks, we will get her mouth checked out along with other consults. In the meantime, she is a perfect, happy, and seemingly normal little peanut,” Marder said.
Clock is now the second-biggest kitty in her litter, though she’s the first to get to the food bowl. Clock even eats kitten food instead of nursing on mom like her brothers and sisters.
“She is so engaging, loves to bat at her mom and siblings’ tails. She is also the first to curl in my lap. She has so much fight and spirit,” Marder said. “I had no idea how she was still alive when she got here. She is the epitome of tiny but mighty. She had no intention of not surviving and thriving.”
For updates on Clock and the rest of her family, visit Jen’s Fosters on Instagram @jenfosterskittens.