Update

This will be the first of many, I'm sure. The white kitten (still needs a name) is doing much better. When I arrived to pick him up from my mom's house last night he was very listless. What had been two open wounds when I left was not a raw area running up one whole leg along with the two open sores. We tried to feed him and he wouldn't swallow. The milk would just fall out of his mouth. His pupils were also starting to dilate and un-dilate rather sporadically. Finally, he would open his mouth to cry and no sound would come out and he was breathing very heavy.

I, of course, began to cry, thinking he was going to die. I called our vet (well paged him as they were closed) and waited. After 10 minutes I didn't hear back and decided to go a different route. I called the Animal Hospital in town and they happened to be open until 8:00. They said they were full but could try to squeeze me in around 7:00. At this point it was 6:00.

I waited around until all of 6:10 and then I couldn't take it any more. He looked so sad and helpless. So, I headed for the animal hospital. I thought maybe if they saw him all sick and helpless lying in their waiting room they could "squeeze" us in a little earlier. It worked. By 6:25 we were in a room with the vet.

She confirmed what I knew, it was BAD. One of his knees was almost non-existent. She said that she could not guarantee that he would keep that leg. However, she was encouraged by the fact that he continued to walk on it and said we would know more in 7-10 days.

As for what caused all of this damage: she thinks he was crushed when his mom was. She said that it would have been a pretty significant injury and since he was in a controlled environment for the past week it would have had to be something that happened before we found him. Her best guess is that it started as a small injury but since we didn't know it existed, and therefore didn't treat him, it festered inside until the scabs came off.

So at 6:40 I left him there for a "cleaning and clipping" session. When I returned at around 8:00 he was sleeping but looked more comfortable. Both of his back legs are in hard bandages (almost like casts). They are purple, very manly huh? Underneath the bandages is the mesh stuff that they use to treat burn victims. They are hoping it will help him regrow skin in that area.

When we got home I tried to feed him several more times and did manage to get a little into him before he would fall back asleep. He had a rough evening, I don't blame him for just wanting to nap. Last night I stayed on the couch so I could get up with him every couple of hours. By midnight he was much more alert and I thought we had finally turned a corner. He still wasn't sucking on the bottle, but would swallow when I put it in his mouth.

At four I gave him more pain medicine and then he decided it was time to play. He was well rested, why wasn't I? By the 6:00 feeding he was chewing on the nipple to get milk and trying to walk around. He looks really goofy when he walks because his back legs are taped straight so his back end is up farther than his front.

I will try to get some pictures of the purple people eater tonight and post them tomorrow. I will also keep you posted as things develop with his leg.