A Cat Tale of Bottle Baby Care

One August, three 2-day-old kittens were dumped onto a police officer's lap by a woman who said the mama cat had been mauled by a dog and killed. She later dumped the fourth one at another location, and the officer was able to match it up with the rest of the litter. The four spent all night with no food.

In the morning, they were still alive, and my daughter and I rushed immediately to pick them up and give them a chance to survive. They were covered in fleas that were sucking the life out of them.

We fed them every three hours around the clock to try to get them stable. Huge fleas would crawl across the nipple of the bottle, their noses, faces, and eyes as I fed them. They would jump and flinch from constantly being bitten.

After 24 hours of constant three-hour feedings to try to get them strong enough to withstand a flea bath, we bathed them in Dawn to get rid of the fleas—and what a red, bubbly mess! These poor guys were infested with them. It was so bad that the bath water turned a light red from the blood caused by the fleas biting and sucking on them.

It took all five of us, in an assembly line, to successfully bathe the four kittens without letting them catch a chill. I would bathe them; my son would be next to me to blot and keep their noses free from soap and inhaling water; my other son would towel-dry them; my husband was ready with the blow dryer; and my daughter would swaddle them in warm blankets and put them all together on the heating disc.

What a traumatic experience for 4-day-old kittens to go through! They had the will to survive, and all four kittens made it. They were all girls, and we named them after gemstones since we thought they were as tough as rock. Diamond, Ruby, Sapphire, and Opal have all been adopted into their forever homes in pairs and are doing beautifully! I love happy endings...

Update From Forever Family - 10/24/2025

We had the pleasure of adopting Diamond & Ruby! Two weeks after they were home, we found out they both had ringworm. We spent the next several months treating them EVERY DAY. Along with the treatment, we bathed them using the same type of assembly line as mentioned below. Two of us bathed them in the sink (they acted like they loved it), then I dried them with a towel and coddled them. Then my husband sat them in front of the heater, and we brushed them until they were dry. Then we applied the cream on their ears, vacuumed the house every day, and continually replaced their toys. This was while we both worked full-time jobs. We took them to the vet every single Saturday to check to see if the ringworm was gone. After 3 1/2 months, they were free! Whew! These guys sure did go through a lot in the beginning of their little lives. They were true gems!

Ruby was always sick—we found out she had cancer but managed to live 12 beautiful years with treatment before her life ended. Diamond became sick just this year with organ failure but gave us 15 beautiful years before she lost her life three weeks ago. I wanted to thank you for saving their little lives in the beginning. Without your help, we would have never met them and enjoyed so many years of unconditional, never-ending love from these two gems.

Diamond has the black collar, and Ruby has the pink collar. When we first adopted them, we accidentally got their names reversed—lol! Enjoy 💜💕😸😸