I was working at a shelter in Washington when a man came in with four blobs in a baseball cap. He explained that his mother's cat kept getting out because she had Alzheimer's and the cat got pregnant but he couldn't keep the kittens. He also wouldn't give us the mother cat so we could spay her because he was afraid to separate her from his mom. We begged him to keep the kittens until they were weaned but he would not agree. No one else could take them, so I did. Three of the four took to a bottle right away but the 4th I could not get to eat at all. I tried everything I could think of. They wouldn't let me tube feed her and told me to just let her die. But I just couldn't do that. As luck would have it, a queen with 5 kittens came in at another shelter and I was able to nurse the kitten off the other mom. Little Bina survived, as did her fatty brother Binx, and two wily twin tabbies. Around the fourth week, Bina ran out of her bathroom confinement, straight into my 27 pound nasty Maine coon who oddly took an immediate liking to her and licked her from head to toe. They became fast friends and we ended up adopting her. They had a wonderful life together sleeping in the same bed and cleaning each other daily for 7 years until he crossed Rainbow Bridge at the age of 10. Bina was never the same but later came to accept a little kitten as her new sibling. Now they run up and down my stairs all day wreaking havoc and helping me when I foster other lonely kittens.
LisaVISTA, CA
