Meet Stella. Aside from her cute looks, she’s also one of the toughest little gray tabby you’ll ever see.
Today, she is a healthy multi-toed kitten with one extra toe on both front paws and two extra toes on each back paw. But Stella’s beginnings were difficult, and the first two weeks of her life put foster mother Caroline Grace on high alert.
Stella was born from an emergency cesarean section because her mother was seriously ill. Sadly, she was the only kitten of her age of six to survive. To complicate matters further, her mother was unable to care for her only surviving kitten, leaving the newborn Stella with no cat family.
But thanks to Saving One Life and Caroline, Stella is not alone. She will definitely need all the help she can get as a newborn kitten. Caroline shared: “This girl is truly a magical warrior. She had a difficult entrance into this world. As a C-section, coming from an ailing and stressed mother who was unable to breastfeed or drink colostrum, she had to face all sorts of difficulties that piled up.”
Stella’s first ten days were scary. The fact that she was an infant meant round-the-clock feeding to keep her tiny body from weakening and constant monitoring. But at the age of five days, things got worse. Stella fell ill. She started having a high fever and couldn’t eat anything. She was completely comatose and had trouble breathing.
Caroline rushed her to a special caretaker, who gave the baby oxygen and taught Caroline how to tube feed the sick kitten. For two days, Caroline took great care of Stella, giving her antibiotics, feeding her catheters and giving her lots of love and support. Prognosis is good!
“I am so proud to say that she is no longer tube-fed and is now bottle-feeding herself!!!”
Since then, the race to be her big beautiful legs has begun! As sweet Stella grew strong and healthy, gobbling up all the recipes her plump belly could hold, she developed the loveliest joke. Despite hatching late, with a small weight and eyes that don’t fully open until 15 days of age, Stella is a fighter.
From a sickly newborn to a healthy kitten exploring toys and solid foods, she is the loveliest reminder to never give up. Now, she has been adopted into her permanent home to live the happy life every kitten deserves. She turned from my fragile bottle-fed baby into a strong and playful kitten in the blink of an eye! It’s great to see her healthy, happy and growing.