The Meowloween Litter
In October 2024, Tiny Kitten Coven took in our first official litter through the rescue! They were 5 all black kittens that had been on the euthanasia list at a high-kill shelter in LA, just because they were only about a month old and required more round-the-clock care than the shelter was willing to give. The volunteers who get cats out of the shelters when they are on the euthanasia lists were having trouble finding any rescues to take them, because black cats can be the hardest color of cat or kitten to adopt out, and there were five of them! A generous sponsor offered to donate some funds for them, and the Tiny Kitten COVEN isn’t scared of black cats, so we pulled them and got them to safety.
Since they arrived close to Halloween, and on a full moon no less, we gave them all spooky, pun-ny names! Purranormal, Nefurious, Clawvoyant, Hissterious, and Sinispurr. Purranormal and Hissterious are boys, and the other three girls.
When we got them it was clear that they weren’t even the bottle babies the high kill shelter had said they were. They were eating wet food on their own fine, and didn’t need to be on the euthanasia list at all!
Unfortunately, very shortly after arrival they became very, very ill. They eventually tested positive for panleukopenia, which is a contagious illness that can be extremely deadly in young, unvaccinated kittens. It is similar to parvo in dogs. Given the fast timeline they got sick, they probably had been exposed outside before even coming to the shelter. Without treatment panleukopenia can be 90% fatal, so we weren’t sure they were all going to make it.
We threw everything we had at them. The virus first attacks the stomach lining, causing pain, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, so they got medications for those symptoms. They didn’t want to eat, so were force fed small amounts of high-calorie food mixed with a number of supplements every few hours, round the clock, to help sustain them. Along with not eating the illness makes them not drink, as well as causing further dehydration if they are vomiting or having diarrhea. The kittens received fluid injections when they were too weak to drink on their own. This helped bring down their fevers as well. The virus and secondary infections also cause huge temperature swings, so they had to be monitored closely for any fever spikes and cooled down again, and likewise monitored for any big temperature drops, so they could be carefully warmed up again. The last thing the virus does is wipes out the white blood cells, making them extremely susceptible to any other infections. The kittens got antibiotics to prevent secondary infections. Thankfully, after a few days of intensive care, all five kittens started to improve!! The good news about panleukopenia is that despite being such a horrific illness while it lasts, it usually is over within a week. After recovery, there are generally no lasting effects either, it’s like nothing ever happened!
Because panleukopenia is so contagious, even after recovering, infected cats can shed the virus through their stool for 2 full weeks. So, these poor little survivors had to remain secluded in a playpen to be quarantined for another 2 weeks, only being petted with gloved hands, and never allowed to roam the room! They also had to have baths before leaving quarantine, just in case any of the virus was still clinging to their fur. We also had to throw away almost all the supplies used with them while they were sick, to protect any future litters that might come into contact with those objects.
But we had a happy ending - by the time they left quarantine, all five kittens were doing GREAT! They were gaining weight, eating with huge appetites, playing and being as chaotic as kittens should be. They had also become SO friendly, full of snuggles! They were able to be vaccinated, fixed, FeLV tested (all were negative,) microchipped, and were ready for their forever homes!
They spent the rest of their time in foster making friends with the resident cats in the home, learning about every kitten toy they came across, and meeting plenty of new people over the holidays.
Three of them (Purranormal, Nefurious, Clawvoyant) were adopted into absolutely PUURFECT furever homes in December (Nefurious was a Christmas morning surprise for the kids!,) and Hissterious and Sinispurr were adopted together into their purrfect furever home in January!
Here are some updates of each of them in their forever homes:
Purranormal (now Nyx) on the top and bottom left, Nefurious (Neffy) one over, Clawvoyant (now Binki) next, and Hissterious and Sinispurr on the right.
Purranormal has a big kitty brother named Zuki, and they get along great! Neffy has two human children who absolutely adore her, and an adult who does too! Binki was adopted with another kitten from a different litter we had at the time- the two of them are now BFFs, and she rules the house! Hissterious and Sinispurr of course went home together, and cause maximum cute chaos between the two of them!
And we have videos, too!
Purranormal (now Nyx) with big brother Zuki! And then Hissterious and Sinispurr each chasing their tails!
We love to see such great updates from our adopters, it helps remind us why all the late nights, cleaning up kitten poop, giving medications, dealing with quarantine, and all the other hard work of fostering is worth it - to see these kitties go from where they were to being the happy, healthy kittens they are now- who are spoiled by their adopters, and bring their new families so much joy! We couldn’t be happier that these 5 kittens have found the best forever homes they could have!
