Rachel Manns and Dani Connor are fundraising to save their little buddies they found and cared for, please read full description! Whilst on holiday in Madrid this week visiting my lovely friend Dani, we found three stray kittens covered in filth under a car. After advice from the vets and special kitten milk acquired, medicine for their digestion and a special thermometer, we began the epic four day journey of constant care...
That stage in a kitten's life is crucial for survival and they're supposed to be with their mother for the first 10 weeks. Upon learning from the vet that they were only 5 days old, we were terrified we wouldn't be able to keep them alive. We were feeding the exact guide amount heated to the correct temperature every two hours through a needle-less syringe, then burping them, then rubbing their tummies to help with gas, then stimulating their private area to make them go to the toilet, and then cleaning them! This whole process for three kittens took about an hour, and in an hours time it had to happen all over again. If they settled then you could steal some sleep, and if not you had to have them near you to keep them warm and comforted. On top of that, every twelve hours we were taking their temperatures and inserting special medicine into their tiny little bottoms! The broken sleep killed me! Shivering in 35 degree heat, nausea, nosebleeds, headaches, tummy problems...
We managed to increase their core temperatures, move them on to being bottle fed and get them going to the toilet regularly. In the meantime we tried to get them re-homed in shelters all over Madrid, but everyone we spoke to refused due to saturation or the fact they were so young and without a mother. It became apparent that the places that would take them would euthanize them, and that obviously wasn't the solution we were after. We tried to re-home them privately, but we couldn't find anyone who could provide the 24/7 care these little guys needed. We also had some amazing people coming to help us out! It was wonderful to have an extra pair on hands helping us out, and great to be able to catch an extra hours sleep hear and there, or to have lunch made for you, or just the washing up done! Thank you so much Sandra, Ana, Hans & Alicia! Then four days later, after sobbing tears and a meltdown, terrified that we hadn't kept them healthy enough, and a realization that it was impossible for us to do it anymore, we took them to this amazing 24 hour veterinary hospital. They saw all three and said how well we'd done, they were perfectly healthy! They also admitted them and are now providing them with the constant and professional care they'll need for as long as we can afford to keep them in until they're old enough for adoption. It's costing us €28.00 (£22.50) per night for them to be there, and we've got the next two or so weeks covered; but if anyone wanted to help us out with anything you can that would be wonderful!!!! Our aim is to keep them in there for the next 10 weeks (the time that they would be with their Mother naturally). I've set up a new bank account for donations and can provide donators with an invoice with a donation number and a certificate acknowledging your contribution! Anything anyone can give no matter how small would be absolutely amazing! To make a donation either message me on here, or email me at rachel@rachelmanns.com and I'll give you the account details :). Thanks so much for reading and I look forward to sharing the little guys progress with you all!
