For the love of Mini Mae
These intrepid 4
legged spirits that so casually and yet so noticeably pad through life’s
journey along side us, sometimes seemingly invisible and other times with
dominant spirits and characteristics, often teach us about ourselves, about
compassion, loyalty and vulnerability. They are spirit readers. They are companions, friends and
entertainers. They are a constant
reminder that all life is precious, and worthy of our respect and love.
I begin this story
with an introduction of a kitten whose naming pattern is similar to her
evolution from tiniest of babies to ‘almost’ cat at her current age of ten
months. Her name initially was “Lucky”,
(you will soon know why), then Mini Me-since she was so tiny and we thought a
male, and finally she metamorphized into the cat we all know as Mini Mae.
To help fill the
void left by retirement from 30 years in the teaching profession I found that I
still had the need to nurture. I became
a caretaker for orphaned kittens that required bottle-feeding and volunteered
my time and energy to several Veterinary Clinics near my home. It is through the gift of time that these
little orphans are granted a life.
Generally they are kept for 24 hours either placed with a volunteer such
as myself or they are euthanized. Their stories are all different; and the
storytellers ~ those “kitten” angels ~ who took the time to collect them and
seek help.
One Friday morning our phone rang and, as I
answered this call from the Emergency Animal Clinic, I was aware that this was
yet another reminder of God’s hand in action.
My mind cried - Not another newborn kitten to bottle-feed. I already had two-week-old Jasper, and a trip
scheduled to
My decision to
take Mini Mae was a decision of the heart.
Apparently some young boys had discovered a litter of newborn kittens
and had taken great delight in hurling them against the wall of a house. The mother of one of the boys discovered this
cruel game, gathered up the dead and dying kittens, placed them into a grocery
bag and took them to the Animal Pound.
The Animal Regulations Officer, as he was preparing to euthanize the
damaged kittens, discovered the wailing Mini Mae. She looked okay and was quite active so he
decided to take her over to the Emergency Clinic. We didn’t know how injured she was until a
little later in her life. This kitten
was placed in my care but we had no idea that it was suffering from several
broken bones, a serious eating disorder, a deviated septum, and night
blindness. She was ‘Lucky’. Thus far she
had cheated a certain death on two fronts and she was only 30 hours old!
It was hard to distinguish her from the
common little grey rat. She was a non descript blotchy grey and black, shorthaired, squalling
mess with an umbilical cord that was still attached. She seemed to eat well but had no bladder
control, thus she had urine scalding on her little belly and it caused her
considerable discomfort. I tried
everything from triple antibiotic ointment to baby powder to heal her very
sensitive and very red little tummy. I
had no idea what caused this problem because in order for a new born to urinate
they must be stimulated. This wasn’t the case with the ‘Lucky’Mini.
I decided to put
Jasper with her for comfort and warmth.
However, one of these kittens had a virus which was immediately
contracted by the other and they both developed a form of colitis…. Now both
ends of Mini were broken…in my mind I was praying that I could successfully
raise these two little needy kittens. I
have never lost one that has been entrusted to me. For a while it seemed that life just got worse
for them…I separated them and of course they were lonely and cried for one
another and I worried.
With our trip for
four lovely days to the desert looming nearer, I enlisted my daughter Lisa to
take care of Jasper. This left Mini who was only 6 days old; so I decided to
put her in a Tupperware and take her with us.
I should have stayed home! We set
out on our journey, stopped at Lisa’s office and dropped off Jasper, or course
Lisa wanted to see the ‘Lucky’ Mini who was sleeping. She picked her up and
petted her and then put her back down…Well Mini didn’t go back to sleep….
Instead she began to meow very loudly and incessantly every 10 seconds or so….
After about an hour we stopped and I tried feeding her…. she still didn’t quiet
down. After an agonizing 175 miles and
the ˝ way point of our little vacation we could stand no more crying. I was dealing alternately with guilt for
subjecting my patient husband, Paul, to this constant meowing and frustration
because I couldn’t control the situation. It was clear a decision had to be
made. Instead of turning back we decided
to put Mini Mae in the trunk! October
isn’t a hot month in the desert and kittens like the temp to be about 80
degrees or so. We put the small part of the back seat down so we could hear her
and so she would have fresh air to breathe.
We prayed the darkness would bring her sweet dreams and bingo, our plan
worked like a charm! She slept all the
way to our destination.
We smuggled her into our Hotel room in a
soft drink cooler, praying with each step that she wouldn’t start wailing at
the top of her lungs in the elevator.
Mini’s new home was a Tupperware, on a heating pad (I remembered the
extension cord), in a cabinet, in the entertainment center, under the
television in our room. Every four hours
I reported like the faithful servant I had become to feed and bathe her. Of course the scalding caused her to wail
until she was all dried off and the burning had ceased. The wailing only lasted about 5 minutes or so
and then she was ready to snooze again… Newborn kittens do nothing but sleep,
eat, and poop!
Paul and I had a
lovely dinner at our favorite restaurant, and I decided to call it a
night. It was Thursday evening and I
wanted to watch CSI, take care of Mini and read. All went well until 11:00pm when I decided to
feed and get her ready for bed. She did
her usual yelping and then was ready for a snooze. At 11:30 there was a pounding on the hotel room
door. The announcement came “security”! Apparently someone had heard Mini and reported that we had
a “Cat” in our room. When I showed this 3-inch kitten to the Officer he told me
he was sorry that he had reported her to the management staff, because she was
obviously no health hazard. Apparently
the entire Las Vegas Strip of Hotels has a “no tolerance” policy regarding any
pets. Our choices were to board her…out
of the question…or leave the next day! I
was really feeling guilty about ruining Paul’s vacation and figured we would be
on our way home on Friday. I didn’t want
to bend the rules and so I took Mini out of the hotel on Friday and put her in
the car, which was in an underground parking lot sheltered but noisy. Although she couldn’t spend the night in the
car because it would be too cold for her I thought this would give us time to
sort things out and still have a little fun.
I fed her every four hours and cleaned her up…. This was not a fun day
but she was fine with it.
Paul tackled the
problem with management. As luck would
have it our friend who is the head of Casino Services at the hotel helped us.
He used one of his a silver bullets and spoke to the Management team, told them
our story, described the 4 ounce kitten in the Tupperware and they decided to
let us smuggle her back in. The rest of
our trip was uneventful until dinner one evening. We were seated with some friends of ours who
came to
As time marched on
I discovered a remedy that cured Mini’s scalding. A little Vaseline applied after each cleanup
did the trick. Both she and Jasper recovered from their colitis and all seemed
well. Jasper grew like a weed and Mini
seemed not to grow at all. She was so
tiny compared to him. He was only two
weeks older, but was twice the size. As
Mini grew, found her feet and learned to play she developed a frightening
condition. Shortly after finishing her
bottle and her mandatory burp I would put her on the carpet to play. Formula would come pouring out of her nose.
She would choke, and gasp for air and I became fearful for her life. Twice she needed suction to clear her nasal
passages to allow her to breathe. This
condition gradually became worse. I was
afraid to put her down after her feedings and would hold her in an upright
position for a half hour at a time. Soon
I packed her up and headed for one of the vets that I like. I was told that she was too young to
treat. She was about 3 ˝ weeks old. I took her back 3 times and pleaded with them
to examine her. I was told again she was
too young and they wouldn’t treat her. I
was willing to pay any amount and left feeling that she was untreatable. I had fallen in love with this tiny little
breath of life and was terrified at the prospect of losing her. I knew it was just a matter of time until she
aspirated her formula and developed pneumonia.
Once this happens there is very little one can do to save a kitten. Lung tissue
becomes irreparably damaged and can no longer function.
On Sunday while I was running errands,
feeling very sad and helpless knowing that Mini was going to die if I didn’t
find help for her, I asked St. Francis, patron saint of animals, to show me the
way. He did. I was to try again to get
help for Mini. I went home and called a
Vet that had Sunday hours. I told her
Mini’s story. She invited us to come right to the clinic. Dr. Zito placed Mini on the floor and watched
her walk about, listened to her, examined her, and then diagnosed her…. She had
a rare disorder, which caused a delay in gastric emptying. This condition accompanied by the fractured
septum in her nose allowed her formula to come from her stomach out her nose
due to simple gravity. Thank God she had
gained her bladder control back, because I didn’t think I could deal with both
ends being broken! A drug that was to be
administered 20 minutes before meals and an antibiotic to ward off any infections
did the trick! Dr. Zito made up a
special recipe and proceeded to wean Mini in the office that very minute. Mini
ate what she was offered though it wasn’t pretty. She would lie on the plate
and suck up her food! A
sight only to be enjoyed by those who had experienced her trauma. This good Doctor spent an hour with us and
gave Mini her life back with a bill that was only $38. Mini went back every other day to be weighed
at no cost. This worked like a charm and Mini thrived.
In her short life she had already met four
“Angels” and a Saint! Without these
interventions she would have died.
In our house the
kittens have their own room…. At 6 weeks I decided to let Mini and Jasper have
the run of the room. This worked out
great. They cleaned each other with
vigorous licking. They played
together. Jasper 
litter-trained Mini for me and life was
good. During these days it became
evident that Mini had suffered several fractures to her tail from having it
twisted by the young fools that killed her siblings. They held these kittens by their tails and
swung them around then let them fly…Apparently one of Mini’s breaks was at the
base of her Spine and the cause of her initial lack of sphincter control. There
were two more severe fractures where the tail vertebrae were actually separated
and caused her tail to form a right angle.
A total of 7 fractures were found in this small kitten’s tail. After some consultation the decision was made
that Mini’s quality of life would be better if her tail were amputated thus
preventing any further corrective surgeries.
The challenge was to get her to a weight of 6 pounds. Anesthesia is dangerous under that weight. She was born in October and it wasn’t until
the end of May that she made it to that magic number.
Her surgery day
arrived and our little Mini Mae was spayed, multiple cysts were found on her
tiny ovaries, and she had her tail amputated.
The amputation was difficult because much calcium had formed at the base
of her spine. After delicate extraction
of the extraneous tissue and clipping of her tail she was ready to come
home. Heavily sedated, uttering a low
moaning sound Mini was transported back to the house and left in her soft
carrier for a couple of hours. She was
wearing a cone-shaped neck guard to keep her from biting at her stitches. As the drugs wore off she became more and
more agitated and as she would back away from her visual of the neck guard she
would bump her very sore tail area. This
caused her to leap through the air as though she had wings, hissing, screaming
meows all the while. No matter what we
did we couldn’t calm her. This went on
for about 3 hours and Lisa and I were becoming frantic because we could find no
way to calm this kitten. It was clear
that if she hadn’t done so already her wild behavior would certainly damage her
amputation site. After a consultation with the doctor who advised us to
administer more medication with tiny syringes that she had sent home with Mini,
Lisa and I made the decision to remove the neck guard and not to administer any
more medication. The thought being that
this little kitten had dealt with serious pain, had a lust for survival, and
needed to feel in control of her environment.
With the head gear off she made for the nearest dresser and hid herself under it all the while moaning…
Since I had a
project to complete I decided to camp out for the night on the floor with
Mini. I wasn’t at all sure she would she
ever come out from under the dresser.
From 11:00pm until 3:30am she stayed put and finally quieted down, but
she was far from sleep. It was amazing
to me that a 6-pound kitten with such large doses of painkillers and
tranquilizers could fight the inevitable so valiantly, but she did. I finally got tired of reading and lay down
on the quilt that I had brought from the bedroom and about 4am she joined
me. She didn’t lie down but continued
walking around the room in a semi agitated state. Somewhere before 5am I must have fallen
asleep. I awoke just as the sun was
coming over the trees and a little after 6am to find Mini lying next to me on
the quilt that I had placed on her bedroom floor. We slept there for another hour and found
that the new day had graced us with a much calmer kitten. Every 20 minutes or so I
had to remind her not to pick at her amputation.
The next hurdle was perfectly obvious…those
blasted stitches and how to keep them in place when my tiny ward only wanted to
chew them out! For another night I slept
on the floor with her to watch over her and make sure she didn’t do damage to
herself. She was recovering very
rapidly. After 2 days I decided to let
her out of her room and thought perhaps the distraction of the other cats would
keep her busy. She was great for about a
week and then she became very serious about getting rid of those lovely purple
stitches. She had 3 sets in her tail
area where the amputation occurred and about 8 on her tummy from the
spaying. She was as determined as I have
ever seen her. I decided to put the
headgear back on her. This time she
accepted it and after 14 long days her stitches were removed and a nice period
of recovery began!
This is 3 months after her surgery. Her hair has grown back and she is as cute as
can be. Before Mini I loved my beautiful
babies best. These beauties are Budah and Harley our
first bottle-babies. They are angoras
with beautiful faces and fur. These days I am rarely without this tiny gift
from the cat gods. All who meet Mini Mae
comment on her specialness, her zest for life, her antics, and her loyalty. Things have
changed and Mini has taught all of us that the value of life is in the package
not the wrapping.