Lily's Babies

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A nonprofit fundraiser supporting

Helens Haven Animal Rescue & Sanctuary
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Lily needs help for her babies.

$665

raised by 17 people

$3,000 goal

Lily's Babies at 18 weeks!

Update posted 6 years ago

For those of you who donated to both Violet, and then later to Lily's babies when they all needed help, you will get duplicate updates.  I'd apologize, but they are so cute who wouldn't want to watch them twice!

A long overdue update on Lily's babies.  They are 18 weeks old today.  They are finally stable, eating well, and aside from some random poop issues - healthy.  We'll (finally!) be starting vaccinations and then getting them spayed and neutered.

 And then we'll see what's next.  They will most likely go up for adoption in two pairs, but first we're going to evaluate them as potential therapy cats.  They've been handled so much while they were babies, they may enjoy the travel and people.  If they don't, then they'll get their own families. The animals definitely get to vote, because their vote is the only one that really matters.

 Their mom had the good sense to watch their play from the hall about 3 feet back from the door. But she is also a kitten and is usually bouncing off the walls.  She tries to play with them, which confuses them cause she's "mom". It's cute/funny/perplexing all at the same time.

 Much to all of our surprise and delight, all 5 of them are alive and thriving after all the near-death experiences.

You can follow them, and others, at our Facebook page:  
www.facebook.com/HHanimalrescue

Meet Lily, a very young mom of 4 sweet babies who needs our help.  

Her story starts in the Central Valley (near Stockton). Our young mom found a shed where she could have her babiesâ€Ĥthree days later she and her babies were transported to us.  Lily is a friendly girl who clearly loves people, though her background is a complete mystery.   And while she's healthy, her babies have had challenges from the beginning.  This may be a mixture of her young age, poor nutrition while she was pregnant, and the babies being born early.

We noticed they were struggling very early on:

  • They lost their umbilical chords at 7 - 8 days (normally this happens at 2-3 days).
  • Their eyes didn't start opening until 3 weeks (normally this happens at 7-10 days).
  • Kittens generally start "exploring" food at 3-4 weeks, these were radically uninterested until almost 8 weeks.  Lily continues to allow them to nurse, but she is not producing much - if any - milk at this point.
  • At 8 weeks, they should weigh 2 pounds, but they only weigh 3/4 of a pound.

In short, they've been behind the curve the entire way.  They have steadily progressed...just at their own pace.   They are adorable, active and very interested in living.  They haven't given up, and we're not giving up either.

Some kittens have trouble making the move from milk to food as their digestive systems figure out the new stuff, and that has been the case for all of them.  They have needed a lot of medical intervention as they have bounced up and down.  

A few weeks ago, we ran a fundraiser for Violet, one of the baby girls, and we thank you for answering the call.  She was the first to hit a wall health-wise.   She has recovered and is doing well, and the rest have followed in her tiny paw prints. The vet bills have, needless to say, sky-rocketed.   

Yesterday we had to admit Wesley to the hospital to save his life, and that created a problem. Each step of the way, there has been no medical reason to terminate care - just financial.  We don't believe in "checkbook euthanasia" as a matter of policy and we hope you don't either. 

Total bills for this family to date are just over $6000, with at least another $500-1000 still coming.  The proceeds from Violet's fundraiser were a tremendous help, but with these new bills piling up, we're reaching out once again. Will you meet us half-way to covering these bills and give these kittens a chance at full, healthy and happy lives?  

***Helen's Haven has private donors who cover the routine costs of operations.  All donations will be used solely for medical bills.   Anything we receive above our goal will free up our funds to help other needy animals.***

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