Update on the kittens

I'm sorry to say that "Spot" did not survive, and he has now joined his brothers at the Rainbow Bridge.  He fought hard, but even with medicine and force feeding, his little body just couldn't fight off the parasites. 

We finally have a definitive answer on what caused the kittens to become so sick.  They tested positive for a parasite called tritrichomonas foetus.  It causes diarrhea and while it can affect both adults and kittens, it is usually not fatal.  However these kittens are so young and frail that they just weren't strong enough to survive.   Regular dewormers and antibiotics don't work against this parasite, and we actually had to order the only medicine that is shown to be effective against it from a pharmacy several states away.  They are sending the medicine by overnight mail, so hopefully it will get here later today in time to help the last surviving kitten - the one I was temporarily calling "Trickster" (because she was always escaping from her room).

I've officially named her Mira.  It's short for Miracle... because that is what she needs.  Not only does she need to survive these parasites, but the medicine we will be giving her to help her fight them off is very dangerous and known to cause neurological problems so I will be monitoring her closely and if she has any side effects we will have to quit the medication.  Thank you all for your well wishes - I will keep you updated on how she is doing.

On another note, I have some happier news to share.  Last night I met with a lady who is interested in adopting Casey.  She met Casey and everything went really well, and she will most likely be taking him home next week!

I explained to Casey that he was going to be adopted and get to live with a wonderful new mom.  I was hoping the news wouldn't be too hard on him and he wouldn't mind going to yet another new place.  I shouldn't have worried.  He said "Next week??  How about right now?!"  Oh wait, nevermind.  That was my husband Dave who said that.  But Casey did seem excited to hear he would get to live with the nice lady he met tonight.  Or perhaps he was just excited at the thought of getting away from Remi and Noelle and Tripoli and Ziggy.  Either way, he is one happy dog.