A Kitten Came Home...

A couple days ago, one of the strays that my grandparent's feed brought home a tiny tot in his mouth. This cat was notorious for killing kittens (possibly accidental, possibly territorial) so we quickly scooped up the kitten and brought him inside. He couldn't have been more than five weeks, but I'm estimating.  He didn't cry, didn't scratch, didn't try to run away; he just shook... He could not stop shaking. It was as if he had been abducted and taken to another planet! Perhaps that is his reality, because I think he was born a stray. We live in the backwoods behind a pond, and there are a ton of stray cats that live in the woods and throughout the neighborhood. It's really difficult to figure out where the poor baby came from. He has definitely been traumatized and misses his family.

For the first day/night, all he did was hide. He would not come out; he would not eat. I've taken care of kittens before, bottle fed some and others I had the mama there; but this was the first that would not eat. He slept under my bed in the corner of the room the first night, and finally started to cry. He cried on and off all night. I had gotten him to eat some by that point, not enough, but I think the cries were more out of loneliness and fear.

The next day, I decided to socialize him. I scooped him up in a blanket that he could "hide" in, and it became his security and comfort. I sat and watched a movie with my grandmother and he slept on my lap inside his blanky. Since then, he has slept in the bed with me all night, still crying every now and then, and eating a little more each day. He adores me know, we have grown a strong bond in a short time. I'm just still concerned about his eating habits.