Let us introduce you to our tiny but mighty little friend, Meep. Meep is one of 87 kittens that came from one property in Douglas County. Yes, you read that correctly – 87 kittens. The property where these cats were living changed owners and unfortunately the new owners threatened the safety of the animals if left on the property. Fearing the worst, a good Samaritan rounded up all the cats he could find and brought them to us at Lawrence Humane in four trips.
Meep was 1 of 20 kittens brought in during the third trip. She had four littermates but was markedly smaller than her siblings. At the time she weighed in Meep should have weighed one pound, but she came in weighing less than half a pound. After a thorough examination, Lawrence Humane staff made the decision to separate her from her siblings so that she could have individualized attention and not have to compete for food with kittens twice her size. Unfortunately, no matter what we tried, Meep just couldn’t gain any weight. Our clinic staff provided every resource possible – dewormer, vaccines, a fecal test, and various medicines and antibiotics. Because kittens can’t regulate their own body temperature, Meep was kept on a heating pad at all times. And while her littermates were eating dry kibble and thriving in foster care, Meep couldn’t gain an ounce even with us syringe feeding her every two hours, including through the night!
Finally, through persistence and some outside-the-box thinking, Meep turned a corner. Lawrence Humane is lucky to have three kitten incubators intended for kittens much younger than Meep. Because she was underdeveloped, putting her in an incubator and having constant climate control proved to be a game-changer. Little Meep began to eat for longer periods of time and started to gain weight. She began to roll around, groom herself, and display signs of kitten joy! Eventually, Meep’s body stabilized enough to not need an incubator. She spent a lot of time hanging with staff in our Pet Resource Center and we brought one of her siblings back from foster care to play!
The dynamic duo became Meep and Mop and quickly stole the heart of staff member, Ashley. Ashley has never really been a cat person, but immediately knew she was in love with Meep and Mop. She says, “Getting to see her grow up in the PRC office and having all of the LHS staff rallying to help her and problem-solve her issues is one of the coolest things I’ve ever been a part of.” Ashley would share photos with her son, who quickly fell in love with the kittens as well. Now, Meep and Mop have joined a family with more toys than they know what to do with, 4 dogs (who were also adopted through LHS), and love.
