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Kittens survive coyote attack, find new home
Orphaned and starving, 4 kittens in North Dakota got a second chance at life.
Tue, Nov 13 2012 at 3:51 PM
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Orphaned after their mother died while protecting them from a coyote, four starving kittens were rescued and nursed back to health by the CATS Cradle Shelter in Fargo, N.D. Now all four kittens have been adopted together and are learning their way around their new home.
Found beside their mother’s body in July, the kittens were just 4 weeks old and in poor condition.
"We were pretty stunned by the condition that they were in — they were emaciated and hair was falling out, which is a sign of starvation, so we immediately took them," shelter director Gail Ventzke told KVRR. "They should be bouncy, furry, happy little kittens and they look like mice, and they were just so small."
The smallest of the kittens was Daisy, a tiny kitten with bulging eyes and thinning fur who weighed less than 6 ounces. At her age, Daisy should have weighed more than a pound.
The "coyote kittens," as they came to be known, were put on a special diet to help them gain weight. Shelter workers said the foursome were messy eaters and that Daisy often looked like she’d taken a swim in her formula.
By the time they reached 11 weeks of age, Daisy and her siblings were unrecognizable as the emaciated kittens CATS Cradle had taken in. She’s still the smallest of the litter, but Daisy is healthy and continues to put on weight. At her 11-week weigh-in she was 1.54 pounds.
During their recovery, the coyote kittens found new friends in foster mom Lori Lang and her English sheepdog, Romeo, who "stepped up to surrogate parent the little orphans."
And it looks like they’ve found a permanent home with Romeo and the rest of the Lang family.
CATS Cradle recently made a Facebook update saying, "They will be sharing their home with their foster canine brother Romeo forever. Lori and her husband have decided that they just cannot part with them and they are now officially adopted."
More cat stories from MNN:
- Kitten with rare birth defect gets back on his feet
- Blind kitten becomes an Internet sensation
- Lolcats: Where they came from and why we love them
All photos: CATS Cradle Shelter
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So sad these babies lost their brave mama...but so glad they are staying together in their forever home!
What a sweet story! It touches my heart that these most vulnerable of God's creatures were saved.
God Bless You for taking such good care of these kitten's and
giving them a good home.
Good work, CATS Cradle! Thank you for the extensive anti-declawing information on your website, too. After 22 years of working in animal welfare, I can't believe this procedure is still legal in the U.S.
I cried and became emotional when reading this story. God bless the mamma kitty for protecting her babies, what a hero she is. I am so happy these kittens were found and nursed back to health. If I was the foster mamma I would fall in love with these adorable little kittens too. Thank you so much for giving them a home and giving them a loving home they so desperately deserve. As a cat lover or an animal lover at heart, this makes me happy.
This does my heart good!! God bless the mother cat for trying to save her babies. Heartbreaking, but so glad the little ones have a home. Please have your animals spayed and neutered, so this type of thing doesn't have to happen. Think how terrified that mom cat must have been.....all beings have feelings, care for them.
God Bless Cats Cradle and Lori, and all of you animal lovers!
With love from New York.
"It's how we work together in a time of crisis that counts".
Thank you for saving them Lori !
Great story.. Im crying..
The photos of the little kittens are astounding before and after. I wish we could see the hero surrogate mom, Romeo.
Poor little tykes, I'm so glad that they were found in time! I don't blame their foster family for adopting them. I don't think I could give them up either!
Glad these kittens are doing ok!
What a heartbreaking but uplifting story! So glad these little ones have found a good home!
Happy Tears! This is soooooooo beautful and a great survival story! God Bless the Mama Cat at the Rainbow Bridge too!
From growing up with a prolific mama cat, I know they are not afraid to fight for their babies. It breaks my heart that these kittens lost such a brave and loving mom at such a young age. The one blessing is they were found, nurtured and found a loving home a surrogate mom in Romeo and his AWESOME family. the four kittens are all beaurtiful. God Bless the Lang Family and Romeo!
Bless you all for taking such good care of these sweet babies!!
And that was a good mama cat who defended her little ones..