The Bittersweet Story of Momma Cher and her Rockers
Written by Mary Della Malva, this family's wonderful foster
When I was asked to provide Rainbow Bridge entries for some of my neonatal babies, I realized that I couldn’t tell their stories without talking about the whole family.
Momma Cher gave birth to a litter of Little Rockers on February 17, 2025. Momma Cher had no desire to be a momma and refused to feed or care for her babies. The kind people who found them realized caring for the litter of neonatal kittens was going to be very difficult and reached out to Furry Tales for help.
The family arrived at my home on February 22nd. Momma Cher looked at me with daggers in her eyes. Momma Cher disappeared to a spare bedroom where she could have solitude. She didn’t want to be touched and would hiss if I came too close. The sleepy babies were transferred to a carrier with a heating pad and fuzzy blankets for them to snuggle in.
The babies, at 6 days old, were just losing their umbilical cords and still had their eyes and ears closed. They latched onto the bottle easily and were warm and plump. At first appearances, the babies appeared healthy, and I was optimistic that the entire litter would make it through those critical first couple of weeks.
During the first 3 weeks of a baby’s life, I count success, not in days but in hours and sometimes minutes.
I set my phone alarms to go off every 2 to 3 hours to feed and stimulate their bottoms. They were nursing on the bottle and peeing well but would not poop. They were all very constipated. Two of them had hard, lumpy bellies. Between the 22nd and the 25th, gradually I got all the babies to poop (more poop than those little bellies should be able to hold).
With a sign of relief, I was hopeful that the worst was behind us.
Their little eyes opened up and the Rockers got their names. Pink, Floyd, Janice and Joplin.
In true Rocker fashion, they crooned when they were hungry and belted out when they had had their bottoms stimulated.
With the initial constipation dealt with, we settled into a routine of feeding and stimulation every three to four hours.
However, as a foster of neonatals, you can never truly relax during the first few weeks. Never let your guard down. Pink, Janice and Joplin started having diarrhea and Floyd still struggled with constipation.
On March 2 at 6:20 pm, Joplin started fading. I immediately started syringe feeding and supplementing with sugar water. He was nestled next to my heart with a warm heating pad providing additional warmth. I purred to him and stroked his little head. Around 8:45 pm he started perking back up and I felt I could breathe again.
We continued to struggle with diarrhea and constipation. The diarrhea got worse and worse.
Pink passed away in the early hours of March 5th. My heart ached that she passed alone, without being comforted.
At 3:07 pm on March 5th, Joplin started crashing again. He again went next to my heart with a warm heating pad, purring and stroking his head resumed. Sugar water and KMR were dripped into his mouth every few minutes. He was dehydrated so I also subQed him with warmed fluids. His condition continued to worsen. At 9:10 pm on March 5th Joplin passed away and joined his sister across the Rainbow Bridge.
By this time, Janice had also started to crash. The triage continued. Sugar water, drops of formula, subQ fluids, heartbeat, purring and heating pad. Janice crossed the Rainbow Bridge during the night of March 5th.
Three babies lost in 24 hours. My heart was heavy, and I felt I had failed. I wanted to curl into a ball and cry but I still had Floyd to care for. My full attention turned solely to Floyd. Unlike Pink, Janice and Joplin he did not have diarrhea, he still struggled with constipation.
I watched Floyd like a hawk and I used every trick in the books to help him move his bowels. Floyd was strong and loud. Hour after hour, day after day he continued to grow and get stronger. His ears perked up, his vision cleared, his legs got less wobbly. He howled and tore my hands apart, as he struggled to get away, whenever I tried to get him to poop. At times I was frustrated and almost brought to tears, but I wouldn’t give up. I could get him to do tiny bits every day or two but nowhere close to what he should be doing.
Fast forward to March 26th, 2025 Floyd is now just over a month old and today for the first time he pooped on his own, he even did it in the litter box. I’ve never been so happy to see poop. He is weaning, eating more solid food than drinking formula from the bottle. He is discovering his paws and his tail and likes to play with scrunchy toys. He snuggles under my hair, purring like crazy.
No Rainbow Bridge for Floyd!
As Floyd continues to thrive, Momma Cher quietly waits until the weather warms enough for her to return to her colony in Ottawa.
I specialize in bottle babies, not only to celebrate the success stories but to help ease the passage for those little ones who are too weak and sick to make it. I mourn the losses and rejoice in the victories as they come.
If you would allow me to give some advice to anyone who finds themselves in a position where they must care for a neonatal baby, even for a short period, please try to remember that stimulating the bowels to get them to pee and poop is as important as keeping them warm and feeding them. I’m not saying this is what caused Pink, Janice and Joplin to fail. It’s impossible to know what caused them to fail. Lack of momma’s milk and inability to properly digest the formula likely played a part. Their little systems are so delicate, they are so fragile. Keep them warm, fed and stimulated to pee and poop (and try to get catnaps for yourself between feedings). There are many online resources available if you can’t find someone experienced with caring for neonatal kittens.
Sweet Xandra was the third to pass, on April 3rd, 2025. Perhaps most surprisingly as she appeared to be thriving.
