Last night, I did my volunteer shift at the Kitten Nursery. They asked me to work in the purple room. I've not worked in there for several weeks. The purple room used to have tons of bottle babies and sick kitties...but no more! There is only 1 kennel of bottle babies (and they were so cute) but the rest were older. The first kennel I worked on were a litter of 4 that were removed from the adoption center and brought back because they were losing weight. There is a white board with notes on each kennel. This kennel said "Door Dashers - WILD". They weren't shitting. This kittens are huge by the nursery standards. Well over 1000 grams which is when they usually leave the nursery.
I am no slouch around kittens and figured I could carefully open the door to grab the first kitten. I was sitting on a stool when I did this. As I reached for the first kitten, one jumped right up my arm and around my neck. Now keep in mind, we aren't suppose to have the kittens touch our skin so this was not a good thing. I was able to get the kitten I grabbed back in the kennel while I weighed the back climber. That kitten would not sit still to be weighed. And there was no patient waiting on the table. If I wasn't practically bolting him to the table, he was ready to bolt and run around the room (which is a HUGE no no). No kittens should be on the floor or outside their kennel/table area. I cuddled him a bit and then went to put him back. As I put "Mustard" in the kennel, I was very careful to only open the door a crack. But another kitten jumped up my arm and around my back, a black kitten fell to the floor, and another kitten jumped into my arms! I have now contaminated myself again, the kitten on the floor, and all the kittens. I picked up the black kitten from the floor before he could dash under the kennels, then I squished him with the one in my hand while trying to grab the one off my neck. All this time, there was 1 nice kitty in the group that sat in the kennel patiently watching the antics. This continued for probably 30 minutes of menagerie and kitten wrangling.
Finally, the other lady working offered to help. As I held the 3 kitten offenders while she gloved up and pulled out the bin from the kennel. We were able to get them all in the bin and shut in. And I took a big sigh! I was able to clean the kennel up and get it set up for them. All the while, these kittens were sticking their paws out the breathing holes in all directions. The bin was thumping on the steel table. I got the bin of kittens put back in their kennel and had to hurry and release the kitten bundle from the constraint of the small bin. They came bounding out like they were spring loaded. Another on the floor, another up my arm and around my neck. At that point, it becomes a frustrating game to see who is going to win this battle. As I got them all back in the kennel, and I was literally slamming the door shut, I know there were kitten parts trying to get out again. I don't think I hurt them as the door was finally closed and all kittens inside. I'm usually much more gentle than that.
I've never worked with such a wild litter. I have NEVER dropped a kitten on the floor nor had one touch my bare skin. I took a deep breath and felt like a huge failure when I was done. Plus they scratched the crap out of me. The staff gets nervous if they draw blood but I didn't report it. They have rubbing alcohol pads for just this type of thing so I wiped my wounds and moved on. I had to disinfect the floor and all over the extremes of the table. What was most frustrating is those naughty kittens trashed their kennel within a few minutes of me finishing. I can honestly say, I hope I never have to do this litter again. I'm not cut out for that sort of thing. Naughty kittens for sure!
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