Peaches

Litter number: 9
Kitten number: 32
Gender: f
Color: buff + white

Nickname: Peach-pot-pie, Peachy-keen
Siblings: Genghis, Rooney

The foster kitten who shattered all the 50K endurance records, staying with us for over four months. Peaches weighed 15.8 oz the day she arrived, and it took her almost three weeks to gain a single ounce.

She was congested and sneezing when she got here, and for weeks on end was unable to beat her URI. Since she couldn't smell her food, she would walk up to the food dish and then walk away. We fed her by syringe for 20 days. While Kizzie, Rooney and Genghis scampered around the playground, poor Peaches would crouch quietly under the bed, too enervated to join in.

During the dog days of August, I would take Peaches into the bunkhouse, elevate her on plastic crates to within a foot of the ceiling, and then crank the shower on full blast at maximum heat. As I held the crates and made sure she didn't fall, the bunkhouse filled with steam until water dripped from the ceiling. Through the mist, I would watch Peaches try to dislodge the phlegm that clogged her nose and sinuses.

Clavamox finally helped her subdue the URI enough to start eating on her own. Then she developed a fever, and got treated for that. Next came diarrhea, and more meds. Her appetite and energy level came and went.

We took her back to the shelter in mid-October for spaying, and she went on view. A week later, her URI had returned, and she'd lost too much weight to stay on view. We brought her back to 50K, along with Chrissy, Jodi and Paige, and she stayed with us until Christmas morning, when we left town for the holidays. By that time, she was healthy and strong, more of a teenager than a kitten (but of course we still worried about her.)

I vowed that if she was still at the shelter when we got home, we would adopt her ourselves. Peachy found her forever home while we were away.

Arrival date: 8/6/2007
Departure date: 12/25/2007