Pierre

Litter number: 10
Kitten number: 36
Gender: m
Color: black + white

Nickname: le Grand Fromage
Siblings: Cousteau, Mimi

Pierre was a tiny 8.6-oz bottle-baby when we brought him to 50K with his siblings Cousteau and Mimi. He had a cute white stripe down his nose that reminded us of the cartoon skunk Pepe LePeu. Since we opted for a French theme with this group, we named him Pierre. (Pepe didn't really sound French enough.) We already had Peaches and her gang upstairs, so this group spent their entire stay at 50K in our downstairs bathroom, with occasional opportunities to romp in the kitchen and family room.

Like Cousteau and Mimi, Pierre arrived with a distended belly, and that meant trouble. All three kits had yellow projectile diarrhea, along with sporadic vomiting. They ate well from the bottle at first, but gradually got frustrated with it and began chewing the nipples. So we started feeding them slurry and Nutrical by syringe, around the clock.

Based on our experience with Hobie and Drew, we took them to the vet early and often. They got Albon, which did nothing at first, and then a week later, Metronidazole, which helped a lot. Pierre got better, then worse again. We added Clavamox to the cocktail mix. They also got Benebac, Panacur, and frequent injections of subcutaneous saline.

It took a long time for Pierre to really get healthy, and there were a couple of occasions when we worried he wouldn't make it. But a month after his arrival, he turned the corner and began eating, pooping and romping like a champ. He turned into a robust little guy, and was adopted along with another shelter kitten a week after we took him back.

Arrival date: 9/9/2007
Departure date: 11/5/2007