Isn't it weird how sometimes things just happen that you're not expecting at all.
Walter is one of those things that happened to us in the last few weeks.
Sadly at the end of June David's grandmother passed away - we rushed down to Brighton to see her but she died just before we arrived. We then stayed with the family for a few hours before travelling back up to Suffolk. When we were about 20 minutes away from home we were diverted as the road was closed for road works. On our way down all these little windy roads David insisted the TomTom was wrong and we take a different route. After a traumatic day I just went along with him and followed his instructions (which is rare for me so I must have been tired!). Then about 10 minutes away from home (at midnight) I saw this tiny little cat in the middle of the road - I slammed on the brakes and didn't hit anything (at this stage after a very long day David thought I was hallucinating!) so reversed back a tiny bit so we could see with the headlights and there in the middle of the road was a tiny kitten.
I got out and went over to it - it was cold, meowing and there was no sign of houses or a mummy cat anywhere nearby. So I did what any plonker would do and decided to take it home.
We got home and then frantically googled how old the cat must be (estimating 3 to 3 and a half weeks old) - either way it was way too little to be without a mummy cat. In the early hours of the morning now and after reading lots of advice (and no one being available until the next morning) we just kept cuddling him to keep him warm (as they can't regulate body temp until 5-6 weeks) and tried to drip feed him a solution of sugar and water to keep him temporarily alive!. This meant neither of us went to sleep but thankfully he survived the night and in the morning we took him to the vets to get some cat replacement milk so we could feed him. Here's a couple of photos of him that morning after his first milk feed.
Now I feel like we can safely say we have a tiny snap shot into the life of new parents and know a little how you feel (and it's completely knackering) as Walter (he needed a name and I don't know why but he just looked like a Walter to me) now needed constantly to be kept warm and fed every two hours!!!! Thankfully I have a heaven sent sister-in-law (Rachel) who helped us by taking Walter on days and nights we couldn't have him otherwise I don't think we could have managed.
Thankfully though after a few little hiccups (like Walter having a throat and chest infection) Walter is thriving. In these photos he's about 5-6 weeks old
David obviously was tired and needed a cat nap too!
We tried our best to get Pip (our dog) to accept Walter so we could keep him but she wasn't having any of it (she is far too protective of David and didn't want Walter anywhere near him) and so Rachel (who loves him just as much as we do) is keeping him (he'll now be living with her husband and children, two other cats, a dog and chickens!) It was very hard to reach the decision of not keeping him (although best for Walter as we couldn't have lived with ourselves if Pip had attacked/eaten or killed him) as we both fell completely in love with him in just a few days. However, we know he will be loved and cared for at Rachel's and have the perfect home there (plus we'll still get to still see him lots) with loads of outdoor space and no nearby busy roads!
Walter came for his last stay with us a couple of days ago and is growing rapidly. When we first picked him up he weighed 305g and now is pushing the kitchen scale limits at over 900g! He is growing into a very handsome (and a naughty, playful and mischievous) little cat. Here are our most recent photos of him
I took Walter in the garden for a couple of photos (but didn't pop him down as I would have liked to for a few photos in the flowers and trees as he hasn't had his inoculations yet so if you're reading this Rachel please don't worry!)
As you can see Pip (our dog) looks at him like he's dinner!!!!!
I'll keep blogging on Walter when he gets a little older and hopefully more photos will follow so you can see how much he's grown.
Right, back to work now! I'll write over the next few days on weddings, parties, portrait sessions etc that we've also been up too during the past few very hectic weeks!
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