This is the heart-warming story of Buttercup and Westley!
#1 Lost and found
Just last summer, two newborn kittens were found abandoned in a trash bag that was dumped inside a garbage can.
#2 They named them Buttercup and Westley.
“I took them in that day and they became a part of our family. They are wonderful,” Cathy McCaughan said.
#3 A team effort
Cathy writes: “One of my mother’s co-workers heard noises coming from a kitchen trash bag and upon searching that squeaking bag of trash, found two newborn kittens inside a sealed Ziploc bag.”
“The driver called in his find and my mother told him to bring the kittens to the office while calling me to get the kittens help.”
#4 They were so tiny!
“Their wet fur made them look like just hatched chickens. I pulled the car over to check on them four times between the Oak Ridge trash collection office and my West Knoxville vet. I truly believe that they could have easily gone to sleep and never awakened. They were so tiny and so weak.”
#5 The odds were against them
“The vet was less than hopeful. I took the kittens home and stared at them. I stared at them when I fed them formula with a syringe because they were too weak to suckle. I stared at them when they slept.”
#6 Round the clock care
“At night, I put the cat carrier containing the mouse sized kittens and bottles of hot water covered with socks, on my bed. It was as close to co-sleeping as I could get.
#7 Constant attention
“I didn’t sleep. For the first three days, I fed them, wiped bottoms with wet cotton balls, obsessed over their body temperatures and stared at them. Well, at night I did something else. I cried.”
#8 They turned a corner!
“The kittens transitioned to bottles and started to resemble kittens. Kittens that fit in the palm of your hand.”
“The stronger the kittens got, the less anxious I became. I started calling the kittens by names as though it was suddenly safe to become emotionally invested in them. That was silly. I could not be more emotionally attached. I love these furballs. I love them for fighting so hard when all of the odds were against them.”
“I love that my old German Shepherd allows the kittens to run for about ten minutes before she herds the kittens back to a person as if to say, ‘Play time is over. Naptime.’ Yes, she means HER nap, but it is still a wonderful thing to watch.”
“I love the way they crawl to my face for kisses. I love the way my children nurture and care for the kittens. I love the tiny little thumps the kitten paws make when we put them on the wood floors for exercise.”
They were so small and helpless when they first came to their new home, but just look at them now!
#9 Look at them now!
