THE STORY OF SWEET CAT

(or why you should never give up on a baby)

    This is a story about one little doe kid that we acquired.  Her name is Sweet Cat and she was born in December of 2004. Her mother died during birth so Cat was kept alive with bottle feeding by her previous owner.  We were offered her as a gift when her owner was selling her herd.   At the time we were told that she was tiny but that she had good bloodlines after we said we would take her. The day we picked her up we were shocked to find that tiny meant a 10 week old doe that weighed only 7 pounds!  As a point of reference a 10 week old doe kid should weigh in between 15 to 20 pounds.  She was covered with lice and had signs of recent diarrhea on her tail.  Her hooves had not been trimmed and were curled around.  She was very weak and was surprisingly content to ride the entire 4 hour trip home in my arms without any strength to struggle.  She was so hungry she ate  alfalfa and a little grain out of my hand during the entire return trip home.

   Our vet met us at the ranch the next morning to examine her.  His face was not too encouraging as he gave her injections for worms and parasites as well as antibiotics for a respiratory infection.  His comment after a physical exam was that he had never seen a baby without any muscle tone to her body and legs.  He explained that was why her barrels stood out so prominently, as she had not developed the needed muscle tone to hold them in. He also did a fecal exam and called later to give instructions for the coccidiosis infection that the microscope revealed. We kept her in the barn in isolation until her respiratory infection cleared but spent many hours holding her and establishing a close bond with her during those early days. She was also given B complex to help boost her appetite and we fed her an easy to digest grain along with the alfalfa.  But most of all we took turns showering her with attention and love hoping to replace the attentive mothering that her own mother would have given her.

    As part of our goal for her recovery we set up a plan to develop her needed muscle tone.  When she became well enough to be out of isolation we allowed her to follow us all over as we did the daily chores around the farm.  She developed the enchanting habit of softly returning my greeting to her each time I passed by her pen and would run over for a head scratch or a wheat thin cracker. I built a bench from plywood and 2 by 4's that she could crawl under to sleep in at night and constructed it tall enough so that I could add concrete blocks to form steps for her to climb up to the top. As I left her that evening I took a few minutes to guide her up the blocks to show her how to get to the top of the bench.  Little did I expect for her to catch on to the quick lesson but the next morning was delighted to find her standing on top of the bench calling to me.   The next step was teaching her to jump up and down from different objects to stimulate her leg muscles. We played goat games each day and soon she was running to catch up with me.  Her weight quickly started to increase in fact she gained three pounds the first week and continued to increase at a steady rate.

    Our older doe Naughty by Nature kidded presenting us with two babies and Cat was soon well enough to learn to play with the new babies. Before long, she was running up  and down ramps and jumping on top of tires buried up right in the ground along with the babies.   By 5 months of age she had achieved the weight of 23 pounds and  had become close to the size of a typical 4 month old doe kid.  Her muscle tone is much improved and she is very active and alert as she enjoys playing with her fellow babies.  Her sweet nature remains and we still call to each other as I pass her pen during the day.  Morning and evening we spend cuddle time as she is still small enough to sit on my lap. I am thankful each day that I became her adopted owner and had the courage and help from friends to be able to bring her to health and strength.  If I had listened to the advice of one goat keeper I would not have had the pleasure of watching her progress. The discouraging words of probable brain damage and hopelessness of the task seemed to not be possible in the strength of her obvious zest for life and trusting love she immediately returned.  Not all sick little pygmy babies are hopeless and Cat is definitely  going to be one success story.  I admit it has taken a lot of medication on a regular basis as well as more than  the usual  amount of attention but to see this little one's delight in being alive it is all worth it.  Perhaps it is only my imagination but for this little doe the effort of studying my other pygmy does as they mother their kids and giving my little Cat the same amount of attention has not only been fun but well worth the effort as her health and strength keep increasing.

UPDATE- Cat now weighs 42 pounds and is still my sweet loving baby, she still expects to climb into my lap!

She is the definition of unconditional love. She has grown to be a wonderful little lady!

                                                                             SWEET CAT FEBRUARY 2005            

                                                                                                  JULY 2005          

UPDATE- Grand Champion October 2005 at W.C. P.G.A. Spooktacular !