9/25/04
These cats were found together enclosed in a cardboard box that had been apparently abandoned along a road near Dayton Ohio. After they were discovered they were turned in to a county SPCA. From there arrangements were made to have them admitted into a purebreed rescue for cats and a all volunteer transport was arranged for Saturday 9/25.

1st update after arriving.
"The smallest looks to be about 8 weeks old, the biggest probably 14 weeks (the black and white). All are very spunky except the little gray one who is the most sickly and run-down. I'm praying he doesn't have ringworm. The biggest black and white female is going to need laser surgery to open up her nostrils, hey are so tiny and she can barely breathe."


Update received on 9/27/04
"Well here are new pictures of the crew, all 6 of them. The worst of them is the tiny grayish/brown one (who even looks icky in the picture). I took him into the vet this morning because his skin is just AWFUL. It is thickened and scabby and I figured loaded with ringworm. He weighed in at TWO POUNDS and I was figuring him for one of the 8 week olds. Until we opened his mouth...and saw...ADULT TEETH COMING IN. This kitten is 6 MONTHS OLD!! I almost fell over!! When I went home I checked the mouths of all the kittens and found ALL BUT ONE HAVE EITHER NEW ADULT TEETH OR ADULT TEETH COMING IN. Only ONE has kitten teeth and that's the smallest tabby kitten who probably IS around 9 weeks old!! I still can't believe it! These are the SMALLEST CATS I HAVE EVER SEEN!!
Malnourished or not, these are just TINY Persians!
My vet felt that the tiny gray one may or may not have ringworm, given the fact that he did NOT light up like a Christmas tree under the woods lamp. I am still treating all of them for it anyway. He certainly has severe dermatitis from filth and fleabites. Antibiotics will help with that. My vet also thinks that getting him and the others fixed ASAP will help with the healing process as well and they are scheduled to be done tomorrow.
So this as certainly turned into an interesting adventure!"


Update 10/16/04
I am VERY pleased to announce that 5 of the 6 Ohio Persian kittens have gone home this weekend! Three went home with one of The Nicest family I have EVER met doing rescue, the black and white kitten went to a family who has ANOTHER black and white Persian, and the small brown tabby male went home with a woman who has run a pet sitting business in the northern Illinois burbs for the past 25 years and her last Persian lived to be 26 years old!!
The remaining kitten is, of course, the tiny gray male who has some kind of significant skin disorder that is going to require bloodwork, a biopsy and probably a specialist before this is all over, so he is going to be with me for a while. Despite all of that he is happy, has great body weight and has developed into a very friendly little Purrson!
These guys were a LOT of work but were VERY rewarding! They were absolutely personality PLUS from the very beginning and all they needed was food and TLC to really blossom into the great little cats we knew they could be! Please forward this message to all who helped these kittens get here so they know their work was VERY worthwhile!

6/1/06
A HAPPY ENDING TO A TERRIBLE BEGINNING

It has been over a year ago this summer when we received a call about a box of cats found on the side of the road in rural Ohio. The rescue contact heard they were Persian kittens but we found that hard to believe. Too much money is made from purebred kittens and puppies...which is why we very rarely have them available (people usually wait until they are a year old, higher maintenance and "no longer cute" before dumping them). However this case turned out to be true. Six Persian kittens, ranging in age from 8 weeks to 4 months, were found crammed into a small cardboard box sealed with duct tape on the side of a road. When the little group finally made it up to their foster home in Wisconsin they were in very poor shape. All were in various stages of starvation, had upper respiratory and eye infections and had a difficult fungal skin infection called ringworm. One little gray Persian was so badly infected he had no fur left and his skin was pretty much one open, bleeding sore. Kia was the little black Persian of the bunch. From her photo(last in line below) you can tell her eyes hurt and her coat was a mess but you can also tell she had that spark of personality that would shine more clearly when her health improved. This batch of kittens was a very long, difficult, expensive foster project. One of the kittens died suddenly of an apparent heart defect. The others took various times to gain weight, heal and grow but all proved to be delightful, friendly little Purrsons despite their horrendously neglectful beginnings. All were eventually adopted and Kia's new mom fills us in on her happy ending!