ALL YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT TIPI, ORPHANED KITTEN SUCKING ACRYLIC BLANKETS.

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Our cat´s name is Tipi. She is two and a half years old. We first knew about her in September 2012. About a couple of months before we met her Tipi was still part of a feline litter. However, this situation did not last much because Tipi´s mother could not feed all of her kittens, and all kittens except Tipi died shortly before we knew about Tipi. Afterwards, the mother cat died of hunger and sadness to see all her kittens but one die little by little. The kittens died because the mother was unable to meet all of her kittens needs. On the other hand she met some needs of her kittens such as heat and sanitation. The most significant  need she could not meet was nutrition. It was the lack of nutrition which made the mother be poor in health, having inadequate milk supply and not sufficient quality of milk for such a large litter. As the mother was unable to care for all of her kittens only one lucky one survived.

For sure Tipi had a good chance at survival. It was at this time when Tipi became an orphaned kitten. One day Tipi noticed a basket nearby and entered it for shelter. Just some time after this was when my mother and I saw Tipi for the first time. We started to feed Tipi  taking her some food every day so that she would have at least the proper nutrition.  Little by little, day after day she would recognize our voices and presence. After spending some days off in Getxo we went back to Soria, but once there we could not stop thinking about Tipi. This was the reason why we decided to go back to Getxo again as soon as we could, to adopt Tipi and bring her back again with us to Soria. And so we did.

We managed to get Tipi come with us, but I must say that the long trip to Soria for an orphaned Kitten was somewhat memorable, to say the least. I must add that by feeding her every day we won her heart. Yes! That is the best way you can be successful in adopting an orphaned kitten. Any orphaned kitten that gets fed by someone every day, together of course with some love while feeding and being with them every day,  makes the difference.

Tipi, as any kitten, would huddle close together with her mother while she lived, to regulate her body temperature, until she developed control of her own thermoregulation. Once her mother died Tipi was very sensitive to changes in heat and humidity. Therefore, when we adopted Tipi she started sucking any blanket we provided her with. Tipi behaved like that because she missed her mother so much that she recalled the sucking she used to enjoy, huddling close together with her.

Tipi has been sucking acrylic blankets at least once a day until very recently, because she could not forget her mother, and also because of the hunger she suffered for quite a long time.
So we can say that not only mammary glands are suckled, but acrylic blankets are as well!  You can watch four videos of Tipi sucking her acrylic blanket, live, on Youtube.

Something else worth mentioning is that Tipi would be crying, specially at night, for more than six months, and all because of the trauma associated with her mother´s death. I have to admit it was not easy to hear and see her crying every  day.  I felt really bad for her. I let it be because I knew it would take her some time to heal the pain. The therapy we used to help her was the following: love, love and more love, if possible. Apart from this we provided her with the adequate nutrition, environment, mental and emotional support that she needed to overcome that trauma she had.

Manuals on orphaned kittens say that unhealty kittens cry a lot. Well then, according to those manuals, I have to admit Tipi is really healthy right now, because she has not cried ever since that long time now.

Tipi has been living with us for sixteeen months up to now, and I can say she is a completely different cat. She is a newborn cat, lively and full of happiness. As time goes by,  Tipi shows greater loyalty and deeper affection for us, apart from being smarter.

Let me encourage everyone of you to adopt any kitten or cat that needs shelter. Around parks, streets or many other different places you may see one of these lovely creatures. Please, do not have second thoughts; do not think about the  color hair or  eyes  It has got, or the look on the cat´s face either. All those characteristics are not relevant whatsoever. You can work wonders making any orphaned cat happy, and consequently , by turning the cat into a happy creature the cat becomes the most beautiful cat she has ever been before, physically speaking.  I can firmly state what I just said before because Tipi has never looked as beautiful as she does right now. No doubt about it, she is on cloud  nine!