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my beloved molly dolly. she had her kittens on may 22 - four perfect little girls. she took to motherhood immediately. but motherhood didn't take to her and last week, she developed mastitis. it came on really quickly - she was fine at midnight the night before and when we woke up on monday morning, she was clearly very unwell. i took her immediately to the vet, where they diagnosed the mastitis and gave her both a shot of painkillers and antibiotics. she's been on a course of both since - and i'm getting downright good at popping those pills down her throat. i was worried about her for the first couple of days - she wasn't eating or drinking anything, but by the end of the week, she was eating again. the whole time, she has cared for her kittens, tho' i have been supplementing them with special kitten milk replacer from a bottle, as her milk production was down.

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now their eyes are open and they are strong and feisty (this one's hissing at me, which isn't very nice in light of the fact that i'm feeding her milk). on sunday, i noticed that the teat with the worst infection had burst and she had hole in her belly. i called the weekend vet immediately and he asked me how she was doing. other than the alarming hole in her belly, she was actually good - she chased a frog across the lawn as i was speaking to him and she was both eating and drinking and acting much more like herself. so he advised me to wait 'til today and take her in to be seen (kindly saving me the extra charge). when i took her in today, the vet was rather alarmed and said she wanted to put her under and see what could be done. it turned out not to be possible to sew it up, so she's still got an alarming gaping hole, but now it's clean and all of the dead tissue has been taken away. she's back home, a bit woozy, but eating and drinking and caring for her babies. i protect the wound with a clean washcloth while they're nursing, but they're actually pretty good about avoiding it. it's quite astonishing how nature works.

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while i was waiting to hear from the vet that she could be picked up, i found this 4-leaf clover. i just looked down and saw it, i didn't even have to search for it. surely it's a sign that molly will be just fine - luck just must be on her side. this evening, she's seeking me out, sitting on my lap as i type this, even tho' it's me who put the collar of shame on her (we've got to keep her from licking that wound). she's got an appointment with the vet every day this week and the vet ordered some salve that contains honey that we'll put on it, to help it heal more quickly. i like that idea.

this little cat has become very important to me, ever since the first time i saw her and i realized today at one point that i had some of the feeling that i had when sabin was born 10 weeks early and we had to feed her by putting a tube down her nose into her stomach. a helplessness and a panicky feeling that i wasn't up to the task. but i was then and i will be now. we're going to get our molly dolly through this one. even the vet says so. but sending some good vibes her way wouldn't hurt.