BLADENSBURG, Md. — Firefighters saved four day-old kittens from a tight squeeze Tuesday, jammed 10 to 12 feet inside a truck cubbyhole where Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission workers store poles.
But by Thursday, two of the most fragile newborns died, said Denise Hilton, director of operations for Alley Cat Rescue in Mount Rainier, Md.
At the beginning of their workday Tuesday, the employees had noticed the mother cat hopping from the Truck 2362's storage space with one kitten in her mouth. But they went off before realizing that more young ones still could be inside, said Adam Jablonski, also of Alley Cat Rescue. When the workers returned to home base, they called the cat rescue.
"It was so amazing to see these kittens being rescued," Hilton said. "And we were surprised that they would look up a rescue (group) and call."
► MAY 1: DC is having a kitten boom! Here’s how you can help
► JUNE 2018: Tips for adopting a cat
Hilton tried to get the kittens herself, but the truck's crawl space was too long and small, she said. Ten to 12 crewmembers from the Bladensburg Fire Department needed 20 or 30 minutes to extricate the four newborns.
Hilton cleaned them up, cleared their airways, gave them kitten milk to stop any dehydration and stimulated their bowels to help them defecate, Jablonski said. One of the kittens had an injured paw, and all were taken to a veterinarian for further examination.
Hilton had hopes that a feline foster mom could have become the newborns' wet nurse.
Four kittens rescued from their birthplace deep inside Maryland utility's truck
"I actually raced over to Prince George's County Animal Management to pick up a mom with nursing kittens about the same age in hopes that she'll feed them," Hilton said. When that didn't work, in part because the foster mom's offspring were two weeks older, the rescue group enlisted a human volunteer who has 30 years of experience bottle feeding kittens.
Hand feeding newborn kittens is a demanding task. Kittens up to a week old have to be fed every two to three hours around the clock, and their special kitten formula must be warmed to a little more than room temperature — not too hot and not too cold — according to Utah-based Best Friends Animal Society.
The earliest that weaning can start is 4 weeks old.
Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission officials still plan to allow Hilton back into the truck yard in hopes of finding the mother cat and remaining kitten but workers have not seen her yet. If Hilton can lure them, the mom may be able to care for all of her kittens again and get the cat spayed so she won't have more litters.
