Zorba's 4th Birthday

Today is the 4th birthday of my cat Zorba

and I thought it might be a good opportunity 

to share his story with you.


My mom made this photo from Zorba on my arm today

All of the 10 cats that are living with me have their own story

and this is the one from Zorba...

It is a long story... so I hope you have a minute or two? lol!

Well...

By the time that Zoë (his mother) should give birth to Zorba 

she suddenly got sick (high fever etc.)

I asked my mom to drive the car, so I could sit with Zoë in the back

and we went in a rush to the vetenary clinic in Nafplion

(which is a one and half hours drive by car from our place!)

I will spare you the details of that trip!

The vet examinated Zoë first and found out that she had Metritis 

She said that she had to remove Zoë's uterus 

and everything that goes with it...

The vet had to do a Caesarean surgery (sorry for my bad English)

to get Zorba immediately out of his mother's belly.

At that time we didn't know if he was still alive...

or if Zoë would survive the operation...

It took a while (seconds seemed like minutes) before Zorba,

the only baby that she was carrying, started to breath...

And we almost gave up hope for him...

But after shaking him again and again with his head down 

and hitting (not that hard!) him on his bottom, 

he finaly started to breath!!

Well... he started and stopped again and that repeated itself

for about ten minutes before he really kept breathing by himself.

His mother Zoë was also in danger so the vet had to take care of her

while we were trying our best to keep Zorba breathing...

It was a very scary day... but they both survived! :)

The vet gave me special milk and a bottle for new born kittens, 

because she she thought that Zoë would not accept her child.

Zoë had a hugh scarve in her belly that hurts with feeding

(cats push with their paws to bring up the milk)

and she didn't experiance one second of the baby being born...

Besides that... she was 'unconscious' (more like a drunk)

for more than 3 days!

And sick till over her stomage from that infection 

I gave her twice a day injections with antibiotic for that ...

Not much fun for her to have a hungry baby,

as you can imagine...

So the doctor was right... Zoë ignored him completely! 

I had to feed the little kitten every 3 hours to start with...

(I loved him from the moment that he started to breath

so I didn't mind that at all!)

He slept with a plush Pooh bear and a warm water bottle

instead of his warm loving mother.... so sad!

Well he didn't know any better so he was fine with it.

But guess what happened after 4 days...

Zoë had a major problem with her milk, that she was producing

(that is a natural process)

And all of a sudden she decided that she wanted her baby back!!

But Zorba did not want to drink with Zoë!!

He wanted me (his mommy) and his bottle... besides his pooh bear.

That was the next problem I had to solve.

Finaly when he was hungry enough he started to drink with Zoë.

After he had enough milk she washed him 

like a good mommy cat does,

and while I was watching how it all turned out so well...

She tried to kill that poor little thing by biting his throat!

I was shocked!! 

Because Zoë is still the most sweetest creature I have ever met!!!

So...

up till 8 weeks I had to take him away from his mom

every time he was finished drinking and cleaned up!!

Did not had the change of leaving the house for many hours

as you can understand, kittens eat all day! lol!!

By the age of 8 weeks he was strong enough to defend himself

against her and he was save.

Well I know that it is normal in nature that a mother kills her

own children if they are 'disabled'

And Zorba did have a brain damage because he had no 

oxygen for a while... In the weeks/months

that followed I found that out!

The vet also warned me about that too...

Well he doesn't have major problems, 

besides that he is always late with everything (he still is, lol!)

He first opened his eyes with 20 days!! 

(normaly cats open their eyes between the 10th and the 14th day!)

and he has a 'heavy breathing' (like bronchitis) ever since his first breath!

And ohhh yeah... 

He's a bit stupid... but in a very adorable and cute way! ;)

Until today Zoë can't stand her own son!

He doesn't see her as his mother either

I am his mommy!

He gets very jealouse if one of my other cats 

comes to me for a cuddle... 

Than he tries to push the other cat aside so he's the only one with me.

(I don't allow that though!)

Except when his mother is lying on my lap... then he doesn't dare!!

He does have a great respect for her.

Well as I said, today is his 4th Birthday!

I am still very thankful that he and Zoë are still in my life 

and Zorba will always be my 'little' guy!

(He weights almost 18 pounds now lol!)

Besides his mother Zoë, Zorba's father 

Elwin is also living with me.

 But more about his parents later on their birthday's...

Thank you for listening to his story ;)

Here are a bunch of photos from Zorba... 

(some of them are small sized, I took them out of an old album)

Aint he just too cute??

His head is in front of her belly 

(bit difficult to see with two black cats! lol!)

My mother holds him here.

He still has that same look in his eyes!

See...

Jollie