Tale of 2 rejected Joeys
Written by Mint5
10/24/2000
As I woke up one morning like
any other usual day I went about making my way to the kitchen. On my way
to the kitchen is my dining room. there in the
dining room sits the tall big cage where momma and papa
with their all so proudly
two new babies live. The babies were a few weeks old.
They just saw the world
for only a few days. As I walked by I glanced over to
see the twins hanging
on the side of the cage. This is not normal. At this
time the parents are in the pouch asleep. Besides that, the babies have
never been out of pouch yet. I ran over to see what the matter when
I noticed they must have been there for more than an hour.
They seemed so exhausted to
me. I looked to find momma walking around and not having anything to do
with the babies at all. This again is not normal for her. I looked for
papa and he was fine sleeping in the pouch. I immediately hollered for
my boyfriend in a panic, because i just knew something was wrong. I reached
in to grab the babies to find that the girl was freezing. she was so cold
to the touch, I knew she was on the verge of dying. I started crying knowing
I was holding life and death in my hands. I was shaking, not knowing what
to do. My mind is running thought-less. I told my boyfriend to get the
other one out. They were not responding to well.
I ran and turned on the stove.
Went to get a towel, the hair dryer and fluid to feed them. I laid the
towel on the stove and put the twins inside to bring their body temps back
to normal. that was my first priority. They could not survive with their
body temps too low. I started massaging them kind of roughly. Sort of stimulating
the blood flow to warm the temp up too. When I did this, it worked cause
they both would respond by jerking and trying to get away. As long as the
blood flow circulated, and their organs would not shut down. I would not
give up. Not at all.
I was still thought-less. The
stove wasn't working too well so I turned on the dryer and inserted it
into the bottom sheet of the towel. Being careful not to burn them with
too much heat, they laid right beneath the top layer of the towel. They
both began to feel warmer so I began to feed them with a syringe. I have
always kept a small 4 oz. can of kitten formula (specified for small animals
as opossums,
ect..) so I began feeding. They did respond by wanting
it, and then would not. I would try to feed as often as they would consume.
An hour to two has passed and
still hardly any improvement in the boy. He has began
to feel lifeless. The girl has been improving as she wobbled around more
aggressively. Opening her mouth for food on her own. At this time, I feel
awful, with a gut feeling that the boy is not going to make it, I try harder.
I focused more on him for a moment when my boyfriend tells me something
is wrong with the mom. I ran to her.
She is literally flopping around
on the ground as if she was very traumatized from something. I still have
no idea why they are acting this way. So quickly. Her tail was just winding
and rotating so fast. We get her out and start working with her. She eats
on her own just fine. She likes the kitten formula well. I rush back to
the babies and start again.
This time I made a decision
I did not want to do. It took me a few minutes to
make this awful choice but I knew it would be for the
best. I had to let the boy go in order to save the girl or I would have
lost them both. Believe me when I say that I tried to do all I could for
him. I actually saw him take his last breath in my hand. he gave up a long
time ago. He stopped eating that I couldn't force open his mouth no longer.
I had to let him go to give constant time to her as she was slipping too.
So I focused on her while my boyfriend focused on mom.
Baby girl improved and
survived now at this time for 4 hours. I had hope for her. Mom improved
greatly later by night and went into the pouch to sleep with dad. I decided
not to put the baby back in with the parents. Not yet.
The next day, I tried to put
her back in with mom and mom declined her. I don't understand why. They
have plenty of water and food and always a good diet. I know she was nursing
so I made sure she has a balanced diet. Nothing different or no changes
have been made. I took the baby everywhere with me for the next three days.
I go to school all day and so did she. On the fourth day she began to fail.
She quit eating and moving. I tried all I could but we lost her too.
We buried the twins in the back
yard. This was so devastating to me that I never want to go through this
again. This happened a month ago. I still don't know what caused this behavior.
I feel deeply that is was a nourishment failure though. I think too much
protein or not enough CAN be deadly. This is the only explanation I can
come up with.
