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Out of the litter of seven that our former stray had, there is one that isn't quite the same as the others. He was the firstborn and the biggest; I was playing midwife to the birth, and he was stuck halfway down the birth canal (as in, his tail was sticking out but nothing else) for nearly thirty minutes before she finally got him pushed out (with a bit of help from me.) All of the others were born easily. I looked it up, and apparently being compressed in the birth canal for that long can cause some brain damage.
He's the most precious little thing. He's quiet and calm. He doesn't really "play" much, other than an occasional halfhearted and wobbly swat at a sibling. From the day he was born, he never cried when you picked him up--all of the others squalled in terror at being taken away from Mom, even for a moment. He was the biggest at birth, but is now somewhere in the middle in size, because he was never very good at fighting to hold onto his nipple. We sometimes had to manually re-arrange them so that everybody had access to milk, so thankfully nobody was underfed.
He doesn't seem to be learning and exploring as much as his siblings. They're all in "wander around and check things out" mode, and he's perfectly content to stay put somewhere warm and sleep most of the day away. He has a good appetite, but I have to coax him into eating by putting a bit of wet food in his mouth and letting instinct take over. All of the other kittens are well past that stage, but he isn't.
He's four weeks old now, and has suddenly latched onto humans in an intense way. His brothers and sisters still want very little to do with being held, although they tolerate petting for short amounts of time--and sometimes even purr a little. He, on the other hand, cries his heart out if we put him down. We have to hold him nearly every moment that he's awake, or he cries like he's been abandoned. He otherwise seems perfectly healthy. He eats well, his eyes are clear and bright, and there are no signs of illness or injury. He's just...slow. And very, very attached to humans, to the point that I have him in my lap because he keeps crying every time I put him down. He has little interest in interacting with his siblings or his Mom, other than to occasionally nurse.
We even have to take him to the bedroom with us at night, because if we don't, he's frantic with fear from being away from us by morning, and it takes an hour of holding him with him clutching us for dear life in order to calm him down. I've never seen a four-week-old kitten who wanted humans more than he wanted Mom and his siblings, but this one does.
He needs a vet's diagnosis to know for sure, which we can't afford at the moment, but yeah. I suspect some limited brain damage from the birth trauma. Oh well. We'll just have to make extra-sure that the home we find for him will be as special as he is.
:grouphug:
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