We have recently taken in a very tiny kitten that along with his 6 siblings were sadly rejected by their mother at birth. By the time the kittens arrived at Gables the morning after birth, there were only 3 still barely alive. They were so cold their bodies had started to shut down and sadly 2 more passed away after an hour of trying to revive them.

Amazingly little Gabriel is the only survivor so he must be a very special kitten as he is the runt of the litter, weighing only 50 grams! He is being hand fed a specialist baby cat milk every hour around the clock and being closely monitored.

When the kittens arrived at Gables, our General Manager Claire Sparkes placed the tiny kittens straight onto a heat pad to warm them slowly. When newborn kittens get too cold they are unable to suckle, so you can’t get any milk into them. Slowly, little Gabriel started to perk up after a few hours and Claire was able to feed him a small amount of milk with a specialist syringe. He was too weak to suckle so it was a case of drip feeding him tiny amounts every hour, just to give him the strength to keep going. He is such a sweet little kitten and Claire is doing absolutely everything she can to help him, but as he is so tiny and frail we are all hoping for a Christmas miracle that he survives!”

It is estimated it will cost £500 for all the specialist Royal Canin baby cat milk and medication that Gabriel will need now and into the future, as well as basic care such as neutering, flea and worm treatment and vaccinations.

Gables does not receive any government funding and we have felt the financial strain due to the continued rise in costs, but we are determined to help little Gabriel survive.

If you are able to make a donation to help little Gabriel we would be so grateful for your support.

If Gables is lucky enough to raise more money than is needed for this appeal, the excess will go into general funds to help all the animals in their care.