Rosalina was a beautiful warm brown siberian female, that I bought from a breeder in PA who was downsizing. When I picked her up from the airport, she took my breath away. She was gorgeous and had the most emerald green eyes you could ever imagine. I was thrilled to have her as a family member and as an addition to our breeding program. Rosalina was 2 years old and one of the most beautiful siberians I have ever seen. She turned out to be incredibly sweet and loving. Her first litter produced only 1 baby, that now happily lives in a pet home. She was a very good mom and raised her baby well.

We decided to repeat the breeding with Bear, at the time our main stud male that she had her first litter with. Bear is a very big and heavy duty siberian who produces gorgeous kittens, and this turned out to be an excellent combination so we tried it again. Rosalina got pregnant easily and the first few weeks things seemed completely fine. She ate well, was growing rapidly and seemed very happy and content, being her own sweet self.

All of a sudden after 53 days of pregnancy Rosalina started to get lethargic. She ate and drank less and less and we instantly knew something was very wrong. It was weekend, and our regular vet was closed so we had no choice but to take her to the emergency vet. After having taken an X-ray it was determined Rosalina had a belly full of babies. This was very surprising to us, as her previous litter was only 1 baby, but it explained why she was growing so quickly. After having done blood work it turned out she was anemic, dehydrated and her blood cell count was almost close to nothing. No one had any clue what was happening but it became obvious Rosalina was dying and something had to be done.

She was lying under a towel on a heating pad and did not move and we had to make the rapid decision to do blood transfusions on her to see if we could get her blood cell count up and get her to be a bit stronger so there would be a chance she'd survive a C-section to get the babies out. When we started our cattery, we decided that mommies always come first, so we had to make the incredible difficult decision to let all the babies go, and try to spay Rosalina, hoping and praying she'd survive. Two blood transfusions later, her blood cell count went up a little bit but not enough to do the surgery. The vet suggested to keep her overnight on an IV and do another blood transfusion later, and we agreed. We left the clinic, crying, praying for Rosalina to survive the night.

The next morning Rosalina had gained enough strength to attempt the surgery with a 50% chance of survival. We had no other choice, she could not keep going like this and something had to be done soon. We signed a consent form and went to see Rosalina. She had her head up a bit and we kissed her goodbye, telling her we'd see her again soon. We knew the babies she had would be dead, at 53 days old they are usually not able to live on their own, but what mattered most to us was that Rosalina would survive so we told the vet to not revive the babies and save Rosie first. We left with a heavy heart, hoping and praying for a good outcome for our sweet girl.

Not even 2 hours later we got a call from the vet. Rosalina was out of surgery, alive, and she had 8 very little babies. I felt sad for the babies but was grateful Rosie was alive so I asked the vet if she was awake enough for me to come visit. When he said "well you're going to have to come to pick up the babies" I almost dropped my phone! The babies were alive, all 8 of them and I had to race over there to get them and to start feeding them. Desperately, not knowing what to do I called my friend Lillian from Shadowlawn Cattery. She had a female that was about to give birth and she was allowing me to bring the litter and put it with the mommy so they could nurse on her. My husband and I raced to the vet. When I saw the babies my heart sank. They were so tiny there was no way any of them would survive and my vet warned me they'd probably all die within the next few hours. Lillian told me to bring them over anyway so I stayed with Rosalina and my husband took the babies to Lillian's house.

When Lillian saw the babies she was as shocked as I was. Not ever had she seen them this tiny. They are supposed to be around 4 oz when born and these little shrimps as big as my pinky were less then 2 oz. There was no chance for survival whatsoever. I was ready to give in to my vet's recommendation to humanely put them to sleep. He too told me there was no way they were going to make it. Lillian however, got very determined and told me there was no way she was going to give up on them. She put the babies with Katja, her super mom, who was about to give birth and willingly laid down to let the babies nurse on her. She started bathing them, and as much as the babies curled up against her for her warmth, they had no idea how to nurse.

Lillian grabbed a dropper, mixed some newborn milk and started dropper feeding the babies. Some were better at taking it then others but Lillian completely committed herself to doing whatever she could with Katja's help to at least give them a fighting chance at life. Lillian was feeding every  hour the first 48 hours, day and night. Katja was bathing them and keeping them clean, team Shadowlawn was at work and worked tirelessly around the clock to care for these little babies.

I saw the struggle from a distance. Lillian, tired, but ready to do what she said she would do. I  decided to tell her my vet's suggestion to humanely put them to sleep as they didn't stand a chance anyway. She looked up to me.  "No, you are not going to take them to a vet and have some needle kill them, if they go they go on their own terms". In my head I am struggling, knowing how exhausting this is going to be, with no outlook on a good outcome at all. I want to take them and let them go, because this will wear her out, but she is fighting me tooth and nail. I look at her and I see it right away. Fire in her eyes. Rock solid determination. The tone of her voice tells me the discussion is over and to not fight her on this one. They're staying with Lillian, end of story. I get the supplies she needs and try to quiet the voice in my head that tells me I should not let her do this. 

Lillian began the impossible task of feeding 8 kittens every  hour for 48 hours. She canceled her work to be able to stay with the kittens and was caring for them around the clock. When I visited, she was tired but kept going relentlessly, determined to give them all a fighting chance.  As much as Lillian and Katja loved them, cared for them, and as many people were praying for the babies, one by one they started losing the battle against death. Within a few days they passed away, one by one, each of them so lucky they had known loving hands and a loving mommy. Lillian fought hard for all of them and it was really hard on her to see the babies lose this battle. All of them died.....except for one....Chudo.

Lillian told me from the beginning, one of the kittens seemed stronger then the others. One of them stood out and showed an incredible will to survive. One of them tried to actually find a nipple on Katja and nurse. Lillian kept dropper feeding him, but after a few days she called me ecstatic that he was actually nursing. This was extremely exciting news but we were both very careful not to get too excited. Katja in the meantime gave birth to a beautiful litter of 3. One of them was Calvin, a beautiful red mackerel tabby male. I had been on Lillian's wait list for a red boy for a long time and it was hard to combine the loss of 7 beautiful babies with the excitement of my red boy finally being born. Chudo kept nursing and kept plowing away to get to a nipple to drink and boy, did he drink long enough to catch up! He started crawling but was still very little. His "siblings" (Katja's babies) were born 3 days later then him, but were twice his size because he was born so much too early. He and Calvin bonded right away and were together often. When I posted the picture below on my facebook page, showing Calvin carrying Chudo, I added the title "He ain't heavy, he's my brother" I believe it touched people who were following the story deeply.

Believe it or not, in this picture where they are both about a week old, Calvin, who was born 3 days after Chudo, is at least twice his size. Lillian kept me posted on his progress, told me how well he was nursing but she thought that with a kitten that was so little and born so early, something probably would turn out to be wrong. Our hope grew each day and after a week or two we dared to say to each other he might actually make it. Lillian sent me tons of pictures on his progress, and every time I saw her she was just talking about Chudo and what a miracle he was. She named him Chudo, because that means "Miracle" in Russian, a name that fit him well.

And Chudo soon actually started looking like a real kitten but was still so much smaller then his siblings. We were hoping he'd catch up, and he definitely found his place at the dinner table with his surrogate mommy. Rosalina in the meantime had come home from the vet. She was very weak for a long time and needed to be on medication due to some really strong virus in her blood that literally sucked the life out of her. After a few weeks, Rosalina made a full recovery and was back to her sweet and beautiful self. People were lined up to adopt her, and I don't think I have had ever had that many requests for an adult cat. I eventually chose to go with Linda and her family, who gave Rosalina a loving home. She now lives a much spoiled life with her new family and loving every minute of it.

Chudo started growing and growing and growing and decided it was time to catch up with his siblings. Lillian sent me pictures every week and we kept talking about what a miracle he was an how unbelievable it was that both he and Rosalina against all odds had survived.

And Chudo grew......

and grew.......

and grew.......

and grew.......

and grew.......

and grew !!!!

With all the odds against him, Chudo made it! He turned into a beautiful, healthy, very sweet kitten that definitely has inherited the best of his mom and dad. Thanks to Lillian and Katja, Chudo got a new lease on life. To show my gratitude, I added Lillian as owner on his registration and kept the name she gave him. Lillian and I co-own him and his official name is:

Mystic Melody Chudo of Shadowlawn

Chudo is a blue mackerel tabby and white. Normally I am highly irritated with a-symetrical markings but in Chudo's case it never bothered me. He has a little spot by his left eye, and someone made the remark that that looked like a tear he shed for his siblings that weren;t so lucky as him. It was a very touching thing to read. So many people followed his story, so many people prayed for him and send their blessings to Lillian for caring for him. The support for him was overwhelming and I think I speak for Lillian as well if I say we deeply appreciate all of the support we received from our friends on facebook and in person.

Chudo lived with Lillian until he was about 4 months old. Since he is such a beautiful boy, we both want him to be shown. His story is widely known and it would be great for people to see what this little 2 oz fighting baby turned into. In order for Chudo to be shown, he had to come live with me. I show far more then Lillian does, and it was hard to see her struggle letting him go, even though she wanted him shown. I guess when you fight for a little baby day and night, you get really attached, and Lillian is just that. Chudo may be from my breeding, but he is definitely her little man.

On January 22, 2011 Chudo made his show debut at the Destiny Cat Fanciets show in Ft Walton Beach, Florida. Chudo did great, loved the entire show, got quite a few finals and thrived on all the attention he got. He is so incredibly sweet, and although part of that is genetics, kudos goes to Lillian and her family for socializing and raising him so well. 

The picture below was taken January 25, 2011. Chudo now lives with me and is standing at the beginning of what will hopefully be a very successful show career.

Chudo inherited his mother's beautiful green eyes, and they will only get greener as he gets older. He definitely has his mom's sweet disposition and his dad's laid back personality. He is absolutely gorgeous and everything we would ever want in a siberian kitten. He is quite an amazing little guy. He doesn't know a stranger and seems to love every second of life. It's like he knows who fought so hard for him and he better make his life worth it. And that he is doing every day with his amazing personality.

This breeding between Bear and Rosalina and all of it's consequences taught me that miracles do happen, and this time they came in form of an incredible friend and a little 2 oz miracle called Chudo...

Chudo is now a TICA Supreme Grand Champion and a proven breeding male that produces gorgeous kittens!

Pictures courtesy of Helmi Flick, Lillian Narramore and Linda Ballew.

Go back to our main page