A miracle kitten: Stella’s story

When SPCA Community Support Officer Nakita began her Christmas Day shift, she received a call from a local Christchurch veterinary clinic for a pick-up who had come in the night before. Upon her arrival, she realised she was taking in no ordinary kitten – but one of very tiny size, with a remarkable coat and sparkling personality!

The kitten was found roaming in a member of the public’s backyard on Christmas Eve; Nakita suspected she may have wandered off on a little adventure and lost track of her mum. At her tiny size, she wouldn’t have survived long on her own.

"She was around two to three weeks old and weighed a mere 189 grams,” Nakita tells us. “Such a tiny thing! She had a round little belly, a soft smoky coat, and striking dark blue eyes. Her face looked so much like an Ewok from Return of the Jedi, it was impossible not to fall in love.”

The kitten’s striking appearance was due to her fever coat, a relatively uncommon phenomenon where a newborn kitten’s coat appears differently than what their genetics should have produced. This occurs when the mother cat’s body temperature rises while the kitten is still in the womb; the pigmentation of a kitten’s fur is highly sensitive to heat, so if this happens, they can often come out with a ‘frosted tips’ look! This effect is temporary, and a kitten’s coat will generally return to normal as they grow.

Despite her size, this kitten was energetic, curious, and very vocal about her love for food and human affection. Given how small and young she was, Nakita and her team initially thought she’d need regular bottle feeds like any neonate. But she surprised them by eagerly taking to slurry, a mix of kitten milk and wet food usually given to slightly older and bigger kittens – so much so that she would practically dive into it! Her post-meal baths quickly became routine, and it was clear that she needed someone to watch over her closely. So that night, Nakita took her home.

“For such a young kitten, she was doing things well beyond her age,” says Nakita. “She didn’t need help going to the bathroom, though I still had to clean her up afterward, especially since her round little belly made grooming her backside a challenge. But to our surprise, she was already attempting to groom herself — and even played with a toy! That kind of play behaviour usually isn’t seen until around four weeks old.”

Nakita provided her with a great short-term foster home, checking on her throughout the night to ensure she was alright. “It just felt like instinct,” Nakita says, “making sure ‘the baby’ was okay. She was almost always asleep in a cute position!”

The next day, Nakita brought her to the SPCA office, where she spent the day wrapped in blankets and snuggled on a warm heating pad. Eventually it was time for her to go home with one of the Centre’s Feline team members, Sam. He temporarily named her Antimony, inspired by the mineral her fever coat resembled. It felt like the perfect fit – something unique and strong, just like her.

Both Nakita and Sam were “smitten”and they crossed their fingers for a good outcome – which, upon her assignment to her long-term foster home, is exactly what they got.

Enter Nicky, an experienced SPCA foster mum. Nicky has opened her home to over 50 guinea pigs, cats, and dogs since 2020, but she knew quite quickly that this kitten was special.

“She was very small and a little bit shy,” Nicky says, “but it didn’t take her long to come out of her shell. Both my husband and I were too smitten not to adopt her.” She arrived at their home not long after Nicky’s bonded rabbits passed away, and “she helped heal some of the grief and heartbreak we were feeling.” And after more than 50 temporary SPCA guests, Antimony, renamed Stella, became the first permanent one, taking her place as Nicky’s first foster fail.

“Since being adopted she has come to rule the house,” says Nicky. “She sleeps in between us every night and takes up most of the room. She loves water and the shower and jumps in as soon as you turn it on, often getting soaked and loving it – very strange for a cat! She is very playful and zooms around the house, but she’s also very cuddly, and enjoys making biscuits on a cosy blanket.”

“Her latest favourite thing is being friends with all the cats in the neighbourhood. Even though she’s an indoor cat, she immediately purrs excitedly when the neighbour’s cats visit! She’s also been very welcoming to our latest four foster kittens.”

As Stella grew, her fever coat began to fade, giving way to her stunning onyx fur. But she’s kept her striking white tufts of ear fur, making an impression on everyone she meets!

“We absolutely love her to bits, and we couldn’t imagine life without her now,” Nicky says. “We are so looking forward to the future with her.”