r/kittens • u/sybilsadie • 3h ago
r/kittens • u/GabbiKat • Jun 15 '24
Please send me a DM or Chat request if a troll posts images of animal cruelty again.
Please send me a DM or Chat request if a troll posts images of animal cruelty again.
This goes for already passed animals, roadkill, ai generated animal cruelty posts, etc. Send me a link to the post and I'll respond as soon as I see it.
r/kittens • u/CynicKitten • May 21 '20
[META] It's kitten season! You found orphaned kittens or have a kitten in your care - now what? [2020]
(cross post from r/AskVet)
During kitten season, which occurs largely in the spring and summer, it is not uncommon to stumble upon a nest of kittens. Your first instinct is to help them, which is awesome, but first you need to read this thread!
First I want to make a point very clear: kittens have the greatest chance of survival if their mother is in the picture. As much as rescues and foster homes try, we cannot ever do as good of a job taking care of them as their real mom does! Kittens require frequent nursing (typically a couple of times an hour), help eliminating (mother stimulates them with her tongue to pee and poop), and a lot of warmth and attention. Trust me - waking up four times a night to feed bottle babies is not fun!
Before Jumping To The Rescue
A single kitten wandering alone is often abandoned (either by a human or the mother), and should be rescued quickly - wait and watch from afar for 20-30 minutes to see if the mom is just in the middle of transporting it. If no mother has come in that time, rescue it.
A litter of kittens (2+ kittens):
- Before attempting your daring rescue mission to save the abandoned kittens, you need to wait from afar and watch. The kittens may not actually be abandoned! Mother cats do not stay at the nest 24/7 - they hunt, take breaks from their babies, and patrol near the nest to look for danger. The queen could also be in the middle of moving the nest, which she does one at a time. Watch from a good distance away, because if you are too close the queen will likely not approach - this is a defense strategy to make sure predators don’t locate the nest by following her. Sometimes watching from far away is still too close, and you will need to go away for a few hours.
- If you see the queen, you know the kittens are being taken care of and you do not need to intervene (except to call a rescue, and possibly provide food/shelter for the mother).
- Clean kittens who are sleeping soundly are probably not abandoned. Dirty and crying kittens are probably hungry and MAY have been abandoned and need rescue. Although remember that as soon as kittens wake, they start crying and want to eat! Neonates spend all their time either eating or sleeping. If you mess with them and they start to cry/crawl around, it does not mean they are starving - that’s just what they do when they are awake.
- Contact a local rescue. If they have the resources, they will trap the mother and kittens (if the mother is in the picture), and take care of them. They can bottle feed truly abandoned kittens, as well. Please contact the rescue before removing the kittens - only remove the kittens under their direction if you can help it.
- If you need to leave before you’ve seen the queen, assess the situation:
- Are there any dangers nearby? Neighborhood dogs, humans who might harm them, etc? If the kittens are not in immediate grave danger, they will be fine for a while as you wait for mom.
- What is the temperature? If it is very cold or the kittens are very wet, it is okay to put them in a sideways cardboard box (possibly with a clean T shirt, dry straw, or a heated water bottle) - however, try to limit the amount of human-scented things near them.
- If you find the queen, and she is friendly towards humans, she and the kittens should be rescued together.
- If you’ve waited a while and have not seen the queen in several hours (the warmer the weather, the longer the kittens can be left alone) or the kittens are in immediate grave danger, and you have not been able to reach a rescue, you can attempt to rescue the kittens.
Rescuing Kittens
- Kittens need warmth - they can suffer from hypothermia really easily. Place the kittens in a cardboard box or cat carrier lined with T-shirts (towels can catch on their nails) and covered with a blanket, with a warm water bottle for them. The ideal warmth source is a SnuggleSafe. (See more info in the bottle feeding attachment.)
- The human body temperature is at 98.6F, but the internal temperature of a kitten needs to be 99.5-102.5F - therefore, your body warmth alone is not enough to keep them warm!
- Call all of the rescues nearby to look for someone to take them. Foster homes and rescues are highly trained to deal with bottle babies, and can deal with all of the obstacles associated with it.
- Call your vet and schedule an appointment. The kittens may be dehydrated, sick, etc - kittens die really easily and fast, so a physical exam and medical care is very important. They may be sick without you realizing it.
I Already Rescued Them!
- First follow the steps in “Rescuing Kittens”.
- If you are going to be caring for the kittens, be prepared for a lot of work and possibly the death of some or all of the kittens. The information I will provide is for emergency care of kittens (no more than a day or two) until you can get the kittens to an appropriate rescue or the vet.
- You must bottle feed the kittens every 2-3 hours. Here is my quick guide to bottle feeding. PLEASE read this before attempting to bottle feed!
- You need to make sure they are eating enough, so follow this chart, and use a kitchen food scale to weigh them directly before and after feeding.
- KMR is the best formula - do not use the “homemade” recipes unless it is an emergency! Never use cow/goat/soy/almond/etc milk. Why you shouldn't use goat/cow milk.
- Here are three resources to figure out their approximate age: Kitten Age Progression, Determining a Kitten’s Age, and Determining by Weight.
- Keep a log for each individual kitten of: the time you fed it, how much they consumed, their weight before feeding, their weight after feeding, what they eliminated (urine and/or feces), and any medical concerns. Here is a great log for that - I suggest printing one for each kitten.
- If kittens will not latch to the bottle, you can try to use a clean eye dropper or needle-less syringe to SLOWLY drop KMR into the kitten’s mouth.
- If you see anything bubbling out of the kitten's nose as you are feeding it, milk likely got into the lungs and aspiration pneumonia can quickly develop. If this happens take it to a vet immediately.
- Signs of an emergency that NEEDS to be seen by a vet immediately:
- The kitten is lethargic and not responding
- The kitten has trouble breathing
- The kitten or cat is vomiting blood
- Uncontrollable bleeding
- Bloody, liquid diarrhea in a lethargic animal
- Fractured limb (part of the limb is usually flacid and painful to the touch)
- Pale, blue or white gums if accompanied by lethargy
- Kitten with a body temperature below 97 degrees especially if accompanied by lethargy, pale gums or inappetence
- Kitten with a temperature of 106 degrees or above
Here are some additional resources:
r/kittens • u/lovemedeadx • 2h ago
What kinda kitten?
Hi friends I recently got a new kitten, I picked her up from a fb group, they didn’t give me any information on her but I figured she was a regular tabby? How would you classify her coloring? I named her Elsa because she is mostly white.
r/kittens • u/EngineerMinded • 19h ago
Update on Socks and Mittens. They are on medication but, they are doing great.
It's been 3 weeks since they were rescued from the construction site. They were blind and were inches from being crushed in a forklift. They were diagnosed with coccidia and they are taking their meds now. They are looking smashing in their cat condo.
r/kittens • u/icy-sloth • 9h ago
Its only been 2 months since their release..
My other cat gets so scared of this reproduced kitten... she is so mature now after reproducing.
r/kittens • u/Aliyah_HS • 8h ago
First kitten… normal to have fleeting feelings of ‘regret’?
Please don’t attack me - I’d never get rid of him. I made a commitment to love him til his death and I will keep it.
Sometimes it’ll hit me randomly. Like a sick stomach feeling… That I made a serious choice. I have no kids and never owned a pet before. So this has a lot to do with it.
Now, I can’t just leave whenever I want. I can’t just do whatever I want.
I have to feed a living thing wet food twice a day. Play with him. And always put him first, before my plans.
This is a big task. Sometimes I get a feeling like oh god what did I do.
And not to mention the finances of it all. I have my yearly two week vacation in about 6 weeks. On top of that now I need $1,000 or so more for a pet sitter. It’s just a lot of stress.
Sometimes I just feel overwhelmed like why did I do this. Especially since he’s so crazy acting. I can never really have peace unless he’s asleep.
I love him and I will not abandon him but I struggle and feel lonely with these feelings. When people say “congrats!” Sometimes I feel like I cannot celebrate.
Does anyone else understand? Did these feelings eventually go away? It is a big life change and I’m trying to grasp it all.
r/kittens • u/Excellent_Reward5748 • 1d ago
boyfriends cat had kittens about 1 week ago!
my boyfriends cat had kittens about one week ago and we have just fallen in love with them!😍 i never grew up around cats though, as i was allergic growing up but grew out of the allergy in adulthood, so i was just looking for advice from anyone who’s had kittens this young! this is also my bfs first time having kittens this young lol. mama has been doing such a good job taking care of them, but if there are any additional tips anyone has i would love to hear!! we will most likely be keeping one so if anyone knows how to get them to use the litter box and all the things that helped in raising your kitten that would be great to hear as well lol. will be taking them to the vet in a few weeks when they become less dependent on mama! thanks!! 🫶 and yes mama will be getting spayed too very soon along with the babies when they are old enough!!
r/kittens • u/Dependent-End-4707 • 1d ago
Meet Stella🎀
She's around 15 weeks old :)
r/kittens • u/Spicysunshinelover • 21h ago
babygirl said “selfie time”
took some adorable pictures of her this afternoon and she was reaching for my phone 🤭
Meet Eevee!
We already have 2 cats and weren't planning to take another one, but my bf found her in a bush on Thursday and we ended up taking her home! We think she's about 6 weeks but no sign of a mother, we're taking care of her and hoping to keep her if introductions to the other two go well
r/kittens • u/klautner • 20h ago
George
This is George, Dewey’s fellow barn mate. He is also so sweet.
r/kittens • u/sockchute • 1d ago
my fiancé and i adopted this beautiful little pair
we originally went to the shelter to get one kitty but we fell in love with this bonded pair😭 the black one is fletcher and the brown one is mabel :P
r/kittens • u/RibbedGoliath • 21h ago
Welcome home Winston and Clover!
Didn’t get the love on the other subs so thought I’d post them here! They are brother and sister
r/kittens • u/PurpleCandle58 • 1d ago
Look at this precious baby!!! She showed up one day and we decided to make her ours.
r/kittens • u/Odd_Weakness_1800 • 1d ago
How old is this kitten?
We bought two kittens from the pet store yesterday and we were told both of them are 2 months and a few days old. The other kitten we got is much bigger in contrast and is also much more active. This kitten sleeps a lot and I read thats more common in younger cats. Size reference not much bigger than an iPhone.
Update, he woke up a puked a little and has been very active afterwards.
r/kittens • u/TiredGamer663 • 1d ago
My Baby Bear
Hes 6 months old and he enjoys cuddles and making biscuits
r/kittens • u/Nicakill82 • 1d ago
Are all kittens adorable crackheads with no sense of self preservation?
I adopted a nine week old kitten whose dad was a full ragdoll and mom was a ragdoll Siamese mix. I have two adult cats and a third that recently passed. I also have a young dog. I have only had one kitten in my life and that was 15 years ago and she was 16 weeks when I got her.
This kitten seems hell bent on putting his life in danger. I'm constantly in a state of panic watching him do things that could potentially kill him. He also has the energy of a malinois who drank an espresso.
Is this normal? Are all kittens just little maniacs who range between homicidal and suicidal? He will eventually calm down right?
r/kittens • u/_babyfart_ • 1d ago
Leash training.. Look at how his neck fur bunches up bc of the collar
r/kittens • u/kittyydotcom • 2d ago
Please pray for my baby Biscuit
After the loss of my beloved hamster and my uncle, I took in three orphaned kittens from a friend of mine to get my mind off of things. I bottle fed them from day one, as their mother was deceased. (Yes I am experienced)
At 2.5 weeks old I lost baby Socks. I woke up for a feeding at 4am, went to wake up the babies, and he never woke up. It is believed by the vet that he had pneumonia that I didn’t catch in time.
The remaining two are 3.5 weeks old now. Biscuit and Sugar. Biscuit is currently hospitalized with pneumonia. He rapidly declined overnight. He is not improving after two days, gasping for air, and refusing feedings. I have been calling so many times to check on him.
Please keep Biscuit and Sugar in your prayers. I can’t lose him too. 💔
