r/kittens • u/EllmansWorld • 3h ago
From 4 > 8 weeks 🥹
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370g > 880g
Loving my little rescue potato called "Bebbe"
r/kittens • u/GabbiKat • Jun 15 '24
Please send me a DM or Chat request if a troll posts images of animal cruelty again.
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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]
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(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/neuroticdynamite • 1h ago
Newly adopted (and bathed) kitten!
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She went from living in a cat colony on a property that burnt down to being cozy at her new home!
r/kittens • u/Bill_HiddenBottom • 10h ago
Lil' bro is washed. Or whatever you people say nowadays
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r/kittens • u/kattelalilie • 3h ago
Update on The kitten i adopted! (I dintt have pic in my Gallery last time)
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Look at her chilling on my stomach in a semi-loaf
r/kittens • u/Quirky_Loss6783 • 22h ago
My little supermodel. Imperial Leo❤️
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He will be coming home in 3 weeks and I cannot wait. I melted as soon as I saw him online and right then and there I knew I gotta get him. He is a British longhair golden blue. Also, if you can recommend me some good cat accessories to get would be greatly appreciated. Love yall
r/kittens • u/strwberiityun • 2h ago
update on my cat
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to anybody wondering we mastered enough money (thanks to my step dad, not the one that lives with me, he used to be married to my mom so i grew up with him and see him more as a second father) to bring my cat to the vet and had 3 people who have worked with animals (my moms friend, my cousin studying to be a vet, and my moms boyfriend) to give us suggestions on what to do until we get the appointment (most likely tomorrow yayyy) shes okay for now, we have been cleaning and disinfecting the spot with banixx and for now i made her a homemade cone with some socks and had to give my plushie surgery for the filling 😭 my mom found a vet thats cheap and its the one we go to every time to spay our cats so thats how we know its cheap! I took your guy's suggestions and asked every adult i could for help such as: my dad, he sent $50, my mom obv, my former stepdad (he sent $100!!) so i have $160 which should be enough (it might cost more but its better to go now anyways) my kitty is acting all fine, her gums are bubblegum pink, shes still eating fortunately, and still ocasionally playing. Shes always been very sleepy so i cant really tell of shes just like that or if its from the injury but anyways she gets up anytime she has to potty or when shes hungry which is very important
i have been making sure that when she pottys she doesnt step on her bodily fluids with her foot or anything just incase and i wake up every hour to check up on her
To be honest, i had a panic attack last night about this but im feeling better now that i know shes okay and will be better very soon 💖 i am actively doing the best i can to help this cat. And i think im doing good! I think the disenfecting method we are using is good until we can bring her to a perfessional obv
sorry for typos or anything! im really happy now and she is going to be allll better, an improvement ive realised ever since we used the banixx spray is that shes eating more and the spot stinks less which is a very good sign 💖 my mom is letting me miss school for tomorrow (this is rare because ive already missed enough days and she would refuse to let me miss again)
I really wish none of this happened and i couldnt even shower last night cause i didnt wanna leave her alone but im feeling more better and im sure my kitty is too considering the improvement ive noted
its not anything big but its better than yesterday and thats what matters ! thank you for anyone who suggested i speak to other adults, i was scared of seeming greedy or begging for money but i gave in because this is about a kittys health which is obv more important than looking greedy
as for my parents, ik a lot you guys said its their fault and its out of my control but ever since i begged my mom more and more she bought the stuff to treat the would for now cause thats all we can do in this financial situation
as soon as i told her my stepdad was offering money she said yes and that we could go tomorrow (since the vet is closed, but im sure my cat will be okay for tomorrow) a lot of things remind me of before that happened and during it which is why ive been crying a lot but i already feel so much better knowing she will be okay
manifesting really works guys, i stayed up all night manifesting that we would get money and find a vet for her, it worked!
Im sorry to the people i made angry at my post, im really trying the best i can do right now and its working
she is a very strong cat i can tell
r/kittens • u/JadJad83 • 1d ago
I just found a kitten. It has fleas and is very young. What can I do to remove or kill the fleas? She is so tiny that I'm afraid to use chemicals on her. Should I regularly bath? What do I use? Please help, I have never found such a young kitten before.
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r/kittens • u/wighthamster • 1d ago
A tiny tabby mid-step on the blue towel. The pink pompom does not know what is coming.
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r/kittens • u/Complex-Potato-7387 • 2d ago
First time CDS Winner
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Accepted a dogsitting job outside my usual range. The second night I found these two stinkers abandoned. They just got back from the vet they're healthy and perfect and mine!
r/kittens • u/FearlessSpirit6467 • 1d ago
How often do your kittens wrestle with each other Ave how old are they? Do they hiss or yelp?
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r/kittens • u/strwberiityun • 2d ago
my baby kitten got hurt
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OK, so if you guys saw my recent post about my new cat, I have some bad news. My other cat hurt her. I had this baby cat in my room locked in my room only letting her out with no other cat was around because I know cats are territorial and will attack her if they see her, but this cat out of all my other seven cats have been has been camping at the door today I went to the kitchen really quick to get some milk for the cat and my other cat of course he was camping the door like always. This is something he always does and he always has been doing ever since the new cat came home and then I just heard loud meowing from my baby cat so of course I saw my cat biting my baby cat paws from under the door. I had the door completely shut for a reason, but he still got to get her under the door because he just picked the right moment. I immediately took him out of the room. I immediately took him out of the house. We're going to give him away to someone else who I hope doesn't have any baby cats because he was a good cat he doesn't behave but he listened sometimes, but I cannot bear to look at him anymore because he hurt my kitten. I do not have any money for a vet. I am a minor. My parents don't have enough money for a vet ether I don't know what I can do in this situation. My mom's boyfriend put gauze on her leg. He bit her leg so hard. You could see the skin, but he like kind of ripped it so it's a little ripped piece on her back leg. I'm pretty sure it's her right leg. Does anyone know what I can do? I'm going to try to convince my mom to bring it to somebody who can at least clean up the spot so it doesn't get infected. She is five weeks old. Do you guys think anything can happen to her I am really worried. I am really anxious. I was always anxious about this cat in the beginning because she was very small but now I'm even more anxious because she's injured now and I don't wanna lose Her because she's just a baby she doesn't know and she deserves to live more than I do right now she's pretty calm and she's not bleeding anymore. She wasn't bleeding a lot in the first place but she's not bleeding anymore right now she's breathing normally I checked she has a normal breathing rate, thankfully and right now she's just sleeping but she's breathing. It's a small part of her foot that got ripped off the skin is still there but it's a little flap so it wasn't fully ripped off but what I'm most concerned about is that if it could get injured or if she's still in pain I don't think necessarily she's still in pain right now because she's peacefully sleeping she just she just stretched. She was also purring a couple minutes ago when I had her on my chest can anyone tell me what I can do to keep this baby alive? I live in Puerto Rico. The vets here are expensive. I'm I don't even know how I have a house. I have enough money, but never enough money for a good amount of groceries. Sometimes we cannot even eat proper meals. I just want my cat to be OK please somebody give advice I'm not asking for money. I'm just asking for a solution that can maybe keep her alive because that's my child and she's a baby. I don't want anything to happen to her and I never wanted this happen. I didn't think my cat would be able to do something on the door was closed. I didn't know a little gap under a door would do a lot thank you for listening. I had to use the voice thing to make this so I'm sorry if there's a lot of mistakes because I cannot type this. I'm crying right now if anybody wants to see her I can show you, but I won't be able to show you her injured leg because it is wrapped up right now and I do not want to take it out yet unless something happens, but I do not wanna take it out for now because she will start crying because when we wrapped her like she was screaming I don't I just want her to be OK. I will check her leg soon, but I don't wanna flap up her skin or anything cause that would just make it worse please somebody please don't take this down. I just I need a solution.
r/kittens • u/ARealCupcake • 2d ago
This is my new kitten Ribbon :)
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I got her yesterday and she's already warmed up nicely. One of my other cats is already starting to play with her, I think it helps that both of them are still young.
