Kittens

We volunteer at a local animal shelter, and March-October is our kitten season. That is to say the time of year where we often find litters of kittens hidden around town. We try to educate the public to leave the litters alone. People often think that when they don't see momma around that she has abandoned them, and that couldn't be farther from the truth! When momma isn't there, that means she is out hunting to feed herself. But, unfortunately, people tend to scoop them up anyway and rush them to our shelter. Most of the time the kittens that we get in are neonatal, being 1-2 weeks old. When this happens, we immediately get them into a foster home ASAP. The fosters have been trained to care for neonatal babies and they keep them until they are 12 weeks old and ready to come stay in the shelter to be adopted.

A couple of weeks ago we had a very bad typhoon blow through, and someone found two 4-day-old kittens. It was late at night and Jonathan and I were the only people immediately available to take them in. We ended up keeping them about 17 hours, and then handed them over to a foster. When kittens are that tiny, they need to be kept warm in a nest. The best thing to do is put a heating pad in the bottom of a cardboard box and put 2 or 3 large towels on top of that and make a nice nest. Make sure the kittens stay huddled together in the middle, covered up. They need to be fed formula every 2 hours, day and night. That's another downfall of being taken to the shelter - they cannot get mother's milk, and at such a young age, that can be life threatening. On top of continuous feeding, they cannot use the bathroom on their own, so they must be stimulated with a warm, wet cotton ball after every feeding. Caring for kittens under 5 weeks old is a HUGE undertaking and very difficult. If you ever find a litter, please leave them be. The mother knows what she is doing. If you are truly concerned, monitor the area for a couple of days. If you never see the mom at all after 2 or 3 days, then it's ok to take the kittens in. Contact your vet if you have questions!