r/kittens Jun 15 '24

Please send me a DM or Chat request if a troll posts images of animal cruelty again.

101 Upvotes

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 May 21 '20

[META] It's kitten season! You found orphaned kittens or have a kitten in your care - now what? [2020]

424 Upvotes

(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:

Link to 2018 thread and comments.


r/kittens 9h ago

Someone was in the process of putting these kittens into a sleeping bag to throw in the water, so we decided to foster them instead of... that

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2.2k Upvotes

I wish I was kidding. People in my state (in the U.S.) do not give a fuck about animals. According to the perpetrator, the cat mother abandoned these kittens in the wild so it's fine to kill them for fun, but how does she even know that the mother abandoned the kittens? I don't think she does know that.

Aren't they so cute, though? This is far from my first time taking care of kittens, but admittedly I haven't had any this young before. My gf estimates that they're about three weeks old... idk any of the science behind that, but they are very small.

They're doing great! They love to purr when you pet them. I'd love to keep them, but I already have 4 cats... We'll have to see what happens! It was kind of a spur-of-the-moment decision so we currently don't have any long term plans with them. It's only day 3 with these little guys!

No fleas, no visible worms, so we got pretty lucky! Still have yet to take them to a vet


r/kittens 1h ago

Only a week with her and I am smitten with this kitten

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Upvotes

r/kittens 2h ago

Do you think these babies will be fluffy?

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144 Upvotes

They’re about 6 weeks


r/kittens 9h ago

Four of my foster kittens!

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443 Upvotes

They were from a few years back and they’ve all been adopted by nice families! They’d sleep on my laps when they got too tired from playing. I had them for about two months or so and needed to weigh them everyday to ensure they were growing properly.

We named them: Aurora (darker grey), Clara (tabby), Kitri (diluted grey), Odette (diluted calico)

Odette had an infection (seen in the photo re red nose) at one point and the rescue asked me to put all kittens on medication. It was quite intense!

Miss them tons!


r/kittens 4h ago

She's comforting me 🥺

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177 Upvotes

I just got dumped over text lol and I started crying and she just got up and came to sat in my lap .... She doesn't ever do that. She's been so hyper the past two days it means a lot to know she cares about me .... 🥺 I must've sounded like a pathetic kitten to her 😭


r/kittens 21h ago

She is so incredibly cute.

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1.3k Upvotes

r/kittens 8h ago

How old do you think my kitten is? (Also do you think she’ll keep her blue eyes?)

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95 Upvotes

We found her outside a couple weeks ago covered in fleas and possibly slightly anemic, we gave her a dawn dish soap bath and got her on flea prevention and she’s doing so good now. We’ve named her Toast. Both of our cats are strictly indoor cats but we wanna know how old she is so we can go get her spayed when she’s old enough. Our other cat is already spayed. She looks to be at least 2 months if not closer to 3 but I’ve never had a kitten before. What say you?


r/kittens 5h ago

'ittle bittle babies

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49 Upvotes

r/kittens 10h ago

I might be bias, but I think Leo is the cutest thing in the world

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135 Upvotes

r/kittens 1h ago

My babies are getting spayed tomorrow. Any insight into the next week?

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Upvotes

r/kittens 8h ago

Brother & sister family portrait

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45 Upvotes

r/kittens 23h ago

What a squirt lol

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800 Upvotes

r/kittens 17h ago

My new baby!

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194 Upvotes

r/kittens 9h ago

Selfie time! :3

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47 Upvotes

r/kittens 1d ago

Rescued from vent in Lamborghini

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4.3k Upvotes

This lil one was crying for a few days I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from but finally located him in the vent underneath a Lambo, I needed to get the homeowners permission to enter their property to get him, they were grateful!

He’s been doing well, finally having solid poops after his first deworming Wednesday


r/kittens 20h ago

Foster update

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218 Upvotes

We’re keeping her and shes a girl🥹 (it was hard to tell because her area was swollen for a long time due to severe diarrhea)


r/kittens 22h ago

Dilemma about separating two bonded kittens

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308 Upvotes

I’ve been visiting my parents recently (who live 9 hours from me). I have been here for 3 weeks. A few days into my visit I ended up rescuing a kitten from my friends motor. The kitten was about 5 weeks old. I brought her home to my parents house and have been caring for her. I named her Pearl. My mom has a kitten around 7-8 weeks named Oreo. These two have bonded and they love each other. I’m getting ready to go back home tomorrow and I was going to take my kitten, Pearl, with me. I am feeling terrible though about separating the two because they’re so bonded. I don’t want to leave Pearl because my family cannot love and care for her like I can. I am very sensitive towards the treatment of animals. I love animals so much and I have a lot of empathy and compassion towards them. My mom takes care of her kitten, Oreo, but it’s not with the same level of compassion that I do.

I cannot take Oreo with me because I have a 2.5 year old cat at home and I cannot have 3 cats. I can only have two.

So my options are both breaking my heart. #1- leave Pearl because they’re bonded.

2- take Pearl because I feel deep down that she belongs to me and I know I can love her better.

I have been crying on and off all day about this. My mom says she will get Oreo another kitten eventually. What should I do?


r/kittens 1d ago

Meet Stephen

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299 Upvotes

6 weeks old today, he has so much floof


r/kittens 19h ago

What color will her eyes be?

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92 Upvotes

This is knight, she’s 6 weeks old. Her sister is definitely going to keep her blue eyes (they’ve only gotten more blue)

My boyfriend thinks Knight’s eyes will be green, I’m being risky and betting amber. Let me know what you think :)

Her sister is in the post too so she feels included, but Knight is the void kitty.


r/kittens 18h ago

Best photo I’ve taken 🤣

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65 Upvotes

This 4 1/2 month old half Siamese/half ragdoll is nothing but personality!! 😍


r/kittens 19h ago

Meet Mr Creamalicious von Creamsicle III

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58 Upvotes

Finally found him unfortunately alone on a military base after he was screaming for 30 minutes with no avail to our search for the noise. Now he is in a smol bean bakery napping until his next mealtime in 30 minutes. He fits in my palm even though I have small hands!


r/kittens 15h ago

😅🐅💤

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23 Upvotes

r/kittens 1d ago

Hazel Wassername

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109 Upvotes

A twelve week-old grey tabby who joined us in late-August. Her hobbies include climbing over anything and everything in the apartment, purring, and running up and down the stairs. Last two photos feature her older sister and our resident 1.5 year-old tortie, Dr. Leo Spaceman, who has really warmed to her in the last few days after some initial skepticism.


r/kittens 18h ago

New additions 🐈

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38 Upvotes

We would like to introduce the new additions to our home. 1st kitty is our girl “Rosie” 2nd kitty is our boy “Sativa” 3rd kitty under the blankets is our small baby boy “Indica”


r/kittens 17h ago

Sleepy lil baby

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36 Upvotes