Good News/Bad News Kittens!

[SleepyKitty]

Well - last year I found a black kitten crying in my backyard, and scooped him up and took him inside. His two siblings came looking for him the next night, and I scooped them up to. Found two of them homes and kept one, who is now about a year old.

This morning, what did I find outside crying in my backyard? A very very young white kitten and his/her two siblings. I managed to catch one, because he was so cold he was shivering and couldn't run.  I couldn't get the others - they were too shy.

So, good news - I rescued a kitten. Bad news - I didn't rescue the others. Good news - I left food and a covered plastic bin with a door cut into it, lined with blankets, outside for the remaining two. Hopefully they will get something to eat and snuggle in there and be dry and warm. Bad news - I now have a kitten I need to find a home for. Good news - the brothers (Gladstone and Little Brother) adore the new kitten and go running for him as soon as he cries.

I don't really have the money to put into rescue kittens, or the time to find them homes. But I'm a complete sucker and couldn't let them stay out there, so cold and hungry. So, I'm glad I could help (because they really are so young, I can't imagine them surviving without shelter in the upcoming cold night). But I'm bummed I HAD to help because this is really going to stretch my budget and time.


And of course, pics when the little guy emerges from under the bed.

[lilihob]

I am sorry about your funds.
I am furious that people don't spay or neuter their pets, leaving kind souls to deal with those poor unwanted kittens.
I am thankful that those kittens found a wonderful person like you.

[magicdomino]

Can you coordinate with a local rescue group?  They are always looking for foster homes, and may be willing to help advertise the kitten on Petfinder, take it to adoption events and screen potential adopters in return for you taking care of the kitten.  They may also be able to help with vet bills -- basic shots and vet care are paid for with adoption fees.

[SleepyKitty]

Well, Kitten is settling in nicely. He wakes up in the middle of the night to be fed, which isn't super fun, but he is now totally cool with being a house kitten, complete with meals, love, and heat (it snowed last night - good thoughts to his stray siblings and mama). Today's his third day with me, and he's even got a good record with the litter box - putting my adult cat, Little Brother, to shame. It took LB a week and a half to start using it.

I am less annoyed with the situation than I was. It's a really incredible thing to see a kitten that has never been touched by human hands learn how nice it is to get snuggled and have your chin scratched.  Still looking for a home, of course - I just don't have the resources to give four cats the quality of life I think a responsible pet owner ought to. But he's okay for now.

[joraemi]

That's great that you were able to help him.  I saw some mention of pics.....

[JenJay]

Are there any rescues or shelters nearby? I wonder if they could help get some donated items to you while you care for him? I have a relative who catches strays, nurses them back to health and then gets them fixed. She doesn't officially work with any shelters but a few giver her food when she needs it and there are a couple of vets that loan her traps and charge the bare minimum they can afford on the surgeries.

[SleepyKitty]

Well, here he is... not the best pics but all the others are blurry because he has only three modes: asleep in a dark corner, face-first in the food dish, and romping with the brothers.

I got a litter of three kittens in the same circumstances about a year ago, and found then that unfortunately the shelters around here are pushed way beyond their limits. My particular area has a really severe stray cat problem and there's very little the shelters can do. The one nearby me will offer food and litter, but it's very cheap quality (dollar-store stuff) and I could afford that myself, so I feel that I should leave those supplies for people who can't afford anything. They have foster programs, but again - there are so very many kittens (and this is such an economically depressed area) that it's actually harder to get the kittens adopted through them, since they require applications and fees.

Although, it may not be an issue since my sister has expressed an interest in taking him, so hopefully this will be easier than I thought.

I call him 'Damsel' - as in, Damsel in Distress, because he looks so very worried all the time and has no shame in crying dramatically for attention as he flops around on the carpet (in great distress, he will assure you).

[JenJay]

He looks so soft and cuddly!!

I understand what you mean about resources being stretched to the breaking point. He's lucky that a kind hearted person found him and I hope he and your sis will be very happy together. 

We already have 3 cats and I've sworn off more (because we rent and are facing another out of state move within a year) and yet one recent afternoon DH and I were on our way home from getting a pizza and spotted a litter of 4-5 kittens off the side of the road. Of course we tried to snag them but  they all took off in opposite directions into the woods. I tried to find them for a good 10 minutes but they were gone. We went back and checked for a week or so after but never saw them again. I don't know what I would have done with 5 kittens but it never really entered into my mind at the time. It was more like "Babies! Outside! Must save!!"

[SleepyKitty]

"Babies! Outside! Must save!!"

*gasp* Get out of my head!  That was exactly what went through my mind. Last time this happened it was three kittens, and my house was just. utter. insanity. But it's like reason and logic suddenly don't matter and I think is: "To the rescue!"

I'm at three cats too, which is why I won't keep the little guy.

[LadyClaire]

He's such a beautiful little cat!

I hope his siblings are OK.

We had a huge number of feral cats here in our subdivision. No one is really sure where they came from, just that there has always been a massive population of feral cats living in the sewers under the roads since the subdivision was built 7 years ago. Presumably they were farm cats/descendants of farm cats from the surrounding areas. One woman who lives here works for the humane society. She live-trapped all of the feral cats that she could, had them fixed, and then released them back into the subdivision because the shelters were so full that they couldn't take the cats. The cats seem to be surviving OK. Year after year, we see the same ones and they appear to be fat and happy. The good thing is that I have never seen a mouse, rat, or mole around here. I think the cats take care of the rodent population. We also never see any kittens, so the woman must have managed to get all of the cats fixed.

[joraemi]

What a CUTIE!!!  Thanks for posting those!

[sevenday]

Oh my, what a cutie pie. 

I'm a fan of trap-neuter-release programs.  My parents live in a semirural area on land that was once part of a farm.  Dad put a cat door in the old barn and set it up for the cats.  He currently has only one neutered male, but he's doing a fine job keeping down the rodent population. 

[Jocelyn]

  The cats seem to be surviving OK. Year after year, we see the same ones and they appear to be fat and happy. The good thing is that I have never seen a mouse, rat, or mole around here. I think the cats take care of the rodent population. We also never see any kittens, so the woman must have managed to get all of the cats fixed.

That's the principle behind trap-neuter-release: that feral adults don't generally make good pets, but they make excellent vermin control. I read about a police station in CA that had such a problem with rats, that the rats actually ate the seats off the bike patrol's bicycles! One of the officers was interested in TNR, and she brought in 4 feral cats. Solved the rat problem, and the police rarely see the cats. TNR'd cats require someone who's willing to make sure they have food for the rest of their lives, though. They'll live much longer lives, the queens fatten up because they're not constantly pregnant or nursing, and it does your heart good to see them learn to come out and enjoy life rather than run in fear. Equally important, is that if the humane society traps and kills ferals, other cats will move in to the same space, so long as there's plenty of food available. By trapping and releasing, you get a colony of neutered cats, and eventually, the colony dies out.

[Esther_bunny]

yay for saving kittens!
I'm sorry you couldn't catch the others.
If your local shelter can't take them perhaps a town nearby? (only if you could catch them of course)

[Black Delphinium]

He's so cute! I tried to convince Simkin that our Maya could use a friend(we're in roughly the same area), but he's so stubborn!