How To Care for Stray Kittens

Where I reside it is common for people to abandon their cats and kittens. Every spring we seem to find boxes of kittens left in the woods by my home. Some kittens are weaned others are not.

Photographs of stray kittens

Catching and caring for them are very important because baby kittens rarely survive. They do not know where to go for shelter, how to protect themselves from predators and do not know where to go for food or water.

When we find kittens in our woods we will bring them back home and feed them, hydrate them then check for fleas or injury, We keep all kittens in a room that is safe. This room is their sanctuary where they have all that they need. It is an area in our home that is away from people and other pets. A quiet room that has cat beds, litter boxes, a cat tree and food and water bowls.

This is where the stray kittens will stay until we take them to the veterinarian for a wellness check, dewormer, and vaccines (if they are old enough)

Stray kittens may or may not be people friendly. So it is important to interact with them daily, I like to go into the safe room to read my book or look at a magazine. I never approach the kittens first, instead, I will sit and wait for them to come to me.

Once the kitten makes the first move to be friendly, then I will hold them, pet them and love them. I always talk to the kittens with a calm and caring voice. This helps to not fear humans.

I work with the kittens so that they learn to use their litter box and to scratch on a tree. Spending time with the stray kittens is a way to get them ready for their next step. Being adopted and going to live with their forever family.

Weaning Kittens to Solid Food

Over the years I have rescued my fair share of domesticated and feral kittens and there is always one kitten that is smaller than their littermates and is not ready to move forward when it comes to being weaned to solid kitten food.

Today marks the day that the kittens in my care should all start to be weaned but the kitten I call Larry is not ready to move forward with a diet change. Larry is a black and white kitten with traditional tuxedo markings and when we rescued him he was very small, no doubt the runt of the litter.

Here is a photo of Larry when I added some kitten kibble to the KMR kitten formula. From the expression you know exactly what this kitten is thinking; “You call this food?” “Rescue person what are you trying to do to me?” 

All of the other kittens had no problem with accepting the solid food that was softened with the kitten formula, however, Larry refused to taste the food.  He played with the food by using his paw to knock the food out of his bowl.  Since he was determined to not be weaned we did make up a bowl of KMR kitten formula for him.  

Going forward I plan to add a few pieces of the dry kibble to the formula and slowly wean Larry onto the solid Blue  Healthy Growth kitten food. Know that all of the kittens are getting a bowl of the replacement milk and they will continue to get this milk until they are 3 pounds or 3 months old.  We are doing this to provide them with a strong immune system.

Author Notes:  Blue Buffalo makes the Healthy Growth kitten food and on the package, it states that you can feed three-week old kittens the food.  Know that when we took the kittens in for their veterinarian checkup at three months old the Veterinarian asked us what we fed them, he said it was excellent food and that their coat and health was due to this high-quality kitten food.  I searched for bluebuffalo.com online for this product, read about it and liked what I read so I bought the Blue kitten food at PetSmart.com.  

If you have rescued kittens then I recommend that you feed them this food because they will be very healthy, shiny coat and adopters will want a healthy and pretty kitten.

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My Kitten Has a Disability

Day we found kittens

My rescue kitten has special needs but we do not care because she is so sweet and loving. 

We took good care of this little rescue kitten because we knew she was not quite right. This  kitten is very small for her age, in fact her siblings are three times her size. But even though she is petite she has a big heart and tries her best to keep up with the other cats.

I suppose in nature the mother cat would have left this baby go, after all she was the runt. She was frail when I found her on the side of the road.  We always had a problem with getting her to eat and so we needed to bottle feed her, and when we weaned her we still had to feed her away from the other cats. 

My special needs kitten

We found out when she went in for her wellness exam that she is a special needs cat; underdeveloped for her age and vision disability.

  

Her disability makes her a special kitty, but know that we love her all the more and will eventually find her a forever home where the cat adopter will care for her and treat my rescued kitten "Sally" like a princess for the rest of her cat life.

 

Cat Sponsor Booster Shots Agreement

My husband and I rescue many cats and kittens that are abandoned in the woods by our home and most of the time we pay for the cat care out of our pockets.  Occasionally we get civic-minded sponsors who help us with the veterinarian costs or food.  A few months ago my husband and I found newborn kittens that were put in a bag and thrown out like trash.  

We rescued the cats by taking them into our home and away from harm, The cats are cared for. We bottle feed them, helped them to go to the bathroom, groomed them, and kept them safe and warm. When the kittens are older we take them to the veterinarian for a wellness checkup and for kitten boosters/spay or neuter.

Photos of kittens that we have rescued.

I shared the kitten story with neighbors and was delighted when two told me that they would sponsor a set of two kittens each.  Well, the one sponsor did not understand what their responsibility was because when it came time to fulfill their obligation they changed their mind.  But the other neighbor agreed to the terms and sponsoring the kittens was a blessing as money for so many cats at one time was scarce.

Know that all kittens received vaccines and were spayed or neutered.  By doing this we were able to find them forever home families to love and care for them without the worry of veterinarian care.

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Nine Week Old Kitten Stopped Eating

Hairy the rescue kitten is nine week old, he has adjusted well from abandonment when he was three weeks old.  He is a big eater, loves to play and cuddle so I was surprised when he stopped eating and drinking.

Baby kitten Hairy on day we rescued him 

I went to feed him and he sniffed and walked away I thought it was odd.  When I brought in his favorite canned food; Natural Balance chicken pate recipe with gravy on plate I expected Hairy to coming running but instead he did not get out of bed.   Hairy was sick I just knew it and he was looking dehydrated too so I knew we had a problem.  I filled his nursing bottle with replacement milk mixed with his chicken pate and started feeding him , he took to this okay and so I put the mixture on a plate and Hairy sniffed and walked away.

Normally Hairy laps of his replacement milk with siblings

I thought at first he could not smell the food and that is why he fed off the bottle and not from his food bowl.   My husband said he must have eaten something that upset his stomach he will be okay. But Hairy was not okay he developed diarrhea that would not stop, the poor kitten was leaking when he walked or lay down in his bed.  This was not good so I called the veterinarian and they said they could not see him until two days later.

I continued to care for Hairy and his diarrhea did stop, but my little rescued kitten was still not eating.  So I kept the kitten close by in a crate and bottle fed him every hour.  Hairy was getting weak and would was not taking to the bottle.  I called the veternarian and there were no appointment, the only option they could offer was to bring Hairy in when doctors arrive and are getting ready for their day.  They would then have one check Hairy to determine his condition. 

So we waited two more days and on the third day Hairy weight indicated that he had lost a pound. I was certain that if we did not get veterinarian care he would die.  We rushed him to the veternarian today so he could be evaluated.  

He needed an IV and was treated for coccidia and I was told that he would be back eating and being a normal kitten within a day.  Hairy stopped eating and refused to eat or drink due to worms.  All of the rescued kittens including Hairy were wormed today and should make a full recovery.

*We rescued Hairy and  his four siblings when they were three weeks old. They were abandoned on the medium in the center of the highway at night.