Kittens are EVERYWHERE and WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU FIND THEM!!
Boy are they cute! But my stomach churns when I realize that there's just way too many of them. Most of them will have short lives no matter what I do. The best thing I can do is PREVENT their birth!!!
Yesterday I met a wonderful lady named Sarah. Someone found a litter of tiny kittens in her pool house and took them home. These kittens were not old enough to eat on their own, so this well-meaning person fed them human milk, which is not good for them, and then sugar water, which has no nutrients, only short-term energy. PUT THEM BACK, was what I told them. They've made it so far in life, so there is a mother who is caring for them. Their chance of survival is much better if she is nursing them 7 times a day, rather then them having to depend on a human to be available to feed them every 3 hours (few of us can or are willing to do that).
My advice wasn't really appreciated :). Few people want to put little kittens in an area where they aren't sure a mother is. But thankfully she did it anyhow, and I paid a visit there and saw the mother. Well, I saw her tail as she climbed up the rafters. Mommy is not tame, but this is the last litter of kittens she'll ever have. We'll find homes for these little pumpkins in a month when they are older, and we'll "fix" all of them.
For those of you who find kittens who can not eat on their own: Unless you are POSITIVE the mother won't be coming back (she's dead on the road) or they are in a dangerous area (your dog pen or the lawnmower path), leave the kittens where they are!! Provide food and water for the mother right by them--nursing and caring for babies is hard work! If the mother is wild, disturb them as little as possible! You don't want the mother to move them where we won't be able to find them.
And when they are old enough, get everybody fixed so this doesn't happen again!!
Yesterday I met a wonderful lady named Sarah. Someone found a litter of tiny kittens in her pool house and took them home. These kittens were not old enough to eat on their own, so this well-meaning person fed them human milk, which is not good for them, and then sugar water, which has no nutrients, only short-term energy. PUT THEM BACK, was what I told them. They've made it so far in life, so there is a mother who is caring for them. Their chance of survival is much better if she is nursing them 7 times a day, rather then them having to depend on a human to be available to feed them every 3 hours (few of us can or are willing to do that).
My advice wasn't really appreciated :). Few people want to put little kittens in an area where they aren't sure a mother is. But thankfully she did it anyhow, and I paid a visit there and saw the mother. Well, I saw her tail as she climbed up the rafters. Mommy is not tame, but this is the last litter of kittens she'll ever have. We'll find homes for these little pumpkins in a month when they are older, and we'll "fix" all of them.
For those of you who find kittens who can not eat on their own: Unless you are POSITIVE the mother won't be coming back (she's dead on the road) or they are in a dangerous area (your dog pen or the lawnmower path), leave the kittens where they are!! Provide food and water for the mother right by them--nursing and caring for babies is hard work! If the mother is wild, disturb them as little as possible! You don't want the mother to move them where we won't be able to find them.
And when they are old enough, get everybody fixed so this doesn't happen again!!
posted by Amy at
4:04 AM
