# Hand-Raising Orphan Kittehs (photos included) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 11, 2008, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-raising-orphan-kittehs-photos-included/452576 "2008-06-11T15:28:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Thinks2Much](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@Thinks2Much](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thinks2Much)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2008, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-raising-orphan-kittehs-photos-included/452576/1 "2008-06-11T15:28:23Z")
My husband and I are well known among friends, family, and cow-orkers as animal lovers. I have cared for many orphaned animals, but never kittens. The teenage son of a woman who works with my husband found three young kittens under some equipment in the rain at the construction site where he works. He had already had them for 24 hours before he decided it was too much work to care for them himself, so it was too late to try to find out if the mother truly was gone or just out looking for food by the time we were involved. So now we have [three](http://www.flickr.com/photos/26443478@N04/2569917453/)[kitten](http://www.flickr.com/photos/26443478@N04/2569917299/) [fosters](http://www.flickr.com/photos/26443478@N04/2570743080/). As I said, I have fostered many species, including puppies, rabbits, squirrels, and raccoons. So I have done some species related research as well as applying my previous knowledge. These kittens appear to be about 3 weeks old (their ears are open, but not fully upright, they [crawl](http://www.flickr.com/photos/26443478@N04/2569917021/in/photostream/), but don’t truly walk, they have teeth breaking through, they[play fight](http://www.flickr.com/photos/26443478@N04/2570744206/in/photostream/)). The thing that surprises me is that they don’t seem to be able to eliminate on their own. Most other mammal babies can do so by the time they are two weeks old, around the same time the eyes open. But everyone seems to be doing well regardless. They are eating and eliminating in healthy ways. Based on the charts I have seen, they actually weigh enough to be 5 weeks old (between 13 and 16 ounces), but that can’t be. I think the kid who had them before us just fed them too much. I have two girls and a boy. While they aren’t too unusually marked, the girls being tabby calicos and the boy a gray tabby, the one has really neat almost [bengal kitten](http://www.flickr.com/photos/26443478@N04/2569916853/in/photostream/) looking markings. We already have dogs and two elderly cats, so I doubt we will keep any. We will get the kittens their shots and get them fixed, then rehome them. My son is dying to keep the boy. I would like to keep the leopard one. We’ll see how it goes, if we can convince my husband that one more isn’t going to make much difference. ---
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2008, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-raising-orphan-kittehs-photos-included/452576/2 "2008-06-11T15:46:44Z")
OMG THEYRE SO C_BAM!_ Dammit, my head exploded from all the cute. ---
**Author:** ![Thinks2Much](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@Thinks2Much](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thinks2Much)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2008, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-raising-orphan-kittehs-photos-included/452576/3 "2008-06-11T15:51:09Z")
Eeek! That was my 666th post. Hopefully all the cute counteracts any significance of that. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2008, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-raising-orphan-kittehs-photos-included/452576/4 "2008-06-11T18:09:19Z")
Such precious-wecious babies, o s m r! ---
**Author:** ![Thinks2Much](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@Thinks2Much](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thinks2Much)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2008, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-raising-orphan-kittehs-photos-included/452576/5 "2008-06-11T18:18:28Z")
I am assuming being feral that they will be short hair, but they are awfully fluffy - they have really long guard hairs. Does anyone have experience with young kittens to know a short hair from a long hair at this early age? In puppies, you can usually tell by two weeks old… ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2008, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-raising-orphan-kittehs-photos-included/452576/6 "2008-06-11T18:27:48Z")
SQUEEE! I will say though that I first read the thread title being about Oprah kittens and I was a bit confused. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-raising-orphan-kittehs-photos-included/452576/7 "2008-06-12T06:11:46Z")
i want more kittehs. i have no room for more kittehs but i wants them! ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-raising-orphan-kittehs-photos-included/452576/8 "2008-06-12T15:53:48Z")
Yeah, I wants them, too, but they’re the last thing I need. Thank you, **Thinks2Much** , for taking them in. You’re a good one. ---
**Author:** ![BaneSidhe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@BaneSidhe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaneSidhe)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-raising-orphan-kittehs-photos-included/452576/9 "2008-06-12T17:05:55Z")
Please box up teh kittehs and send them to me. [pardon me while I go clean up the head 'splodey…] ---
**Author:** ![Thinks2Much](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@Thinks2Much](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thinks2Much)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-raising-orphan-kittehs-photos-included/452576/10 "2008-06-12T17:22:56Z")
[QUOTE=BaneSidhe] Please box up teh kittehs and send them to me. [pardon me while I go clean up the head 'splodey…] [/QUOTE] That is tempting. 🙂 I didn’t know anything could be worse than baby raccoons as far as making a racket… the kittens recognize people as their source of food now, so they mewl something terrible when we come in the room. Seeing that I have two hands and three kittens, I can’t feed them all at once, and the one who isn’t being fed is generally trying to get into trouble while mewling, like climbing my shirt or heading for the edge of the bed. We take turns with their feedings - we both feed them together only once per day. For as agile as they are, I am still boggled that they can’t eliminate on their own. It is fun to compare the different development… puppies toddle when they first learn to walk - more like humans in that they take a few steps at normal speed then fall down. The kittens move slowly and keep their bellies low to avoid falling down instead of toddling. They climb better than they walk right now, although one climbed her way out of the box this morning and did a very amusing fast high crawl, low walk to follow me down the hallway. (mewling the whole way, of course) I have to try to get a video of it… when the boy eats, he wiggles his ears in time to his suckling. Too adorable! ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-raising-orphan-kittehs-photos-included/452576/11 "2008-06-12T17:44:33Z")
\>cow-orkers as animal lovers How do you ork a cow? I take it cows like getting orked? Seriously, tho, handraising kittens is hard but also sweet. We have two now that we took at 2 1/2 weeks and are ready for adoption presently. The youngest we’ve started with is 3 days old. There’s nothing cuter than a suckling kitten, with their little ears pumping back and forth. ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-raising-orphan-kittehs-photos-included/452576/12 "2008-06-12T17:47:28Z")
You must name them Winken, Blinken and Nod! Sqeeeee! ---
**Author:** ![Thinks2Much](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@Thinks2Much](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thinks2Much)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-raising-orphan-kittehs-photos-included/452576/13 "2008-06-12T17:51:10Z")
[QUOTE=Napier] \>cow-orkers as animal lovers How do you ork a cow? I take it cows like getting orked? [/QUOTE] That is a deliberate misspelling - it is an inside joke here, just like “I burning your dog”, “When come back, bring pie”, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Thinks2Much](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@Thinks2Much](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thinks2Much)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-raising-orphan-kittehs-photos-included/452576/14 "2008-06-12T17:54:29Z")
[QUOTE=Surly Chick] You must name them Winken, Blinken and Nod! Sqeeeee! [/QUOTE] Cute idea! We have been listening to the Kim Harrison “The Hollows” book series as a family, so they are already named Rachel, Ivy, and Kisten after the three main characters of those books. Kisten was almost Jenks, but he seems more of a cool dude than a clown, so we went with Kisten. (Kisten is a vampire, Jenks is a pixie) ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-raising-orphan-kittehs-photos-included/452576/15 "2008-06-12T18:40:59Z")
Kittens! \ ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-raising-orphan-kittehs-photos-included/452576/16 "2008-06-12T19:36:05Z")
::I must stipulate that I am posting this from beyond the grave because I am DED FROM CUTE:: So if they aren’t eliminating on their own are you having to do the warm moist washcloth wipey thing on their little buttholes to make them go or what? ---
**Author:** ![Contrary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/db5fbb/32.png) [@Contrary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrary)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-raising-orphan-kittehs-photos-included/452576/17 "2008-06-12T22:47:20Z")
Oh my goodness, I know my neighbors are wondering what the sqeeing sound is coming from my apartment. SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!! ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-raising-orphan-kittehs-photos-included/452576/18 "2008-06-12T23:41:39Z")
There is too much SQUEEEEEEE in this thread. I must go lie down now. Bye kittehs! ---
**Author:** ![Thinks2Much](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@Thinks2Much](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thinks2Much)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-raising-orphan-kittehs-photos-included/452576/19 "2008-06-13T13:57:51Z")
[QUOTE=lisacurl] ::I must stipulate that I am posting this from beyond the grave because I am DED FROM CUTE:: So if they aren’t eliminating on their own are you having to do the warm moist washcloth wipey thing on their little buttholes to make them go or what? [/QUOTE] I had tried to reply yesterday, but the board was having trouble. Yes, we are stimulating them by wiping both openings at that end. They only poop once every 24 hours. They do the otehr a lot! I can’t believe how much fluid such tiny bodies can hold!