I was doing some landscape work in a neighborhood and saw this kitten in the grass under a utility trailer. No other kittens or the mom around. Have no idea how it got there or anything.
The neighbor didn’t know either. He is probable about 5-6 weeks old. No way I was going to leave it there. A hawk could have swept him up very easily.
Took it home. Placed an ad on Craigslist, but not too hopeful on that.
Beautiful little kitty. His eyes are a beautiful blue color. Wondering if they stay that color once he is an adult??
Deciding whether to keep him or find a good home. Feeding him KMR kitten replacement milk.
Anyone have any tips on caring for such a young kitten.
A kitten that old can eat canned solid food, mixed with KMR if it’s towards the younger end of that range, and use a litterbox although they may have accidents, and even eat the litter because they haven’t quite figured out what is food and what isn’t. You shouldn’t have to “potty” them; if you don’t know, newborn kittens must have their rear ends stimulated in order to urinate and defecate.
It’s possible that his eyes will stay blue, but probably not.
Have you brought him to a vet yet? Lots of feral kittens have worms, so it’s a good idea to have him seen as soon as you can. Plus, a vet will have a better idea of how old he is, and what you ought to feed him.
Haven’t brought him to a vet. But, my sisters neighbor is a technician at a vets office and she didn’t think that he was ferel. I guess his behavior was too friendly.
Even ferel kittens have that skittishness to them.
Years ago I was on unemployment for a summer, helping a friend paint his boat. Another boat was being launched one day, and two tiny kittens were found in it, and there was some talk about damned cats being a nuisance and tossing them over the side. I couldn’t help myself. Some other unknown person became my partner in crime for ten minutes and we each left with a liberated kitten in our pocket. I didn’t even get a good look at mine until we were in the car and headed home. She was all charcoal floof and blue eyes.
It’s been over twenty years so the particulars are fuzzy. Petco, I think it was, walked me through everything. I fed her with formula and an eye dropper, and she slept in a box next to my bed. She woke me up at 5am by crawling up the bedspread and onto my face and biting my nose. The first litter box was a Diet Coke fridge pack box with regular litter – she loved it. When I wanted to go out, either my neighbor or my soon-to-be Mother-in-law would kittysit.
There were no health problems, ever. She became a gorgeous tuxedo with gold eyes, and I had her for fifteen years.
Not a bad idea to mix the KMR with wet kitten food until you see how he’s doing. Then you can transition to canned with kibble.
He’s gorgeous! His eyes may stay blue, especially if there is any bit of Siamese in him. My kitty is 8 yo and his eyes are still blue, but he clearly has some Siamese.
Somehow this struck me as the first line of the worst “protection racket” speech ever. “…It’d be a shame if something happened to her while you were at work…”
I squeed involuntarily at that picture. What a sweetheart! We got our orange boy at just about the same age (he’s now 15 1/2), and we didn’t have to feed him kitten milk. He was weaned too young, though - he used to suck on my hair at night.
If you found the kitten outside and alone, it’s a feral kitten. (I have a feral colony{*} in my backyard the past three plus years. I saved 11 kittens two years ago from the two feral females. All successfully adopted. The colony is stable at six cats, plus transients.) You can domesticate a feral kitten if you catch it before it’s seven-ten weeks old. You need to take it to a vet for a general checkup. It needs to be dewormed, cleaned of ear mites and checked for FIV. The vet can tell you how best to care for it.
If you cannot keep it, contact a no kill shelter. Do NOT place an add on CraigsList or anywhere else. Kittens and puppies advertised on such lists for free or minimal cost are often use a live food for snake owners or live bait for dog owners. If you have to advertise, set a minimum cost of $100.00 to discourage sick people from acquiring the kitten.
Also, kittens are not toys. The no kill shelter I belong to does not allow adoption if the family has any children younger than age 10.
{*} Yes, I know a group of cats is called a clowder. I prefer colony as they colonized my backyard three years ago.
I agree about being cautious with CraigsList, but the above really sounds urban legendish to me, especially with “often” appended to it. Has happened EVER? Sure. Happens often? I’m skeptical.
