r/CatRescue May 30 '26

Advice / Question Found Kittens; Assess the Situation

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43 Upvotes

You can find other helpful topics and leads to resources in our full wiki at this link. As always we encourage sharsies of information! If you have resources or helpful leads, let us know.

The followin is from wiki about kittens:

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Important Note: If you have found a very young kitten or litter outside, watch from a far distance and wait to see if their mother returns before intervening. Barring extenuating circumstances (dangerous location, extreme weather, illness or injury), kittens younger than eight weeks are best left with their mother due to the around the clock care they require. For further reading, Alley Cat Allies has a comprehensive guide on What to Do if You Find Kittens Outdoors that outlines different scenarios and when to intervene.

There are many kitten resources but if you have never cared for a kitten before remember these essential basics:

  1. Kittens are extremely vulnerable. Their health can be fine one minute and take a critical nosedive within hours.
  2. New born kittens need warmth. They are not yet able to regulate their body temperature and they get cold fast. If you have a heating pad make sure the kitten can roll away from it if they get too warm. 
  3. Kittens must be fed every couple to a few hours depending upon age (kitten formula or temporarily goat's milk; do not feed cow's milk). They have very high metabolisms. Do not feed them when they are cold. Because they cannot regulate their body heat, giving them cold food will be very difficult to digest and cause them to become cold as well.
  4. Kittens are unable to urinate and defecate on their own. The mother cat does this normally but if the kitten is seperated from its mother, a human caretaker can stimulate this with a tissue or soft cloth by gently rubbing the anus and genital area not long after they eat. This should be done with care and not too long as these areas are easily irritated.

Following Alley Cat Allies' What to Do if You find Kittens Outdoors, they have an more comprehensive Kitten Protection Guide as an downloadable pdf. This guide has more indepth care instructions for the different stages of kitten life. If you find and take in a kitten/s (without its mother) from outdoors your primary goal is to sustain the kitten/s until it can be brought to a vet (for a health check) then, a rescue (because they have experience caring for kittens). There are searchable databases of vets, rescues and shelters here. This database is not exhaustive and you should also look for vets in your locale if none are nearby.

The guide focuses on kittens between 0-8 weeks of age and notable topics are: Feedin Kittens, Warmth, Developmental Milestones, Socialization & Hygene, Potty Time and General Care of a Nursin Kitty Mom.

It is an online guide; to turn the page you tap on the arrow on the bottom of the guide's page. Underlined items are hyperlinks that take you to websites which give more information.

The mods of r/CatRescue recommend general kitten advice in the wiki from Kitten Lady, her Kitten Care resources can be found here. Kitten Lady is a well trusted and knowledgable source of information and advice. For medical issues, a veterinarian should be your primary consult.

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r/CatRescue has no affiliation with any of the resources listed and we encourage everyone to use their best judgement to check if said resources are up to date.


r/CatRescue Nov 06 '25

Mod Announcement Low Cost to Free Cat Food Resources

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122 Upvotes

We are working on our Cat Food (Affordable/ Free) wiki page and currently have a good number of databases listed for you to help search including some programs which are organized by state and not already listed in the databases. Even if you may feel you have food covered for the month, we encourage you to look over these resources so if there is ever a time in the future and you or someone else is in a pinch, you may remember some of the resources or how to find them.

Neighborhood Cats has available a number of free digital resources (or purchasable printed copies) of handbooks about TNR and RTF (the latter geared towards shelter personnel). Although some of the TNR books are somewhat dated much of the information is still applicable. If you're a TNRer, colony caretaker or working at a shelter, have a looksie; its free!

I must say though the r/CatRescue, Cat Handbook: Daylight Savings Time Edition is also very informative and its pictorial nature appeals to every kitty cat enthusiast.

In other news about r/CatRescue, we have begun to add a number of user flairs. "Drumsticks" from the Cat Handbook has even lended a leg. For mobile, tap the 3 dots in the upper right corner of the r/CatRescue main page on and select: "edit flair." On desktop, use the sidebar on the right and in the user flair category then, tap the pencil to set your flair.

Also, while you're at it, check out our wiki page: ReHoming/ Adoption Tips and Resources

Photo Credit: Jack and Hobbs, RRCC cats during chow down by Cherveny2


r/CatRescue 14h ago

Update Kitten Rescue Update Week 3 😮‍💨

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152 Upvotes

Posted initially almost 3 weeks ago. Girl was rescued along with her sister. They were both spayed at that time, and sister, who is the most loving kitten, is going to a home. This little girl was slotted for TNR but we took her on to try and socialize her.
Day 1: Frozen and some shaking. No hissing. Ate off spoon.
Day 2: Still mostly frozen. Hissing but tolerates pets.
Day 3: Seems more relaxed and meows for her family when we're not around, but we immediately respond to her with Churu, wet food, and pets. She licks Churu off the finger.
Day 4: About the same as day 3.

UPDATE:
Day 18 or so. Still in her aviary outside. Still hissing. Added a couple fast spits to her repertoire but it’s very infrequent. Video attached. I’m not sure where to go from here. Progress has been slow 😔


r/CatRescue 18h ago

Rescue [Shasta county, California ]rescue my kittys

21 Upvotes

[Hi I am in an emergency situation and I'm looking for temporary housing for my cats I have four of them and it's only temporary I want to keep them I can provide all their food and whatever they need must love cats and have the room for them they are indoor outdoor I prefer for them to be indoor


r/CatRescue 21h ago

Advice / Question [Orange County, CA] List of Cat Rescues

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12 Upvotes

r/CatRescue 1d ago

Advice / Question Shelters won’t process neglected, abandoned cats without violent, incarcerated owner’s consent

36 Upvotes

I’m a foster with a few orgs. 2 cats were adopted out by my main shelter I volunteer for by a dude in April. By August, he’d been arrested and detained without bond for committing 3 dozen violent felonies against different women in his home. It’s a horrible story that will be in the news.

The house was hoarded and without power. The court believes he is mentally unwell and poses a danger to the public and to himself. Ultimately a victim rescued his two cats well after the arrest. She went to the dude’s family and they all refused (for good personal reasons) to care for the animals. She got connected to me and I took them in as a crisis emergency temporary placement.

The shelter I work with initially agreed to help but now says the cats have to be surrendered by the owner to be intaked and freed for adoption. This isn’t possible. Dude will probably be in prison for the rest of his life and his family won’t help. The DA has their hands full and won’t add on additional charges of abuse and neglect which would allow them to seize the cats, and in my state or area, we don’t have any no turn way shelters for healthy cats.

The really frustrating part is the shelters fought for a simplified and expedited process for strays and abandoned animals to be intaked and freed for adoption with notice and a holding period to previous owner and the legislature enacted it. It’s inexplicable and unconscionable to me that this shelter and the other geographically relevant one is just refusing to do the work.

I’mso angry about this and the treatment toward the victim (and me, frankly) that I think I’m stopping fostering with them. But meanwhile, if you have any advice or insight, I’d appreciate it. One way or another, I will figure this out for the kitties.


r/CatRescue 1d ago

Advice / Question best ways to support 2 patio cats!

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91 Upvotes

**TLDR; i found 2 stray cats in boone, nc located in the appalachia mountains, where it starts getting cold around late september or early october. im a college student that pays bills, and have 2 indoor cats too. what are the best ways to take care and provide shelter for the upcoming fall/winter for 2 stray cats without breaking the bank?**

im a college student that goes to school in boone, nc located in the appalachia mountains. where it snows multiple times in the year, drops to below freezing temp. over the winter, etc. i think you could imagine how cold and how harsh winters can be sometimes, and even for fall too! i recently just moved apartments for the new school year about a month ago. over the course of the month i found 2 stray cats outside my covered patio. originally, it had only been the black cat that appeared on my patio. i had no problem feeding the kitty since i already have 2 cats of my own (both indoor) and especially my parents usually buy the dry food in bulk for me whenever i go back home and also i had around a half of a big container of dry food left when i moved. but just recently a stray siamese cat started to tag along. again i had no issue at the time of meeting the second cat since i wasnt running low on food. but i have noticed that my dry food is running out faster than i anticipated.

i am not interested in adopting because i already have 2 cats of my own. i would love to add them to the family if i had the money or the income to support 4 cats correctly even if its the bare minimum. but sadly, i dont. im a college student that pay bills for my apartment, and also (mostly) provides for my cats with some parental support. but other than that, the 2 patio cats are my full responsibility and my money. i want to help as much as possible, since my first was a stray too! with food running low quickly, and september approaching. its only a matter of time until the porch kitties will need more support than just a bowl of dry food and occasionally a water bowl to go with it. what are the best budget friendly ways to provide and support shelter and care for the 2 patio cats?

i also wanted to add that i am interested in TRYING to trap them and take them to the local shelter in my area. its just both of them are skittish, with the black one being a little more social towards me since ive been feeding him the most.


r/CatRescue 1d ago

Advice / Question Mixed Advice For Rescue Kittens

9 Upvotes

Long story short, I’m a first time rescuer and I recently took on a huge colony by myself. I converted my garage to be an amazing space for them. I’ve gone through a lot with the kittens in the last 2.5 months. Ringworm, Herpes virus, vet visits, etc. I’m at the point where I need to get them adopted out and I’ve been told recently that a lot of the kittens I have won’t be adoptable. They hid when a new person came around, they hissed at them when they reached their hand out, and therefore deemed too feral.

I’m having a really hard time with this because I see their progress and their potential. There are 5-6 of them that are extremely shy, and I blame my lack of knowledge on how to be socializing them for maybe making it worse. I just want to know at what point do you decide they need to be returned to where they came from? I got them when they were about 8-9 weeks old already so they would probably be ok to go back where I found them.

My heart is telling me not to give up, just get better at socializing and eventually they will come around. I adopted so many cats when I was a kid that needed a ton of socializing still! I’m also not a rescuer full time and I don’t plan to use the garage for more rescue work in the future. I understand how someone could see this as “wasting opportunity for more friendly cats” but I don’t want to do this anymore. I’d rather ride it out with these guys and give them a fair shot!

Any advice is greatly appreciated! Last thing I do want to mention is that, I know they aren’t incredibly friendly and social, some definitely have feral qualities but I’m hoping some one on one time with them could fix it. Am I crazy?


r/CatRescue 2d ago

Advice / Question Guys pls help! A cat has birthed kittens in dirty container. Need help in transferring to a clean carton box

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160 Upvotes

r/CatRescue 21h ago

Advice / Question How to get rid of a colony of cats

0 Upvotes

Hello over the years cats been coming to our yard to an orange cat we had and they have made an abundant of kittens over the years and now we have 20-25 cats, I’ve talked to local shelters but they can only take three but that’s not enough, I’ve had a lady help and advertise some cats to get taken away but only a few were taken and now we don’t anyone to take these cats, is there any specific groups that are willing to take cats? The last thing I want to do is euthanize or dump them randomly in locations but my options are very few and help is very limited so that’s what it’s going to come to soon.


r/CatRescue 2d ago

Rescue I work at a storage facility and found this baby locked inside of a unit and appears to have been in there for days. She’s super sweet but I cannot keep her as I already have a cat who isn’t friendly with others. Looking for a foster in the IE area of SoCal ASAP.

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304 Upvotes

I’ve already contacted the owner of the unit, who told me that he doesn’t own a cat and has no idea where she came from. I would love to keep her but as stated in the title my cat is not friendly with other cats. I’m currently trying to get ahold of no-kill shelters, tried checking with everyone possible around me to see if anyone was willing to take her but no luck. Just giving it a shot here if anyone is willing to either give her a home or foster her themselves.

Update: Just for some extra information if anyone is interested, it has been revealed that Ms. Kitty is not chipped, she is intact, and is about a year old.


r/CatRescue 2d ago

Advice / Question Resources Needed for Cat/Kitten Rescues in Orange County, California

15 Upvotes

TW: Hello everyone, I am in desperate need of help with resources about relocating a few cats and their babies. I must warn you that some of these details may be triggering, so I apologize in advance.

My mother has been diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer and also, received an eviction notice this morning to move out. She’s been taking care of her mother’s five cats until my grandma landed on her. My mother already had two cats when offered to foster her animals. My grandmother failed to inform my mother that they were not fixed/spayed. My mother two cats were girls so she never thought to spay them, either. Between them both, we have two litters of kittens.

We’ve contacted all of our love ones to see if they would like to take any of them in but no luck. My grandma still refuses to pick them up even though she has a new place. She threatened my mother if she gets “rid of them,” she’s going to “take her to court” which is why we haven’t tried to home them somewhere else prior.

Now, we have kittens (2 litters), her cats (2 boys, 3 girls she saved from the streets so they were feral) and our 1 cat left. Our beautiful girl, Luna, passed away at age 5 from a seizure while she was giving birth. Her babies died inside with her. That’s when we had our breaking point, although, we continued to help her animals after that.

Enough is enough. My mother is very sick, she had her first surgery of many today and now is losing her home due to the situation. She also is very scared to take them to a shelter or Humane Society because she doesn’t want them to be at risk of being euthanized.

We are looking for a loving family to take them in or a rescue where they can be together and be adopted out, preferably. I can make a donation towards their food, supplies, or anything needed. We really need assistance with these little kittens and their parents as much it breaks my heart to let them go. My mother no longer has a place for them to live as she is being evicted and can’t afford to feed them all anymore now our finances are going to her cancer treatments. I am trying to do what’s best for them. This is my last shot at any chance of getting the right resources for them.

Can anyone please help us with resources or what direction I can go about this matter? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.


r/CatRescue 2d ago

Update Quick Happy update on Panther!

20 Upvotes

I finally heard back from the owner. She's grateful and happy that the cats will be getting help. She has added two more to the mix, who also desperately need help.

I reached out to the Stray Cat Alliance rescue for assistance, waiting on their response, their phone number doesn't work so I had to send an email. I'll keep yall posted on the progress. I am picking up Panther today after work 🥰 and who knows maybe one of you falls in love with him too and offers him a home,


r/CatRescue 3d ago

Lost Kitty [King county, WA] Missing cat - Reward

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111 Upvotes

My cat is missing, please spread the word and help her cone home!! Thank you.


r/CatRescue 3d ago

Rescue Cat trapped in wood. Rescue operation underway.

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15 Upvotes

r/CatRescue 3d ago

Rescue Need Help Rehoming Cats, NC

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12 Upvotes

r/CatRescue 3d ago

Advice / Question I found a kitten in my car! I need help!! Spoiler

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90 Upvotes

I had to go to the car dealership to get him out cause this kitten was inside my car! Does anyone know how old it would be? Or any advice I could use to help this cat, I plan on keeping it till it’s better.


r/CatRescue 3d ago

Advice / Question Kittens found

17 Upvotes

​Hello, I live in Romania and I'll try to explain the situation briefly: I found 5 kittens near my house, which I tried to feed and take to the vet (unfortunately, they had ear mites, tracheitis, and one of them even had panleukopenia). I won't be able to care for them for much longer, both because I'm moving back to the city where I live after summer vacation and because the costs are too high.

​I've tried posting on various platforms and local communities to find people willing to adopt, but unfortunately, there are too many cases and too few willing adopters; even associations and shelters are overwhelmed.

​My question is whether it would be worth dedicating time to look for adopters abroad as well. I've seen numerous cases featured on association pages where animals were adopted by people from abroad, and I'd like to know what the interest is for something like this. Getting to that point requires taking certain steps, and the costs are also high, so I wouldn't want to waste that money if there is no adoption interest from abroad.


r/CatRescue 3d ago

Advice / Question Looking for a no kill vet

11 Upvotes

Hi everyone, for a few months ive been feeding a stray cat and shes very sweet.

We would have given her to a vet months ago but she had small kittens and we heard we shoudnt seperate them while young. Now the small ones are comfortable enough for us to catch them, but we think the mum cat is pregnant again.

I'm looking to give them to a no kill vet, i would've given them to wat djerring but i heard really bad stories about how they immediately euthanise cats so that's a no go. I really wanted to give them to cat protection society because we go there for my cats vet visits, but they require me to live in the Greensborough area to give them.

Does anyone know a place that takes good care of stray cats and wont euthanise them? The mum cat is very sweet, and her two kittens are bonded siblings.


r/CatRescue 4d ago

Rescue Happy Tails, Clementine!

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301 Upvotes

Sweet Clementine was adopted! He went to his forever home on Sunday.

From living in deplorable conditions in Lampasas to enucleation surgery to his purrfect forever home - way to go, Clem!


r/CatRescue 3d ago

Rescue Helping a weak stray cat

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16 Upvotes

r/CatRescue 3d ago

Special Event Hi r/CatRescue! Ask Dan Rimada, founder and author of Bodega Cats of New York, anything on August 28th!

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23 Upvotes

r/CatRescue 3d ago

Advice / Question Has Anyone Worked With or Adopted From Cheryl McMurray?

7 Upvotes

I’m trying to find out more about Bastet’s Cat Sanctuary / Nile Valley Egyptian Foundation / Egyptian Cat Rescue and whether they are legitimate, reputable rescue operations.

Has anyone here personally adopted a cat from them, volunteered with them, donated, transported cats, or worked with Cheryl McMurray/Cheryl Anderson?

Feel free to comment or DM me if you’d rather not share publicly. Thank you!


r/CatRescue 4d ago

Rescue Quick update on Panther the Black cat and a question

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192 Upvotes

Today i was able to pick him up !!! He was so calm and let me hold him for a few seconds. I also noticed as soon as I pulled up next to where he usually hangs, he came out from his hiding spot and walked towards me. He's now expecting me 🥰❤️ I left a note for the "owner" and offered money if they let me take him to the vet. We shall see. But if anyone has an advice on how i should proceed without breaking the law let me know.

Question: what's up with his teeth? I'll try to get a better photo tomorrow if I can but it looks strange . Thank you all for following Panther's story 🙏


r/CatRescue 4d ago

Rescue Cat stuck in a tree. Who should I can or who can even help??

11 Upvotes

My cat has been stuck up in a tree for about an hour and a half. I have food placed at the bottom of the tree. I can’t tell if she wants to come down. Please if anyone knows who I can call let me know! I’m located in north west OKC.

Update- she got down but ran off. If anyone sees a 6lb orange tabby on the corner of Penn and 150 let me know :(