Found: 1(one) Kitten. Now with 10% more D'awwwwww!

Richard_Dastardly

I found a cute little kitten, maybe just a couple of months old, while I was walking home for lunch this afternoon. I only live about a block from where I work, so I scooped him up and he meowed the whole way to my house. He has a flea collar and a collar with a bell. So, I'm assuming he's someone's cat.

I called around to some vets, animal shellters, pet stores, etc and posted my find on Craigslist and Petfbi. But, I have a hunch that the legitimate owner ain't gonna call and claim him.

I already have four cats, and even though I'd love to have another kitten it probably wouldn't be a good idea to keep the little guy. So, I want to find him a good home with responsible owners. Unfortunately, the no-kill animal shelters have a waiting list of 6-8 months, so I can't leave him with them.

I have him in a guest room with food, water and litter. I'm not sure if he has his vaccinations, but I am sure he has fleas. Found that out after I took him inside. What should I do about them? Should I pre-emptively deflea my other cats (they've never had fleas before).

Any tips on adopting him? Has anyone had experience?

I'm gonna have other questions. I can't think of them right now, though.

PeregrineFalcon

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How old is the little furball? If you can't tell, post a few pics with some manner of object for relative size. Have you ever cared for a kitten before, or were the four you have adopted at later ages?

Re: the fleas, get some Revolution/Advantage/whatever flea control product you use and dose everyone. Give your vet a ring and ask him/her.

Good old fashioned "FOUND - KITTAH" posters with a picture in the area wouldn't hurt. Failing that, "Free to good home, adorable kitten" seems to work well enough. One of my neighbours decided to leave her cat behind when she moved, because she's a useless cunt, and it ended up coming to our back door. We posted up a "Cat, free to good home" ad, and a family adopted her in a week.

Darkewolfe

I had a friend who scooped up a lost cat in the city and started looking for the owners. When he eventually did locate them, he got a good chewing out for nabbing the kitty off the sidewalk, where the owners felt comfortable having it roam. Obviously this isn't in the kitty's best health, but is it possible the owners let it roam and it was expected to find its way home from where you rescued it?

Richard_Dastardly

PeregrineFalcon wrote: »

///this space reserved for d'awww\\\

How old is the little furball? If you can't tell, post a few pics with some manner of object for relative size. Have you ever cared for a kitten before, or were the four you have adopted at later ages?

My wife and I fostered four kittehs and their mamma, and ended up keeping the mamma and her little boy. It's too bad the kitty foster people aren't accepting new cases cuz it'd be nice to have his vet bills paid for.

Also, I'm pretty concerned, maybe too concerned, about him going to a bad home if I can't find the owners. I was thinking an adoption fee would keep away the idiots. But, to be honest, he's just not that cute of a kitty.

Kyougu

That last confession made me laugh.

Richard_Dastardly

Darkewolfe wrote: »

Obviously this isn't in the kitty's best health, but is it possible the owners let it roam and it was expected to find its way home from where you rescued it?

This is the moral dilema I'm hoping to avoid.

PeregrineFalcon

Well, you have to be concerned with that in general - just go with your gut.

My rescue went to a family that wasn't exactly well-off, but you could tell they love animals. A big friendly lab cross met us at the door, and the other family cat came out to investigate the newcomer before going back to the daughter.

Kyougu

Richard_Dastardly wrote: »

Darkewolfe wrote: »

Obviously this isn't in the kitty's best health, but is it possible the owners let it roam and it was expected to find its way home from where you rescued it?

This is the moral dilema I'm hoping to avoid.

Post posters around the area you found it, and if you can be bothered knock on the doors of some people.

ceres

Age check: for the first 6 months or so, you can expect a kitten to weigh about one pound for every month old it is. So if it weighs about 3 pounds, chances are good it's approximately 3 months old.

(I worked in a vet's office for several months.)

Richard_Dastardly

ceres wrote: »

Age check: for the first 6 months or so, you can expect a kitten to weigh about one pound for every month old it is. So if it weighs about 3 pounds, chances are good it's approximately 3 months old.

(I worked in a vet's office for several months.)

Gotcha. So... I'm assuming it's no more than a month and a half? Unless it's severely emaciated. The thing weighs less than a pound. It's odd, cuz I can't remember how big the other kittens I'd had were at one or two months.

I'll get pictures up this evening... hopefully someone can tell more then.

Kyougu wrote: »

Post posters around the area you found it, and if you can be bothered knock on the doors of some people.

Posters are a good idea. I must do that.

Edit: Ok. I made up some posters.

If the kitten is, in fact, only a month or so old... should I be wary about using flea medicine?

Also, what are the odds of him transfering some deadly virus to my cats, being that he's only a kitten and all?

oldsak

Don't put the cat's photo in the posters.

Just say "found cat," and allow anyone claiming him describe him.

I'm betting you totally nabbed someone's indoor/outdoor cat

Hevach

Richard_Dastardly wrote: »

If the kitten is, in fact, only a month or so old... should I be wary about using flea medicine?

Also, what are the odds of him transfering some deadly virus to my cats, being that he's only a kitten and all?

The ones I've used say they aren't safe to use on cats under 3 pounds. If he is too small, you can still put drops on your own cats so they won't pick any up from him at least.

As for viruses, I'd be wary of heartworm, which seems to be a given with stray kittens. My vet didn't even bother testing for it when I got Loki as a stray, he just gave me some stuff to put in his food to get rid of it.

mts

i think that cat is not that young and could be close to a year. he looks almost exactly like our little guy who is like 10 months i think

more than likely based onteh collar he is either an indoor outdoor cat or someones indoor cat that got out and dissapeared.

you could bring him to a vet and see if he has a chip.

as far as adopting we used to foster/adopt out kittens. we were able to tap into the vet school and almost always got hits that way. you can try craigslist too, but i wouldn't list as free just don't put a price down.

Richard_Dastardly

I don't think the cat is more than two months old. You don't get an idea of how tiny he is from the photo, but he's about half the size of Boy. Boy is almost a year and he's still a little smaller than our other cats. But, I'm gonna try and get him into the vet tomorrow.

I know it might not be a good idea to put a photo of him on the poster, but I am requiring that whomever is claiming ownership must first describe how many and what kind of collars he was wearing.

Foolish Chaos

What kind of area did you pick up the cat in? Suburbs, downtown, etc?

I just ask because in and around our neighborhood there are quite a few people who have indoors/outdoors cats (myself included).

Though the cat does seem a little young to be roaming the outdoors anyway. Neglectful pet owners might as well be no pet owners, I guess.

Richard_Dastardly

I found him in a residential area just outside the hospital where I work. A lot of people around here let their cats roam, but this cat is too damn young.

Oh, and more mystery... I thought I'd just found an address inside the kitten's collar. It wasn't, but it read: Pudgy 1992-2009 5-16. So, someone apparently just lost their beloved cat and recently got a kitten. And then the kitten got away.

Foolish Chaos

Doh. Yeah if they go so far as to put something like that on a collar, they will probably be pretty upset at loosing their cat. You could always go knocking on doors.

And when they ask where you found him, you could just say you found him near your house or something. If you happened to pick him up right in front of the house, they will probably be pretty upset after they looked for hours, or whatever. Even if you technically did do the right thing.

TokyoRaver

I'd keep him separate from your other cats.

Feline Leukemia Virus is the cat version of AIDS

A friend of mine took in a stray and it killed the rest of his cats, one by one

I lost my last cat to it too. Watch out.

rfalias

D'awwwwwww!
Kitty!

Portugal.TheMark

Keep him seperated form the other cats the best you can for the time being. Feline Lukemia is rare, but REALLY dangerous to your other cats. Wash your hands really good after contact with him, and use seperate feeding dishes for him and the others. You seem like you're pretty intelligent so basically just common sense stuff. Everything should be washed before giving them to your cats really good like food dishes, toys, bedding, etc.

I hope everything works out really good. I don't think he's ugly at all. He's definitely still got the D'AAAAAWWWW!!!! factor

Erandus

TokyoRaver wrote: »

Feline Leukemia Virus is the cat version of AIDS

Just for correctness, Feline Lukemia is not cat AIDS.

Feline immunodeficiency virus is cat AIDS. The FIV to our HIV, you see.

Both FIV and Feline Lukemia are excellent reasons to keep this kitten completely segregated from your established cats, as they are rampantly contagious and easily lethal.

Richard_Dastardly

Update time!

Spent three hours at the free clinic for animals on Saturday, but Lorenzo il Magnificat is disease free and had his first vaccinations. Lorenzo is actually a pretty beautiful kitty... when I found him he just looked funny cuz he was so malnourished.

Put him up on Craigslist and within an hour had emails from two interested parties. Had a third this morning. I'm getting a little nervous cuz I want to make sure he goes to a good family.

Email 1: Dude wants the kitty for his 7 month old baby, who LOVES cats apparently.
Email 2: Chick wants kitty for her sister who had to put her previous cat down.
Email 3: Stay at home wife/student wants new kitty to add to her menagerie. Of the three, this one's email won the trophy for least mispellings and run-on sentences.

I'm not really sure who would make the best parents here.

mts

i would say 3 depending on how many animals in the menagerie.

then 2 assuming the sister wants another
than maybe 1

Kyougu

I would be weary of 1, just cause it could be the newest toy to keep their kid entertained, instead of an actual pet to the family.

mts

what is the personality of the cat, that would factor in the decision

Richard_Dastardly

Yeah, I'm thinking 3, 2, 1 as well. #3 says she has two kitties already... and, by kitties I'm assuming she means kittens.

Kyougu wrote: »

I would be weary of 1, just cause it could be the newest toy to keep their kid entertained, instead of an actual pet to the family.

My main concern as well. That and the fact that babies don't know how to treat animals yet.

mts wrote: »

what is the personality of the cat, that would factor in the decision

He's really calm for a kitten, I think. Boy was the last kitten I'd had, and I remember him being equal parts super affectionate and insane. This kid likes attention but seems to have his own agenda. I'm not sure if it's because of his history, because of our other cats or if it's simply his personality.

Pixel Blue

-

Dog

Where do you live Richard?

Richard_Dastardly

1) Thanks! My wife hates that name.

2) I wish I knew his situation. It seems odd that he'd have been abandoned with both a bell and flea collar...

Anyway, I let all the potential adoptees know that I have a no-questions-asked return policy on him. I want to make damn sure he's not abandoned again.

I live in Toledo, Ohio.

Dog

Aah, If you were closer I would have offered to take him :P

Richard_Dastardly

It'd be fantastic if someone from the forum could take him.

In fact, I'd slip you a twenty if one of you guys took him.

mts

if he gets along with your other two cats than go for 3, if not i would say 2. if he is calm with his own agenda he might prefer being an only cat

Richard_Dastardly

mts wrote: »

if he gets along with your other two cats than go for 3, if not i would say 2. if he is calm with his own agenda he might prefer being an only cat

Problem is I actually have four cats. The wife and I already drew the line there since otherwise we'd eventually end up being those people you read about in the papers, what with their fifty cats and a house declared uninhabitable by the state.

mts

so how does he get along with the others or is he still isolated

Richard_Dastardly

mts wrote: »

so how does he get along with the others or is he still isolated

Oh, he gets along as well as might be expected with the other cats. They're kind of curious but a little cautious around him; he's always pouncing on them from the shadows. I think if he were to stay he'd end up fitting in pretty well.