About four years ago, a friend of mine in Canfield, Ohio called me and said she had found four newborn baby kittens near the office building she worked in. She told me she didn’t know what to do with them. Well, I didn’t know what to do with them either. My whole family is allergic to cats and we had never had them in our home growing up. But, I have always been really involved with animals and I knew this friend because she and I worked at a boarding kennel together when we were younger. So I agreed to come and see them.
When I arrived, it turned out that the kittens' mother had been hit by a car. I couldn’t just leave them; they were teeny tiny newborns. When I was in my car with them, I started calling animal shelters, explaining that I didn’t really know what to do with them. Everywhere I called said that they would have to put the kittens to sleep because, at such a young age, they require too much in the way of resources and time to keep alive. Shelters often don’t have the capacity to help neonatal kittens.
I realized I’d have to figure out what to do with them myself and took them home. I had to bottle feed them every 1.5 hours around the clock, and because they also can’t go to the bathroom on their own yet—their mom would usually lick them to stimulate that—so I had to wipe them with a baby wipe.
I also had to weigh the kittens every day to make sure they were gaining at least 10g a day, and I had a heated pad for them because kittens can’t regulate their own body temperature. They’re very susceptible to any kind of disease when they’re so young, so I’m very happy that all four survived. I got them vaccinated, spayed, and neutered with my own money and then adopted three out to friends. I kept one: Olive. She’s like a nanny cat to other kittens now.
The next summer, my cousin found several kittens, so I took them in too. At that point, I wasn’t affiliated with anyone, but I’m also a cat and dog groomer so I know a lot of people from local shelters. They started calling me if they had people who found baby kittens and were really good at providing any financial help they could.
Itty Bitty Kitty Committee was founded in 2017 for the care of kittens less than four weeks old and is run out of my house—I even have a kitten nursery I made. I have four cats of my own and two dogs, so it’s a lot of cleaning! I’ll clean for two hours a day after work when I have neonatal kittens, because they are so susceptible to sickness.
My cousin is a vet, so I have learned from her, and I’ve picked up a lot from the Kitten Lady, Hannah Shaw, and her videos on YouTube. And, I have a good network of people in northeastern Ohio who help neonatal kittens, so we all reach out to each other. Whatever the kittens need, I can do here.
I’m now in a partnership with Rebel Rescue Ranch, which is a non-profit animal rescue run by an Ohio local: Amy Rigby. Itty Bitty Kitty Committee is an extension of them. She takes the kittens in at her rescue when they graduate from the Itty Bitty Kitty Committee. We call the neonatal kittens committee members, and we actually have a little ceremony when they graduate! This past year alone, 63 have graduated, and in total, I have rescued 115 baby kittens.
West Side Cats is another big cat rescue locally, and if they receive kittens that are too young and don’t have the time or resources to bottle feed them, they will give me a call and I will raise the kittens until they are weaned. Then they go back to West Side Cats. But the maximum I have at one time is six kittens, and they are here for a few weeks or less. I’m not hoarding cats!
I’m actually a teacher, so during the year, I’m swamped at school. But kitten season typically starts at the end of May. As it’s getting warmer, outdoor cats or feral cats start reproducing and people start finding kittens. It’s kind of worked out for the past few years as when school is out, I start taking in neonatal kittens.
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