Three Tiny Helpless Kittens
At the end of May 2025, we accepted three tiny little kittens into our care from a veterinary practice in Maidstone.
They were handed in to the practice by someone who said they were found on a building site where a house was under construction, under a shed. When we spoke to the nurse involved, we explained that if at all possible, the mother needed to be found as it the kittens' best chance of survival, and we asked her if she could go to the address she was given.
She went to the address and spoke with a number of residents, only to find that there was no building site, no house under construction, and of course no recently pregnant cat. With the realisation that all of the details they had been given were untrue, it was fairly clear that these poor little kittens had been removed from their mother and dumped at the vets.
This was an extremely cruel thing to do, not least because little kittens need their mother, but their mother also needs them, and she
would be distressed and confused. However, given the sad and desperate situation we did of course take them in.
Hand rearing newborn kittens is not an easy process, and requires essential round the clock 24 hour care and attention. It isn’t just a matter of feeding, but toileting and cleaning - which at this stage of life they can’t do for themselves - must be done regularly too. Of the three, one of them was extremely thin and weak, and we were very worried that despite our care and attention, he may not survive. The other two babies were stronger and taking their feed well.
This is a prime example of people being irresponsible and neglecting the cat in their care. The mother of these kittens should have been spayed, and even when finances are tight, there are rescues and organisations that can help. The sad truth is that she will once again come into season, and become pregnant again and again in a repeated cycle, reminiscent of the ignorance of a bygone age – something that in today’s enlightened times is completely unnecessary.
Our concentration was of course on the immediate issue of these three poor little motherless kittens. We will update this post with their progress.
1st Update - (June 2025)
It has taken us a while to be able to post this update, due to the great sadness of the loss of little Edwin. He had put up such a fight, but had never really responded as he should - and after five days, he passed away peacefully in his sleep.
Taking tiny newborn kittens away from their mother is so dangerous, because they need her in so many ways.
The happiness we are able to share is that the remaining little brother and sister are developing as they should, are taking their milk and responding strongly to care. This is of course a huge relief.
We have decided to make their story our 2025 kitten diary, and when they are a little older we will ask our Facebook followers to suggest names for them.
With that in mind, we have posted an update video, so you can see how they are doing.