I have tried to focus on this project, but something unexpected happened! I was going to try to catch up with my project posts, but then I realized…

…I have been engaging in online, self-directed learning and I really should blog about it!

As the title suggests, there are kittens! Two-week-old (ish) kittens were abandoned in my yard. We searched for mama everywhere. We called the Humane Society daily to see if a nursing cat showed up. Nothing. As you may have read on my About Me page, I am a cat person who also has dogs…if you know what I mean. I love cats and have three of my own, but once you have dogs… they just become your life/personality. Although, I was not mentally or physically prepared to raise babies by myself. They were too little, too young, too blind, too fragile, and I am too busy with work and school.

The first days were so scary and I was totally inept. Today, however, I am seeing their eyes open, they are latching to the bottle and actually feeding, my dogs are helping significantly, and I feel wayyyyyy better about it. All thanks to the internet.

This what I learned and how I learned it:

When I found them, I looked up what to do. Don’t do anything the internet said. I didn’t touch them or move them. But seven hours went by, then twelve, and I learned that is a bad sign. Kittens that haven’t opened their eyes yet are 1-2 weeks old. Mothers nurse them every 1-2 hours. A mother cat that hasn’t returned for 10-12 hours is an indication something terrible happened, and if you do not intervene quickly, they will not survive.

I scooped them up in a box with a towel and put them in our closet. I called the Moose Jaw Humane Society for help and they provided me with formula, but I was short bottles still. I stopped by Pet Valu and purchased these on the advice of the Humane Society and the representative at the store:

Screenshot from https://store.petvalu.ca/location/3103/

I had no idea of their age, when and how to feed them, how bathroom breaks worked, and whether my dogs would adapt to them. This is what I learned and the sources from where I gathered the information.

I used this chart to determine age:

Developmental and Behavioral Milestones. https://www.kittenlady.org/age

The Kitten Lady, who also has a YouTube channel that saved me, gives a breakdown of what to do at each milestone. At their estimated two-week age (folded ears and unopened eyes), we are to feed them every 2 hours, including through the night, and “stimulate them” to go to the washroom. This was unexpected and unusual for me. Here is a Tiktok making light of the bathroom process I found while searching for advice on how to do that properly. Now, I am a pro, but that night was long, weird, uncomfortable, and scary.

Finding information on how to make the kitties “latch” was easy thanks to the Kitten Lady. After watching How to Safely Bottle Feed a Kitten, and following the steps closely, it was clear that the kittens were not interested despite starving for who knows how long.

After returning from another trip to Pet Valu to buy an extra bottle set, my spouse and I found 10 Tips for Tricky Bottle Baby Kittens video and played it continuously until we got some milk in those kittens. That was the main goal, whether they liked it or not. Ultimately, following the advice of the video, we took a clean medicine syringe we had from a previous vet trip and attached a nipple. It was not pretty, but it looked like this set you can buy from Amazon, sorta. The formula was everywhere.

After you account for all user errors (too cool, too hot, nipple too big or too small, hole cut in nipple too big or too small, etc.), we learned that you just keep going. They don’t like it; they miss their mom; they’re cold. Also, do not feed a cold kitten. The video reiterates that! I filmed my own video for the blog of our kitten station, showing how we clean, mix formula, and warm bottles in hot water, but realized that was pretty self-explanatory and not that intriguing. One tip though: the formula does not mix well even following directions. Whisk with warm water forever, but it will not dissolve completely so make peace with that and when it is transferred to bottles and warmed, shake it to death. Worked much better than trying to whisk to perfection.  We ran to Walmart and bought this heating pad (both the instructions and online advice say not to use electrical heat, but there were no hot water bottles–it was late, and this was our fourth, maybe fifth, trip out to try and save the babies.

Image: Walmart.Sunbeam XpressHeat Heating Pad.

By the next day, 3/4 were latching  80% of the time. The littlest one struggled, but by the second night, she (I think she) was latching most of the time. We weighed them that night and kept it up making sure they were gaining weight those first days. I used this chart as a guideline, keeping in mind they are supposed to be gaining 10 grams per day–they were not for the first 4 days, but are little beefcakes now!:

Kitten Lady. (2024) Weighing Kittens. https://www.kittenlady.org/weighing?rq=weight%20

I must note that as romantic and rewarding as this rescue attempt might seem (I certainly saw it as that) it is not really tenable for most people. Since we rescued them, I have not slept longer than 3 hours. I celebrated 3 hours without kittens waking yesterday! All my schoolwork has suffered and I am significantly behind in work as well. There is no way this is possible to do without support from others who can take over at times, finances (we have already bought 3 things of formula at $42.00 a container and they all will be weaned onto kitten food shortly which isn’t cheap either, not including their first vet trip/shots), time (I do not have enough of it), and serious commitment. It is way more difficult and trying than I ever imagined. I cried the first night I couldn’t get them to eat, and now I cry at 4 am each morning when they scream at me for food. I am not joking. I am exhausted. I love them, but I was not mentally prepared to be a “parent” to newborns. If this is not something you, dear reader, think you could do, I would call the Humane Society and have them help find a foster parent for the kittens rather than try and fail. Failing would be devastating. Kittens can turn for the worst in a day if not properly cared for. Big pressure!

I had zero previous understanding of how to nurse kittens. I did get the whole birth thing, where I had just watched a mama cat do her thing before. I could not have anticipated the amount of work, instinct, care, and dedication actually raising kittens took. I can honestly say, that if it were not for the information found online, which is primarily made up of other people’s experiences and expertise, these kittens would have suffered. I am thankful that, from this whole online learning project, I felt confident enough to quickly gather resources, review visual aids, and source the proper materials/tools needed to help these kittens. It was not until there were a couple of days between that first night that I realized I had taught myself a lifelong skillset that I can share that is much higher risk/reward than renovations all because of prior learning and confidence built from that learning. I am grateful for the experience and the way it enabled me to face a challenge I would’ve baulked at before. Next, I will be teaching myself to code or something…

Finally, the best thing that came out of this is the relationship that formed between the kittens and my two dogs. They are obsessed with the babies and the babies with them. The kittens “nurse” from Georgia all day long and get cleaned by Eddie. The whole ordeal brought out the most caring, protective, and unexpected reactions from my dogs that I could not be prouder of. What follows is the obligatory photo dump. You should be able to see the kitten’s growth: from little slits in their eyes to open and moving around!