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If you need help with a neonatal kitten or puppy, please review the following before reaching out:
✔️ Estimate the kitten’s age first using Kitten Lady’s Age Calculator. I only accept neonatal kittens and puppies that are three weeks old or younger.
https://www.kittenlady.org/agecalculator
🚫 I cannot accept animals—healthy or sick—over three weeks of age.
🚫 I do not accept pregnant or nursing mothers.
🚫 I cannot accept kittens showing symptoms consistent with panleukopenia or other contagious illnesses, kittens experiencing diarrhea or vomiting, or kittens whose mother died after experiencing diarrhea, vomiting, or other symptoms that could indicate an infectious disease.
🛑 For visibly sick or injured animals, contact the nearest emergency veterinary clinic.
📲 If you need to contact me regarding found kittens, texting my personal phone is usually the fastest option. Messages sent via Facebook Messenger may take longer to receive a reply.
My phone number is strictly text-only and reserved for emergencies involving found neonatal kittens. Please do not call. Any voicemails received will be responded to via text message.
Please take the time to read through the additional information on this page. If you meet the criteria, please TEXT the following information to (330) 314-4382.
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Your location
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Where is the mother cat? (i.e. not producing milk, deceased, hasn't been seen, etc.)
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If you found kittens, please indicate approximately how long you have waited for mom to return.
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How many kittens are in need of assistance?
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Attach a picture if possible. Unless the exact date of birth of the kitten(s) is known, a picture is required before I'm able to intake.
Common Misconceptions
The kittens will starve to death if the mom is gone for too long of a time!
Healthy kittens can go several hours without eating as long as they stay warm. For newborns, the risk of getting too cold is actually much greater than the risk of missing a feeding. During kitten season, especially in the warmer months, it is generally very safe to wait longer (8-10 hours) to see if the mother returns.
The more you return to the nest, the longer the mother will stay away. It’s important to keep your distance while you wait for her to come back—stay far enough away to observe without interfering. If you’d like, you can place a light ring of flour around the area to help you tell if she’s returned.
A shelter will be able to take the kittens I found.
If you take motherless neonatal kittens to a shelter, they will be euthanized unless there is an experienced bottle feeder available. There are simply too many kittens and not enough time or resources to care for them. Neonatal kittens do NOT thrive in a shelter environment—even with a mom. Kittens that are this young have close to no immune system, so the risk of disease, illness, and stress-induced problems is unbelievably high. These factors often make tiny kittens the most at-risk animals for being euthanized in shelters.
I can just bottle feed the kittens I found.
Providing critical care to neonatal kittens is not a job for the average, compassionate—yet inexperienced—animal lover. It is an extremely difficult, time consuming, and expensive undertaking. Bottle feeding doesn't even scratch the surface of the care required to keep neonatal kittens alive. Even for the most experienced neonatal rescuer, mortality rates of orphaned neonatal kittens can range anywhere from 40%-70%.
How do I know if the kittens are really in need of help?
Use this graphic to help determine whether the kittens you’ve found truly need intervention or if their mother is simply away searching for food or taking a break.
Now that I've determined the kittens are in need of help, what do I do next?
Use this graphic to help determine whether the kittens you’ve found meet the criteria for our nursery's intake.
