08/28/2026
STOP CATNAPPING KITTENS. This is a hill I will die on.
I’m going to be blunt because three neonatal kittens are dead, and I am tired of watching this happen.
These three babies were born on August 20. They were taken from their mother within hours of being born. By August 21, they were in animal control, and we immediately stepped in to care for them. We did everything we possibly could.
And as of 4am today, all three died.
This is exactly why we keep begging people: IF YOU FIND NEWBORN KITTENS WITH MOM, SECURE MOM FIRST. Do NOT take healthy newborn kittens away from their mother and call animal control because you think you’ve “rescued” them. That is catnapping.
The mom mourns the loss and searches for them, and it puts unnecessary strain on rescuers.
A fat, healthy newborn who has been nursing from Mom is not going to transition easily to a bottle. These babies don’t understand that the bottle is now their food source. Some refuse the bottle completely; it tastes and feels different from mom. They require tube feeding for days or even weeks until they’re willing to accept a bottle. Tube feeding is not something you just Google and wing. Done incorrectly, it can kill a kitten.
Right now, I am the ONLY person in our rescue who knows how to tube feed. I have one other bottle feeder, and she can only take a couple of babies at a time that are readily taking the bottle. When someone removes an entire litter of healthy newborns from Mom before Mom is even secured, they’re creating a literal life or death situation for the kittens.
So why are kittens being brought in before mom is secured? Seriously, I want to know.
And before someone misunderstands me:
Yes, there are times neonatal kittens absolutely need to come into animal control immediately. If they’re sick, injured, cold, emaciated, in immediate danger, rejected by Mom, or truly orphaned, get them help.
But if you’ve found a healthy litter of newborn kittens with Mom? LEAVE THE KITTENS WITH MOM AND WORK ON SECURING MOM BEFORE CALLING ANIMAL CONTROL.
Don’t “rescue” the babies while leaving the mother behind. Don’t assume Mom abandoned them because you don’t see her sitting beside them. Mother cats leave their babies to find food. They may be hiding nearby. They may be watching you from a distance.
And please, for the love of everything holy, don’t create a litter of neonatal orphans because you thought you were helping. We are already drowning in kittens. We don’t need more babies separated from the one thing that gives them the best possible chance of surviving.
If you feed them, fix them.
If you find kittens, find Mom.
And if Mom is there, secure HER first.
Sometimes the best thing you can do for a kitten is not taking the kitten at all. It’s making sure Mom gets rescued, too.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
