You Never Know When the Opportunity to Educate Will Pop Up

A young man was surprised to find a single kitten in a yard near his house in St. Charles, Missouri. Knowing there was no way the newborn could survive on her own, he gently scooped her up and took her home. Not sure exactly what to do next, he reached out to a friend who had some experience with newborn kittens.

The woman gladly took the kitten but when she saw how young she was, she thought it best to get her into more experienced hands. The 4-day old kitten arrived on November 5th. Thankfully, Wendy is showing no signs of anything we have to be concerned about. And given how much she likes to eat, we expect her to keep growing like she should.

Yesterday, the woman who brought Wendy to us called with an update. The same young man found a second kitten in the general area where Wendy was found. Once again, he took the kitten home. This time he could not reach the woman he had turned to before. When he asked his grandmother what to do, so told him to take the kitten back in case his mother was looking for him. Sure enough, she was. After placing the kitten back where he found him and stepping out of sight the mother wasted no time scooping up her kitten, and off she went with him.

In most all cases, it's best if kittens remain with their mothers. But was it this time? The young man absolutely did the right thing by getting Wendy to safety and the same with the second kitten. If the mother had not returned to get him, he would have taken the kitten back home and we would now be taking care of him too. We are not absolutely sure these two kittens are littermates but given their age and where they were both found, more than likely they are.

What is making us think it probably would have been better to keep the second kitten is that really cold weather is coming this weekend. We always worry about kittens born outside and at risk of dying from either extreme cold or hot weather. Mother cats are usually good at finding safe places to tuck their kittens away but that is not always the case. We are keeping Wendy because if we could even locate the mother, we're not sure if she would accept her. Besides, it would be one less baby she has to keep warm and fed.

After a conversation we had this morning with the woman who brought us Wendy, a plan was devised to hopefully protect this mother and her kitten - and possibly others that just have not been spotted. She is going to suggest to the young man and his friends that they build a house for the cat, and she expects they will love the idea. It will be up to the cat if she wants to move in, but they will research online first how to build the warmest house possible, where to place it and how to encourage the cat to use it. More than likely, they will end up building several houses to give mom some choices.

We are really excited about this opportunity to connect with some young people who are learning some new things about outdoor cats. Who knows what this might just lead to. We are hoping lots of positive things that will benefit cats who need to stay warm this winter.