So You Found Abandoned Kitten(s): The Complete Guide to Catching and Caring for Tiny Felines

Author image for Laurent Shinar
Laurent Shinar • Writer and Editor
Jul 23, 2026 6:15 PM EDT

With the warmer months of the year upon us it is becoming more and more commonplace to find kittens wandering aimlessly on the streets. But whether you should take them home or trust that their mother is nearby ready to step in is a matter that we all ought to be better informed off, and so we present you with this in-depth guide designed to help you through all the stages of caring for an abandoned kitten.

As you can imagine, vets are usually full to the brim during kitten season and so it is not so surprising that one of those vets jumped on Reddit's r/AskVet subreddit to upload this generous guide that will inevitably help reduce their insane work load and help us cat loving hoomans better assess and care for kittens who seem to be lost. We say seem to be because that is indeed step one, trying to assess whether the kitten has actually been abandoned or is just waiting for its mother. After all, no matter how you frame it a feline mother will always be a better mom to her kittens than you could ever hope to be. That is unless you are interested in using your tongue to help the kittens 'express'.

From there this helpful guide goes into detail about each and every step of the rescue process, what the cat needs at every single point along the way and how you as their carer can keep a cool head when strong winds push against you. So we warmly recommend that you take the time to read this guide, because you never know when you will find yourself in that fateful position to save a kittens life and even if your story with them does not begin at the beginning of this guide, you will have enough knowledge, understanding and awareness to have a good idea of how to care for the tiny feline now in your hands. Good luck out there. 
 

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    During kitten season, which occurs largely in the spring and summer, it is not uncommon to stumble upon a nest of kittens. Your first instinct is to help them, which is awesome, but first you need to read this thread!
    via CynicKitten
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    First I want to make a point very clear: kittens have the greatest chance of survival if their mother is in the picture. As much as rescues and foster homes try, we cannot ever do as good of a job taking care of them as their real mom does! Kittens require
    via CynicKitten
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    frequent nursing (typically a couple of times an hour), help eliminating (mother stimulates them with her tongue to pe and po p), and a lot of warmth and attention. Trust me - waking up four times a night to feed bottle babies is not fun!
    via CynicKitten

  • This is such a good point and one that we do not cover often enough in explicit detail as many of the stories we cover here are situations in which the cat mom is most certainly not coming back to collect her left behind child. And so in such a desperate case where the kitten would have been completely abandoned, it can be preferential to take them home with you. But as this guide states, that is not always the case, and cat moms are much better suited to caring for their highly needy babies. 
     

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    Before Jumping To The Rescue A single kitten wandering alone is often abandoned (either by a human or the mother), and should be rescued quickly - wait and watch
    via CynicKitten
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    from afar for 20-30 minutes to see if the mom is just in the middle of transporting it. If no mother has come in that time, rescue it.
    via CynicKitten
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    A litter of kittens (2+ kittens): • Before attempting your daring rescue mission to save the abandoned kittens, you need to wait from afar and watch. The kittens may not actually be
    via CynicKitten
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    abandoned! Mother cats do not stay at the nest 24/7 - they hunt, take breaks from their babies, and patrol near the nest to look for danger. The queen could also be in the middle of moving the nest, which she
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    does one at a time. Watch from a good distance away, because if you are too close the queen will likely not approach - this is a defense strategy to make sure predators don't locate the nest by following her.
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    Sometimes watching from far away is still too close, and you will need to go away for a few hours. 。 If you see the queen, you know the kittens are being taken care of and you
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    do not need to intervene (except to call a rescue, and possibly provide food/shelter for the mother). o Clean kittens who are sleeping
    via CynicKitten

  • This is such an important piece of information that we want to take a moment to really let it sink in. For a lot of us cat lovers, the knee jerk reaction we get from seeing kittens can cause a lot more trouble than it can solve. You could end up completely scaring off the momma cat, all because you could not contain your own excitement. If anything we would advise you to take the sighting of a kitten as a fleeting glimpse. Sure, after say an hour you can and should return to the spot you saw that kitten to see if it truly needs help, but that time you gave it and its mother to potentially just get on with their lives can actually save far more lives than it could cost. 
     

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    soundly are probably not abandoned. Dirty and crying kittens are probably hungry and MAY have been abandoned and need rescue. Although
    via CynicKitten
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    remember that as soon as kittens wake, they start crying and want to eat! Neonates spend all their time either eating or sleeping. If you
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    mess with them and they start to cry/crawl around, it does not mean they are starving - that's just what they do when they are awake.
    via CynicKitten
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    • Contact a local rescue. If they have the resources, they will trap the mother and kittens (if the mother is in the picture), and take care of them. They can bottle feed truly abandoned kittens, as well. Please
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    . contact the rescue before removing the kittens - only remove the kittens under their direction if you can help it. • If you need to leave before you've seen the queen, assess the situation:
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    o Are there any dangers nearby? Neighborhood dogs, humans who might harm them, etc? If the kittens are not in immediate grave danger,
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    they will be fine for a while as you wait for mom. o What is the temperature? If it is very cold or the kittens are very wet, it is okay to put
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    them in a sideways cardboard box (possibly with a clean T shirt, dry straw, or a heated water bottle) - however, try to limit the amount of
    via CynicKitten
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    human-scented things near them. • If you find the queen, and she is friendly towards humans, she and the kittens should be rescued together.
    via CynicKitten
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    • If you've waited a while and have not seen the queen in several hours (the warmer the weather, the longer the kittens can be left alone) or the kittens are in immediate grave danger, and you have not been
    via CynicKitten
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    able to reach a rescue, you can attempt to rescue the kittens. Rescuing Kittens . • Kittens need warmth - they can suffer from hypothermia really
    via CynicKitten
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    easily. Place the kittens in a cardboard box or cat carrier lined with T- shirts (towels can catch on their nails) and covered with a blanket, with a warm water bottle for them. The ideal warmth source is a
    via CynicKitten
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    SnuggleSafe. (See more info in the bottle feeding attachment.) o The human body temperature is at 98.6F, but the internal temperature of a kitten needs
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    to be 99.5- 102.5F - therefore, your body warmth alone is not enough to keep them warm! . Call all of the rescues nearby to look for someone to
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    take them. Foster homes and rescues are highly trained to deal with bottle babies, and can deal with all of the obstacles associated with it. • Call your vet and schedule an appointment. The
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    kittens may be dehydrated, sick, etc - - kittens de really easily and fast, so a physical exam and medical care is very important. They may be sick without you realizing it.
    via CynicKitten
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    I Already Rescued Them! • First follow the steps in "Rescuing Kittens". • If you are going to be caring for the kittens, be prepared for a lot of work and possibly the d th of
    via CynicKitten
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    some or all of the kittens. The information I will provide is for emergency care of kittens (no more than a day or two) until you can get the kittens to an appropriate rescue or the vet.
    via CynicKitten
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    • You must bottle feed the kittens every 2-3 hours. Here is my quick guide to bottle feeding. PLEASE read this before attempting to bottle feed!
    via CynicKitten
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    o You need to make sure they are eating enough, so follow this chart, and use a kitchen food scale to weigh them directly before and after feeding.
    via CynicKitten
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    • KMR is the best formula - do not use the "homemade" recipes unless it is an emergency! Never use cow/goat/soy/a Imond/etc milk.
    via CynicKitten
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    • Keep a log for each individual kitten of: the time you fed it, how much they consumed, their weight before feeding, their weight after feeding, what they
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    eliminated (u ne and/or fe s), and any medical concerns. Here is a great log for that - I suggest printing one for each kitten.
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    • If kittens will not latch to the bottle, you can try to use a clean eye dropper or ne dle-less syringe to SLOWLY drop KMR into the kitten's mouth.
    via CynicKitten
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    • If you see anything bubbling out of the kitten's nose as you are feeding it, milk likely got into the lungs and aspiration pneumonia can quickly
    via CynicKitten
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    develop. If this happens take it to a vet immediately. • Signs of an emergency that NEEDS to be seen by a vet immediately:
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    • The kitten is lethargic and not responding ○ The kitten has trouble breathing • The kitten or cat is vc .g b: d
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    • Uncontrollable bl ding ○ Blo dy, liquid ď hea in a lethargic animal ○ Fractured limb (part of the limb is usually flacid and painful to the
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    О touch) o Pale, blue or white gums if accompanied by lethargy О Kitten with a body temperature below 97 degrees
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    especially if accompanied by lethargy, pale gums or inappetence o Kitten with a temperature of 106 degrees or above
    via CynicKitten
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    "It is not uncommon to stumble upon a nest of kittens. Your first instinct is to help them, which is awesome, but first you need to read this thread!"
    via CynicKitten

    White kitten lying on back on carpet

    Kitten represented by model

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    Cheezburger Image 10648329728
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    Cheezburger Image 10648329472
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    Cheezburger Image 10648330496
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    Cheezburger Image 10648329216
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    Cheezburger Image 10648328960
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    Cheezburger Image 10648328704
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    Cheezburger Image 10648329984
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    Cheezburger Image 10648330240
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