I was a very busy at work discussing some things with my coworkers at the front desk, it was 11AM and very hot in this tropical island that day. Suddenly a local guy came in with a small box and told me: ”Hi, do you remember you told me if I find abandoned kittens in the streets to look for you?”… I did not remember but I knew I probably said that, so I took the box and he left.

When I opened the box, I saw these new 5 little kittens that made me forget about that busy moment at work. I kept them with me waiting for my lunch break which I knew it was going to be an errands break: go find formula milk, news papers, and everything we needed for them.

What was inside the box:

It was not a surprise for me that I could not find any formula for the kittens on this island, so I had to make some phone calls to have someone buy it for me from another city. I bought for that first day rice cereal powder to mix it up with water.

My wife and I were going to leave to Colombia for vacation in about 3 weeks. Wow! We had 3 weeks to save these kittens, take care of them and also find them a new home! What a task!

I took the kittens to one of the local vets first. She told me they were very small and that I had to feed them every 4 hours, so yes! We had to wake up for several days during the night to go feed them and clean them.

Luckily, we already had an experience like that with another 5 kittens I found abandoned in a local park, I also wrote a post about it Animal Lover // Kittens left in the TRASH to die...

This time was a bit harder because the kittens had a lot of parasites and 3 of them were sick coughing. But with responsable care and visits to the vet we manage to take care of them properly.

Here are some pictures of them while we were taking care of them:

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What to do when you find newborn kittens?

First of all you have to make sure to collect the following items:

• Formula for kittens, if you can’t find you can use human powder milk until you get the proper one. Never use cow milk because kittens can’t tolerate it.
• Baby bottle for animals.
• Boxes
• Paper towel
• Towels
• Warm fabric
• Cat litter
• Toys, why not.

How to feed them?
It is very easy, first you want to make sure that the formula milk once prepared is not too hot nor too cold, just slightly warm, and make sure the powder is totally mixed with the water.

Make sure to feed them every 4 hours, if they are asleep, let them sleep, as soon as they wake up you feed them.

When you take the kittens, you will have to grab them from the neck carefully and put the bottle in their mouth, they will learn how to suck it, but be careful, you don't want them to choke themself with the liquid so pay attention, they are very fragile. Don’t ever squeeze to much liquid into their mouth or it might get into their lungs.

Always clean the bottle after using it, if you still have some milk left you can put it in your fridge.

Now that they all ate, it’s time to help them pee and poo:
Wait a little bit after feeding them, in the meantime look for a comfortable place, like a table for example, use your newspapers, grab your humid paper towel.

You will have to help them stimulate them with massages using your fingers, not too rough, massage their bellies until they eliminate. Normally the mom will lick their tummies, so just imagine your fingers are the tongue of mama cat, this will stimulate their organs to do their necessities. This is crucial, since kittens that young cannot eliminate on their own yet.

With the humid paper towel, touch their parts softly, this will make them pee. Be careful, you don't want to irritate them.

If they dont poo it’s ok, it was not their time to do so, but as soon as you see any poo showing themselves from their little buttholes, then you have to keep stimulating them with the massages until it comes out.

When you are done with all these procedures, put them back in the box, you want to cover the floor of the box with newspapers as well, but also and very important, make sure to use a warm fabric so they can all cuttle and not feel cold, close a bit the box as well. Kittens that young cannot yet regulate their own body temperature and need to be kept warm.

This is an everyday procedure that could last weeks depending on how big you found the kittens. You will notice through time when is a good moment for them to stop the use of the bottle and start drinking water by themselves as well as eating kitten food. Usually they are about to be ready for this when you feel their teeth grow and when they start biting on the bottle

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Finally, our little rescued kittens got well after some Vet Clinic visits. They stopped having parasites and started to eat, drink and go to the cat litter without help.

Now it was time to look for adoption homes, which is probably the most difficult task specially living in a small island.

Thankfully, after a few facebook posts and phone calls, we manage to find home for all of them. Even on our last day here before our vacation trip.

We were a little bit sad to give them away, but we knew we had to. I remember asking one of the adopters to send me a picture of one of them (Napolitana) just to make sure she was fine:

As you can see, she ended up very well protected with her new older brother:

More than a month have passed so I contacted all the new adopters to ask about them and to send me some pictures.

I put together all the pictures I was able to get for you to see how they grew in their new homes, they are all healthy and happy:

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The main reason why I like to write about rescued animals is because I am looking to inspire you to do the same when you have an opportunity, even if you can't do it by yourself you could always seek for help.I’m lucky to have a wife that is a natural when it comes to feeding kittens and giving them medicines, but it’s also something anyone can learn.

Thank you very much for reading and I hope you enjoyed this new story!

THANK YOU!