Rescue Statistics
-
Awaiting S/N: 49
-
Cats in Care: 60
-
All-Time Adoptions: 410
Neonatal Kitten FAQ
We understand that you may have some questions about Hidden Gem Cat Rescue. Therefore, we have compiled a list of our most frequently asked questions to give you a better understanding of who we are and what we offer. If you have any other questions not listed here, please do not hesitate to contact us. Our team is always ready to assist you in any way we can.
- 01
Please read about fostering on our Fostering Page, and download our Foster Home Guidelines! Once you are comfortable and do not have any questions, fill out our Foster-Onboard form, we will contact you when we have kitties that match your home and foster situation.
- 02
When we have a single kitten and a group of four kittens that arrive on the same day, we must keep them separated for at least two weeks. Many illnesses and diseases have an incubation period of close to two weeks where there are no visible signs or symptoms. If we don't keep the lone kitten separated and it has a contagious disease like ringworm or FIP, the entire group of four kittens will be at risk. It may feel sad to keep them apart, but losing all five kittens to a fatal disease is much more sad! Therefore, we separate them for a short time, ensuring they are all healthy and safe to play together. The same is true when we send kittens off to Foster Homes, we want to protect your pets and we cannot guarantee the babies do not have any illnesses!
- 03
Many of the Neonatal Kittens are coming from Eastern Washington from
Dave Buster Rescues are a small husband and wife team but they are able to save hundreds a babies every year.
The kittens that come in, come from many places. Whether it is from feral colonies, owners where the momma kitty rejects the babies, or just babies unfortunately found outside, or in dumpsters.
They are able to save so many at large numbers as they take them on immediately, and once they are roughly two weeks old and a little stronger, they transfer them out to other rescues to make space for smaller, more critical babies!
That is where rescues like ours come in!
Other places we receive babies from are other rescues like the Humane Society, or straight from owners as surrenders.
- 04
The best way for you to get involved other than donating crucial supplies for Neonatal Babies would be to Volunteer, Foster, or help Advocate for Spay and Neuter wherever possible!
That includes speaking up to neighbors or friends when you see an unfixed pet, sometimes they don't realize there are programs out there and that people are willing to go to great lengths to help them make sure their pet gets the basic care of sterilization.
We also suggest furthering you education on Neonatal Care, if you are local our rescue is always happy to teach individuals. Otherwise, The Kitten Lady is a wonderful resource!
- 05
The Donations for the Neonatal Kitten Shower allow us to put together items for Foster Parents, necessary for raising many neonatal kittens. Last year we had over 104 neonatal kittens come into our rescue! The cost of formula to raise a neonatal kitten to the age of weaning is roughly $150, this does not take into consideration wipes, shampoo, bottles, nipples, heat disks, blankets and medications if they are ill (which most come in quite under the weather!).
All those little mouths take a lot of care and it adds up quick, the donations make a huge impact and allow us to continue to bring in more neonatal babies, where we may not have been able to prior without that support from donors.