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First Response Beans and Queens
First Response provides specialized, immediate care for vulnerable neonatal kittens, young kittens and pregnant or nursing cats during their most critical stages.
Our focus is on stabilizing and supporting kittens and moms until they are healthy and ready to transition into the care of a rescue, foster home or other appropriate placement.
Care may include bottle and tube feeding, neonatal monitoring, warming and stabilization, support for struggling or premature kittens, assistance with pregnant and labouring cats, postpartum support, and guidance for people who unexpectedly find themselves caring for a mom and litter.
We also provide experienced feline doula support and practical education for caregivers and rescues.
When You Find Tiny Kittens
- Don’t immediately assume they are abandoned. Mom may be nearby looking for food or waiting for people to leave. If the kittens are warm, clean, quiet and appear comfortable, observe from a safe distance for mom to return. If she does not appear for an hour or so, please call First Response for guidance. 250-320-5877
- Warmth comes first. Tiny kittens cannot regulate their body temperature. Keep them warm inside your shirt or with with a wrapped heat source (empty pop bottle with hot water works well) in a box or carrier nest, making sure they can move away from the heat.
- Never feed a cold kitten. A chilled kitten needs to be gradually warmed before feeding.
-Do not use a bottle. Using a special nipple and syringe ensures that the kittens will not aspirate, which causes pneumonia very quickly and often fatal. If no nipple is available you can drip milk from the syringe into the kitten's mouth until The first Response can retrieve the kitten.
- Do not give cow’s milk. If the kittens truly need feeding, use a commercial kitten milk replacer like Grober, Royal Canine milk replacer, or KMR
- Keep kittens with mom whenever possible. A healthy mother cat provides the best nutrition, warmth, cleaning and care.
- Handle gently and keep them quiet. Stress and excessive handling can be hard on very young kittens.
- Check for immediate concerns. A kitten that is cold, very weak, continually crying, having difficulty breathing, injured, covered in fleas, or not nursing needs prompt help phone First Response 250-320-5877
- Fleas can be dangerous for tiny kittens. Heavy flea infestations can contribute to serious anemia. Don’t apply flea medication on a very young kitten unless they are over 8 weeks. Please phone for advise. Do not bathe in Dawn. Use a flea comb and a baby shampoo until you can get the proper meds from a vet or call First Reponse. 250-320-5877
- If mom returns, help the whole family. Provide mom with food, fresh water and a quiet, sheltered area while arranging appropriate rescue with First Response.
- When in doubt, ask for help early. Neonatal kittens can deteriorate quickly, so early advice from our experienced neonatal team can make a major difference.
Amazon Wishlist
Amazon wishlist: https://www.a.co/09ZNbc6m
Meet the reason we do this.
Every foundling kittens like Nora and Simon that comes through our doors needs round-the-clock bottle feeding — and one can of formula runs about $45. A case of Kitten food is also very expensive as they wean from the syringe feeding.
Our First Response Team is paying from their own pocket at the moment.
You can change that. Our wish list is linked above — send one can, and you're a direct part of getting a foundling from their first bottle to their forever home.
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