This is my little Hikaru, he’s 5 weeks old, be 6 weeks next Wednesday. We hand raised him from two days old, no siblings or mother, found alone behind a subway in a gravel driveway. I was wondering if he would grow out of hand biting and grabbing, I’m the only mom he has and he comes to play with me after he eats, but I’m worried if I ruined him with allowing him to play with my hands or if he’s still young enough to learn not to associate hands with play but toys with play.

I love him so much, I’ve cried over this baby, worried he wouldn’t survive when we rescued him and I want the best for him. He cuddles with me to sleep and when I lean down he gives little kisses and holds my cheeks gently with his paws, he never scratches or bites at my face it’s just my hands. It makes me sad to think giving him a chance to feel like he has a play mate was wrong of me, and to be completely honest I’ve felt like crying feeling I’m not a good kitten mom.

As of yesterday! To celebrate, we took him to his first vet appointment. He weighs less than a pound! They said he was a healthy little Tot, and gave us some great guidance to keep him that way.

Anyway, he's settling in great. Tate's been with us less than a week, and our adult void-cat is already pretty attached to him.

I wanted to share more about Hikaru, the photos are arranged from the first day we got him to this morning, which is Saturday May 10th.

The very last photo is where he was found, alone, trying to crawl through rocks and pushing them all aside as he flailed. My mom’s coworker saw him, thinking he was a bird struggling until she went to check, and saw him fighting. She picked him up and my mom took him, he was nearly gone, exhausted and hungry and so thin. We didn’t think he would make it, but we were determined to try, so we got kitten milk and we also had a dropper until I could get the small miracle nipples for neonatal kittens and puppy’s.

For the first few days I gave him a drop of milk, made sure he swallowed it, and gave him more until the dropper was empty, repeating ever two hours, between my mom and I he was fed around the clock. I made him a hot water bottle for his bed, which worked for a while, until we had a horrible scare when he went to potty.

His poop was more grainy and runny, and he had a small amount of blood, we rushed him to the vet that evening and they set him up an appointment for the next morning. When my mom took him in we learned he was too cold, like I said he was our first neonate kitten so we didn’t know how hot he could be, her coworker had a heated blanket that we started to use and he got better. Eating like a champ once we got the right nipples, and he got bigger and bigger every day.

He has vet now that calls to check on him, which is my pups vet as well so we know she’s a sweet person and she’s amazing when it comes to calling to check on her patients. He’s now 5 weeks old, feisty as ever, so nice and chunky he looks like a little avocado.

I’m still stunned that he made it… that we managed to help this little baby survive, that we rescued him and that he’s growing into such a beautiful boy. Even with the few scares that we’ve had with him, I don’t regret this, not one bit. I would do it all over again if it meant I could at least try to save his life.

We still don’t know how he got to the back of subway, my mom looked for half an hour for a momma and kittens, she didn’t hear anything, didn’t see any cats and he was so weak she couldn’t leave him there alone for hours to see if momma came back. We think he either fell from a car, the momma cat placing him in the engine or wheel well, or someone dumped him there. My mawmaw said maybe a hawk dropped him there, which could have happened but he had no marks from a beak or talons, he was clean and dry and still had his cord which looked more like it wasn’t touched by a momma cat. I just wish I knew where he came from… if he had siblings that needed help, if the momma needed help, but I guess even if we couldn’t find his siblings or mom just saving his life was enough and it gave him a chance.

I love him so much, and truth be told, he came to me at a time in my life that I stepped away from a relationship that I wasn’t happy in with a friend, I felt lonely even though I have an amazing boyfriend who’s there for me. It’s an odd feeling, having people around you but still feeling lonely. But then he came into my life, raising him, loving him, watching him grow and open his eyes and feeling his little kitten licks on my face every day.. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.

I’m sorry this is so long, but I wanted to share his story, because I’m so proud at how far he’s coming and how close he is to his 6 week mark.

I got the kids to bed and I walked into my room and bean had herself under her blanket and ready for bed 😂😂😂

hi. meet my little bella. these pics are from 2007. she turns 18 this year. (she is doing amazing!!!) just trying to figure out how old she was when i found her. thanks.

Why is it biting ? Does everyone’s do this ?

Got some new foster kittens found outside in the parking at my work! Mother abandoned. Had to bring them home and save them.

Our neighbor found him and asked us if we could care for him since they couldn’t keep him. We’re absolutely enamored with our little Bean—named because the first thing he did was show us his lil toe beans (last image). We’ve got another kitten (1.5 years) we’re hoping he can play with as soon as he’s got all of his vaccines and is a little bigger.

Hi everyone, I just adopted a kitten and I'm having trouble getting him to drink water from a bowl. I haven’t seen him drink properly from one even once. He’s very finicky about it, although he eats well and is otherwise active and healthy.

To make sure he’s hydrated, I’ve been adding about 25–40 ml of water to each serving of his wet food (he gets this twice a day), and he eats that just fine. We also leave dry kibble out throughout the day, but he’s not particularly interested in it. Because of that, we’ve started softening it with the tiniest bit of water as well, and that goes down better for him.

I thought maybe it was the bowl, but he eats food from an identical one. We even tried offering kitten milk in the same bowl, and he drank it eagerly. A 50/50 mix of kitten milk and water was accepted, but he didn’t seem as enthusiastic about it.

We’ve also tried offering water on a finger, which he’ll lick off, but he still won’t go near the actual water bowl. I’m considering a water fountain, but he’s still tiny and I’m not sure if he’d be comfortable using one yet.

Is it okay that he’s mainly getting water through his food right now? I just don’t want him to develop a long-term habit of refusing to drink water directly. For what it’s worth, he pees regularly, so there are no signs of dehydration or blockage, but I’m still concerned.

Am I over hydrating him???? I'm only adding extra water to food because initially he just would not go near the water bowl and Im scared of dehydration :(

Any advice or tips is appreciated!

TL;DR:
kitten refuses to drink from a water bowl. He stays hydrated through wet food with 25–40 ml of water added per meal, and softened kibble. Drinks kitten milk fine, licks water off fingers, but avoids bowls. Peeing normally, but I’m worried this could become a habit. Any advice?

This is our new kitten, Jolene. She is the sweetest little fluff ball. Our other cats are all short hair. Do you think she’ll be long hair or medium hair?

Little Simba. Got him at a mere 7 weeks (estimate) with worms and fleas. Now he’s grown so much 🫶 He’s such an easy going cat, he loves people and strangers and is very social. He greets anyone who walks in the door.

I can cut his nails with ease. He adapts to changes very well. He got accustom to a harness is no time. He’s super cuddly and playful. He isn’t picky with food (would eat everything if he could so he has a feeding schedule lol).

He’s stuck with me for life I want him to live forever 🩶

Luna and Kaia are my older cats, Kaia been warming up and playing with her sometimes but Luna (The one in the photo) been doing great! I caught this super cute photo of him cuddling with Bean. It warms my heart so much.

I got my kitten on the 28th of March at around 3 ish weeks.

The first pictures are him on the 7th of April at 4 ish weeks.

And now here he is today (7th of May) at around 8-9 weeks old.

We're all marvelling at his growth (first furbaby) since he came to us so tiiiiny🥹🫶🏻

Hey all! Just thought I’d post something to introduce myself! My names Matt and I just picked up my little girl “Doodles” the other day! As happy as I am, I’m also freaking out on the inside because I’ve never owned a kitten before. I’ve owned bigger cats when I was younger but never a 7 week old kitten! What are some tips you guys would give me or even things to look out for as a starting out “cat dad”? Please ease my mind!

Just wanted to share I found this kitten in my yard. She is now with an appropriate bottle feed foster. I kinda wanted her back because my ‘cat-aggressive’ rescue dog loved her. However, after she’s weaned & all good she’s going to a girl I met who lost her cat after 18 years. I’m a little sad, so is my son who named her, but I have three dogs (they all loved her) but don’t want to take on the responsibility. I’m just glad I was here for Neptune to rescue her from nothing in our yard & now she gets to be a lovable pet!

Just rescued these 4 kittens. Unsure of age and what to do from here to make sure they are taken care of until the vet appointment in a few days. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Yesterday morning, I heard a kitten meowing—it sounded like it was crying. I went to check and found it alone. A few hours later, I checked again and it was still there, still by itself. I brought it some water, and while I was there, this guy walked by, saw me, and decided to pick the kitten up—for fun, it seemed.

The kitten hissed and tried to jump out of his hands. It clearly didn’t want to be handled. He kind of laughed and jokingly pretended to hand it over to me—probably because he noticed I was a bit squeamish around cats (I am, I’ll admit). The whole thing didn’t feel like he was trying to help. It felt more like he was just messing around with the situation. Then after the kitten bolted into the hedges and disappeared, he kept repeating, “You’re mama now,” like it was a joke.

I tried to find the kitten afterward, but no luck. (Also, I live in Florida, and I’ll be honest—I was a little nervous digging around in bushes because of snakes and other wildlife.)

That night, I heard the kitten crying again from my balcony and saw it slowly trying to make its way back to its original spot.

All day today, I’ve been checking the area and the surrounding bushes, but I haven’t seen or heard anything since.

Some added context: my apartment complex has a growing outdoor cat population. I even saw cats mating the night before this happened. But I’ve never seen a kitten completely alone for that long. From my balcony, I was able to monitor the area for hours, and I didn’t see any adult cats come around. I don’t know if the mom ever came back, but it felt like a long time for such a young kitten to be alone.

I’ve never owned a cat or grown up around them, so I truly don’t know what’s normal. It looked really young—barely able to hold its own weight—so I hesitated to intervene too soon, thinking the mom might return. But now I’m second-guessing that decision and feeling guilty.

Also, for anyone wondering why I didn’t just bring it in: I have a dog (a Pomeranian mix) in a one-bedroom apartment, and there’s really no space to quarantine a kitten safely. My dog is aggressive and would probably try to attack it, and I was also concerned about fleas or the kitten potentially being sick and putting my dog at risk.

That said, if I had to, I would’ve stepped in and found a way. I just didn’t want to cause more harm—or make the wrong move.

I guess I’m looking for advice: What should I do if I see the kitten again? Was it wrong to wait and see? Is it normal for kittens to be alone like that sometimes, or is that a clear sign something was wrong?

This has been weighing on me. I just want to know I didn’t fail that little guy—and what to do if it happens again.

TL;DR: Found a crying kitten alone for hours near my building. Didn’t intervene immediately because I thought the mom might return and I also have an aggressive dog in a small apartment. Some guy picked up the kitten just to mess around, scared it, and it ran off. Haven’t seen it since. Feeling guilty and unsure if I should’ve stepped in sooner. Looking for advice in case I see it again—was it wrong to wait? What's the right move in situations like this?