Tampa Bay Feline Rescue and North Animal Care Center Staff Team Up to Save 15 Kittens!  

Two Of The Rescued Kittens Found Their New Home The Same Day!

While waiting for paperwork to be completed at NACC in between walk in customers, Leon and the staff amused themselves playing with a very personable brown tabby kitten serving out his stray time. In a cage in the lobby at NACC, there was the cutest little brown tabby kitten about seven weeks old serving out his stray time.  He was crying loudly in outrage that he, the most spoiled and assertive kitten ever, was being ignored, neglected, unjustly confined, and generally treated like a common prisoner.  While waiting for paperwork to be completed at NACC in between walk in customers, Leon and the staff took turns holding the kitten and passing him around.  While being held by anyone, the kitten purred and snuggled.  When back in his cage, he climbed the bars, shook the door, and indignantly screamed his head off.  Leon amused the staff and visitors by trying to convince each young child who came through the door to nag their parents into adopting the kitten.  {grin}

Older children and adults were encouraged to apply as volunteers or foster parents for the many homeless kittens.  The kittens being signed out were by this time in carriers stacked about the lobby, where they attracted lots of attention, sympathy, and curious questions from people coming and going on a busy Saturday.  Feeding the youngest litter kitten formula from a syringe attracted lots of attention.  This provided a good opportunity to explain to onlookers not only the importance of spaying and neutering their pets, but also the need for everyone to become more involved in helping homeless animals.

Meanwhile, this beautiful friendly adult cat was turned in at NACC.

The largest of the litters of kittens saved by the Tampa rescue was six kittens, four orange and two black, maybe four weeks old.  They seemed to take their adventurous day in stride, often either playing with one another, or snuggled together in a pile snoozing. .

The original generous offer to take on two kittens too young to eat on their own grew to include four bottle babies.  Too young to regulate their own body temperaure, the kittens were warmed by a pair of surgical gloves filled with water, tied closed, and then warmed up in a microwave oven.  (The gloves, not the kittens!)  Later, a pair of socks filled with dry rice and tied shut were also microwaved and placed under the kittens' bedding.  The whole litter had just been given a bath when this photo was taken.  The warmed rice socks helped dry the kittens and prevent them from becoming chilled.

Although the plan was to transfer all 15 kittens from NACC to Tampa, two of them were adopted as soon as they arrived at SACC!  One litter in particular was so adorable, that when their carrier was held high enough for people to see what was in it, they staggered back breathless, unprepared for the blinding cuteness.  The carrier contained a litter of four fluffy white sisters with calico points and patches.  We put all four restless adventurers in an introduction room with a couple who had come in to look for a replacement for their beloved cat who had recently died of an untreatable illness.  After they played with all four kittens for a while, the husband brought in a soft carrier and set it on the floor.  Two of the four kittens with the most impressive markings then climbed on top of the carrier, snuggled together, and looked up calmly and expectantly, waiting for all the distracted humans to realize what the kittens had already decided.

Go Tampa kitten rescues!