Emergency! Found A Lost/escaped Kitten.

[scarlettleia]

Just after a wee bit of advise. My boyfriend found himself stalked by a very young little kitten, possibly around 3-4 months. It followed him home from the shops and was exceedingly friendly, yet spooked by cars.
The problem we have is that it's 11pm at night, in Norway, in winter. We spent an hour walking around trying to find someone who may be looking for it but couldn't.
We can't bring it home as we have two of our own who wouldn't react well, but we've set up a cardboard box filled with blankets by our outside wall (the house gives off some heat).
Is there anything else we can do? The kitten is up against our front door meowing insisently.
It's -probably- not a stray, as it's very clean and well fed, but has no collar so I suspect it may be a house kitten that's escaped.

 

[mightyboosh]

How cold is it there at the moment?

 

[Kieka]

It putting the kitten in your bathroom until morning an option? The best scenario would be keeping it warm and inside until a shelter is open in the morning. He does sound friendly so there is probably someone looking for him.

 

[margd]

Bless you for looking out for this little kitten! The best thing, of course, would be to bring him inside tonight and keep him in the bathroom, or other separate room, until you can look for his owner in the morning. If that is really out of the question (and you know your cats better than anyone), fill some socks with rice and microwave them for about 5 minutes. When they are nice and warm (not hot) tuck them into the box you've set up. It might help if you could move the box near the front door since it seems the kitten is presently stationed there, meowing to come in.

 

[scarlettleia]

Thank you for the advice! Sadly I really can't bring him in, however I've set the box up next to the front door with the rice socks as advised. He was very happy and purry to be held for an hour whilst we wandered around looking for people, so he's absolutely tame and I just hope we can find his humans. Is it a bad idea to put food out? We didn't want to discourage him trying to find his way home if he gets hungry. If he's still there in the morning, we'll give him some food.

 

[scarlettleia]

Also, it's -6 at the minute, with about 2ft of snow.

 

[scarlettleia]

Little sprout has made himself comfy. (I'm not sure if he's a he, but I'm assuming).

 

[margd]

Aw, poor little mite. At least he has good instincts when it comes to following people home. I don't know if he should be trying to find his way home, though - not when it's a bitter cold night with 2 feet of snow on the ground. Maybe you should feed him something warm now and not wait until morning. A full warm tummy will help him sleep and keep him warm. Well, as warm as he can be when it's -6° out. I don't know. That's awfully cold. I live in Maryland in the USA where it never gets that cold so my instinct is to beg you to somehow find a way to sequester him in the house. Well, it was until you just posted his picture. He does look like he's settled down in his cozy little box. One question: Is it windy? If so, it would help him if you could erect some kind of windbreak so he'd escape the worst of it.

What a cutie pie!

 

[scarlettleia]

Aw, poor little mite. At least he has good instincts when it comes to following people home. I don't know if he should be trying to find his way home, though - not when it's a bitter cold night with 2 feet of snow on the ground. Maybe you should feed him something warm now and not wait until morning. A full warm tummy will help him sleep and keep him warm. Well, as warm as he can be when it's -6° out. I don't know. That's awfully cold. I live in Maryland in the USA where it never gets that cold so my instinct is to beg you to somehow find a way to sequester him in the house. Well, it was until you just posted his picture. He does look like he's settled down in his cozy little box. One question: Is it windy? If so, it would help him if you could erect some kind of windbreak so he'd escape the worst of it.

What a cutie pie!

Thankfully it's not windy at all, but you're probably right, I'll pop some food out for him. He really is the sweetest little thing. He starts purring loudly every time I open the door to check on him.

 

[mightyboosh]

It's 05:30 here and just got up for work. I hope he's ok.

 

[scarlettleia]

It turns out that he is a she! We ended up bringing her in as it plummeted to -11c. Set her up in our side entrance hall in the basement. She seems to be doing fine this morning. Hungry little squirt, but still dreadfully purry! My boyfriend is currently making posters so hopefully we can find her real people soon!

 

[scarlettleia]

 

[margd]

Oh, what a great relief that she's safe and warm inside! What a lucky girl she is - I'm sure you saved her life last night! Thanks for updating us and posting the photos. I love seeing her eating her kibble, looking so healthy and comfortable. Sending many vibes that you find her family.

 

[rubysmama]

I saw this thread last night, and was hoping she would be ok outside. So I am so happy to read you brought her in for the night. She is a very pretty girl. And lucky she picked your boyfriend to stalk. Thank you for caring for her overnight. I hope you find her owners.

 

[kittychick]

I'm SOOOOOO glad you brought her in!!!!!! I'm a relatively tough cookie with kitties - having seen so much in my world of working for and with animal shelters - -but I stopped reading this thread halfway down because I started to cry (I think her story really got to me bc we have ferals that we can't bring in yet - but have heated homes for them in our garage, and even so I worry to DEATH about them ---and it almost never gets THAT cold!). I just kept thinking "please bring her in - even into a closet - something!" - so when I popped the thread open and saw you brought her in - - - my heart just sang!!!! What an absolute adorable love bug! Hopefully your fliers will find someone - - - (although I have a feeling she thinks she's found her people now!). If they don't find her original owners - surely someone will take that sweetie home! Use your social media to your advantage - - videos of her purring might help!

 

[maggiedemi]

Pretty girl! Thanks for helping her.

 

[scarlettleia]

I'm SOOOOOO glad you brought her in!!!!!! I'm a relatively tough cookie with kitties - having seen so much in my world of working for and with animal shelters - -but I stopped reading this thread halfway down because I started to cry (I think her story really got to me bc we have ferals that we can't bring in yet - but have heated homes for them in our garage, and even so I worry to DEATH about them ---and it almost never gets THAT cold!). I just kept thinking "please bring her in - even into a closet - something!" - so when I popped the thread open and saw you brought her in - - - my heart just sang!!!! What an absolute adorable love bug! Hopefully your fliers will find someone - - - (although I have a feeling she thinks she's found her people now!). If they don't find her original owners - surely someone will take that sweetie home! Use your social media to your advantage - - videos of her purring might help!

We're also exceedingly glad that we brought her in! I don't think either of us would have slept soundly knowing that she was out there!

The posters have been put up and we live in a pretty small village so with any luck someone will claim her and she can return to her home, though we've come to the awful realisation that she's just the right age to be a Christmas regret (how on earth anyone could possibly regret that little face is beyond me), but hopefully that's not the case!
However, if no one does claim her, our contingency plan is to try and rehome her somewhere that will love her as much as we do. We're smitten, just do not have the resources to give her a forever home currently! She'll be our little temporary squatter and spoilt with many cuddles and treats until we can find her rightful place though!

 

[scarlettleia]

She somehow looks much bigger in pictures! - She's only a wee thing in actuality! Soft as a cloud, too.
Additional info - I got headbutted and nose bopped when we went to check on her! My heart exploded.

 

[margd]

Oh, be still my beating heart! What an adorable little face! I'm so glad that you're going to keep her inside until she finds her home, whether it's an old one or new. I would love to be able to adopt her - there is just something about that face that speaks to me.

I hope that your other two cats are coping okay.

 

[scarlettleia]

Oh, be still my beating heart! What an adorable little face! I'm so glad that you're going to keep her inside until she finds her home, whether it's an old one or new. I would love to be able to adopt her - there is just something about that face that speaks to me.

I hope that your other two cats are coping okay.

Isn't she just a little angel? She's got one of those bubble faces, all flat and wide and covered in fluff, and a very slight underbite so she looks constantly grumpy. It's just the best.
Philip and Elizabeth are coping well enough, they've not met her as she's down in the basement and they're not allowed down there, but they can smell her on us. Philip had a good sniff around earlier, but he's got over his initial strop and is giving me kisses again, so that's good.
We've managed to feed a radiator into her temporary room via an outdoor extension (There's no plug socket down there and it was still a little chilly, but we found a hole in the door we could feed it through!) so now she's all toasty too.
We're going to take her to our vets on monday if her people haven't been in contact, see if she's chipped and spayed, get an overall health check etc and then see where we go from there. We might be tempted to introduce her to Philip and Elizabeth and see how they all react together* if we can't find her people, as we really are both smitten. It'd be a big commitment to take on so it's a bridge we'll have to cross when we get to it. All we know right now is that she's not going back outside and she will have a warm, safe home no matter the outcome, whether that's her original home, a new one, or ours.

*After the health check, we don't want to risk that slight chance that she could pass something to our babies.