Q: How old are these Kittens on cam?

A: We accept a wide range of ages into the dorm; kittens can be anywhere from a few days old, to fully grown (1.5-2yrs and up) cats. Younger kittens who require around the clock feedings and care are some of the more frequent residents of KD, though we often take nursing mothers and their kittens. A great resource for determining the age of a cat is this info graphic put together by the wonderful Kitten Advocate KittenLady.org : Determining a Kitten's Age

 

Q: Where are you located?

A: We are the Greater Los Angeles Area (Burbank to be Exact) California, USA. Our timezone is Pacific Standard time.

Q: Is this stream live? When is it over?

A: Yes, this is a live stream of our Kitten room. We will keep it going 24/7 (barring service interruptions or application crashing) until the Kittens are adopted. The stream went live with our first litter on July 8th, 2016.

 

Q: What are their names?

A: As of November 2017, we have 1 foster available for adoption: Oreo the black & white tuxedo. He is around 2.5 years old, and while he's hesitant about humans, he is very affectionate with the other residents in the house. Follow this link to read more about his adoption profile at CatLove.org.

The other cats visible on camera are our residents, our housepets who are all rescued cats as well!

Resident Pyro (female - tortishell), Resident Arf (male - all black), and Resident Korben (male - long hair tabby)

 You can see photos of them on our Alumni page here, as well as follow daily photo updates on our Instagram & Facebook.

 

Q: What is their schedule?

A: We feed newborn kittens KMR kitten milk formula every 2-6 hours via bottle or oral syringe, helping them pass waste and keep clean. Weaned kittens receive wet food 2-4 times a day, with free access to dry kibble as their teeth emerge, and water 24/7.  Growing into a cat is hard work; kittens sleep the rest of the time, up to 22 hrs a day! We establish a routine of trimming claws every few days to get the kittens relaxed with the process, getting them habituated to being bathed, and we are socializing them whenever they are awake with the sound of human voices and cuddles! If you can't see them, there's a chance they're sleeping off camera.

 

Q: Why are they sleeping all the time?

A: It's very tiring growing into a cat,  kittens use up a lot of calories getting bigger, it's very exhausting work. We try to let them sleep as much as they like, and will not wake them to play with them. They're sleeping anywhere between 14-22 hours a day, except for feeding and playing time.

 

Q: Why is one of the kittens sleeping alone?

A: It's not unusual for unweaned kittens to develop the habit of suckling on their siblings as they would their mother's teat. Long time viewers will know this is something we've seen before. It's something that happens often in nature, but it can be harmful if left uncorrected. If we notice a kitten suckling on their sibling, we separate them while sleeping or when they're not being supervised, which prevents any ingestion of waste or any irritation from being caused to either kitten. Generally they forget the habit quickly, and can be reintegrated with the litter in a short while.

 

Q: Are you a breeder? Where's their mom?

A: No, we are not breeders. We foster stray or street cats and kittens, rescued and surrendered to CatLove Rescue & the Los Angeles Animal Shelter. When we foster under-aged kittens, we often do not know what happened to their mother. Mother cats who are feral or undomesticated are often difficult to catch or unable to adjust to living with humans, so they are Trap-Neuter-Released back into the wild when their babies are found and rescued. So if mom is not with us, there's a high likelihood that she is still living on the street somewhere.

Litters of under-aged kittens that are found and surrendered to shelters  face euthanization due to lack of staff or resources to help them thrive. Newborn kittens require a considerable amount of care; the bottle feedings, assisting them with passing wastes, etc. That’s where we come in. Foster homes like ours can save young kittens like this from being euthanized, and take the burden off of the shelters.

 

Q: How much do you get paid for this?

A: We do not get any money or compensation for this. We volunteer our time, money, and our love to help ensure these kitties get the best start to their lives! We're not professionals, we're just a couple who loves animals and we try to do the best by them!

 

Q: How can I help?

A: You can help us in a few different ways!

1. Spread the word, reblog, retweet and share our live feed and the kittens that are up for adoption. You can link directly to this video by using this URL: https://youtu.be/Rbi31aWL8Js This makes sure that these kittens are spared from ever returning to the shelter, and gives us great joy knowing the babies we’ve raised go to wonderful, loving homes.

 

2. You can donate food and toys to the kitties, by purchasing any of the many goodies we have on their Amazon Wish List. Every donation is unboxed LIVE on cam, and each donation also is videotaped and edited into a special shoutout video that is uploaded to the KittenDorm YouTube channel! http://smile.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/1HR5HBLLJ4PD2

 

3. You can donate to our parent no-kill rescue, http://www.CatLove.org. This group has provided us with invaluable support and resources, and they do excellent work with adult, senior and young cats to make sure they all find their forever families. Their donate page can be found here, and pictures of adoptable cats can be found on their Instagram @Catloverescue!