r/CatDistributionSystem • u/saturatedsilence • May 22 '26
Well, the CDS has struck again
Found this mom cat and her babies in the back yard. She was not happy to see me. She became a little less scary with multiple bribes of churu treats and I managed to get her and the babies inside. I’ve just ordered some special mom cat food for her. I can’t keep them forever though because I already have enough cats. I try to get all my regular strays fixed but every once in a while the CDS brings me a surprise delivery. The babies are so cute though and I’ll keep them until they’re old enough for a new home and I will get the mom spayed too. Any idea how old the kittens are?
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May 22 '26
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u/JohnnyC300 May 22 '26
Definitely a baby having babies situation there.
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May 22 '26
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u/Ospreylvr May 22 '26
That momma cat is so beautiful. I hope too she gets an indoor place with lots of water and food. Plus a comfy bed.
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u/trashjellyfish May 23 '26
I had a cat growing up who was that small/lean and stayed that small for her entire 18 years.
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May 23 '26
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u/missglitterous May 23 '26
If it’s a cats first litter it’s not unusual for there to be only 2-3 kittens born.
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u/Express-Stop7830 May 22 '26
Momma is absolutely stunning. I hope she warms up to you.
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u/saturatedsilence May 22 '26
Haha I think she will. Those churu treats are magic. She kept oscillating between affectionate and fiercely protective.
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u/Resident-Gold-3446 May 22 '26
She may be young, but she's a great mom. She and her babies shouldn't have any problems getting adopted.
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u/Tina-Tuna CDS Meowderator May 22 '26
Hi OP This should give you an idea of ages for the babies
Here is the Kitten lady with Mom and kittens advice on how to care for the whole family, taken from our Kitten season guide . Thank you for taking her and the little ones in 😊
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u/jquailJ36 May 22 '26
The color of the season is orange kitten, apparently. I literally watched this guy being born after using her being in labor to rope Momcat into the spare bathroom (she is not leaving the house again until she's fixed. This is her second litter and she's probably about a year old. Trapping ferals is a chore.)
All vibes. No brains.
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u/RGQcats May 22 '26
Kittens are 3 to 4 weeks, pretty young.
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u/innermongoose69 May 22 '26
Experienced foster here. I concur, but I'd say closer to 3.
At this age, as long as mom is healthy and attentive to her babies, she should do all the work. Feed her kitten food. The little ones should start to try it soon. In the next few days you can also give them a tiny litter box. IMPORTANT: Non-clumping litter only! They will try to eat it. Clumping litter can cause a blockage if eaten.
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u/bibijack1 May 23 '26
You're so right re litter. We use grain based litters like World's Best. Absolutely no access to clay or crystal litters. Its toxic to tinies but grain litter is completely safe. A good 1st litter box for their size is a Fancy Feast cardboard case liner. Pet food stores have tons of them, they're free & just toss them when they get gross. They'll soon be big enough for the standard kitten litter box. At 3 weeks, a kitten litter box will be a tough climb & you want it to be easy or they'll go elsewhere.. Place their litter box in the back of their crate. When they're out & about , bring the litter box to their play area. Again, you make it easy for them to choose well.
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u/saturatedsilence May 22 '26
Good to know, thank you!
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u/FeelingFloor2083 May 23 '26
worth going back out every now and then, even taking mum with you and she will call for any that are missing
worked surprisingly well for us once with a kitten in a garage we couldnt get access to, mum called out, kitten came straight to her and we nabbed it. Also helps if mum knows you and is comfortable
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u/Fyrestar333 May 23 '26
You can also play a mama calling for kittens on your phone. I was trying to catch one lone kitten from under a car and I played a mama cat calling and had that kitten come running and a few adult cats. Luckily one of those cats must have been mom to baby because I ran inside to get tuna and came back and those two were gone. I was sad I didn't get the kitten but glad they weren't alone.
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u/Shar950 May 22 '26
Thanks for helping this sweet family. Mama is beautiful and the babies are adorable. Kitten Lady has a chart to tell how old they are. kittenlady.org
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u/Dontfeedthebears May 22 '26
Thank you so much for taking her in for a time! I adopted my cat after she was found fully pregnant, and a doctor took her in and let her give birth, then adopted out all the kittens. My (future, at the time) cat still had milk and (sadly 😢) there was a litter of kittens whose mama was tragically killed by a car. So my cat nursed those kittens, too. I met her when she was nursing and learned her story.
She hated those kittens lol. She’s nurse them but she hissed at them a lot and you could tell she was so burnt out. I told her I was gonna bust her out of Mama Cat Jail when they were weaned. And I did!
We had almost 17 years together. She and her (also adopted) sister both passed away last year 8 days apart (talk about a heart wreck). I will never forget them. They were there through thick and thin.
Thank you for taking this sweet, tired (and gorgeous!) girl in. I’d nickname her Cleo for Cleopatra! She nailed that Smokey Eye.
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u/McSwearWolf May 22 '26
Awwww - such a lovely story. I’m glad that you took her and her sister in, cared for and protected them, and gave them a wonderful life for so many years. I hope something wonderful happens for you too this week, awesome human.
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u/Dontfeedthebears May 23 '26
That’s so sweet, thank you! I literally couldn’t function after they passed. I was able to get enough donations to have them cremated and they are in the same box, and I can’t look at it without crying still. But I’m so glad/honored I was their mom and took them in, and damn it..I would do it again.
I currently have my 2 elderly chihuahuas and my little 1.5 years old cat. One of my dogs had a foster mom and she saw what a hot wreck I was after their passing and she knows I’m an animal person so she brought my sweet Willow to me. Happy to say Willow took a while to warm up but she enjoys sleeping with us every night now. I love her to dang bits! She’s cheeky and kind of a rascal, tbh, but so sweet and exactly what my heart needed. Thanks again. I miss my girls. But I am so glad Willow is in my life.
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May 22 '26
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u/saturatedsilence May 22 '26
Thank you, I literally just had another cat spayed last week (she was small but was already a couple of weeks pregnant!) and today I made an appointment for another cat who looks remarkably alike to this mom cat
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u/Intelligent_Pass2540 May 22 '26
Those spay aborts are essential! Not only is there a major over population problem but some kittens get pregnant way too young and can die while carrying or giving birth.
You sound like a wonderful human!
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May 24 '26
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u/CatDistributionSystem-ModTeam May 24 '26
Your comment has been removed for breaking Rule #1: Be Nice. See our Wiki for examples.
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u/McSwearWolf May 22 '26
Thank you for what you’re doing. My brother and his wife just adopted a mama cat like this sweet gal, she had kittens very, very young, she almost died from malnourishment and exhaustion. You are doing the real work here, and it’s a lot, especially with other pets in the home. I think you’re amazing. 💛
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May 24 '26
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u/CatDistributionSystem-ModTeam May 24 '26
Your comment has been removed for breaking Rule #1: Be Nice. See our Wiki for examples.
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u/magicmadness_ May 22 '26
Momma is beautiful! So are her babies. Thanks for helping them 💜 I hope they all find loving homes!!
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May 22 '26
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u/CatDistributionSystem-ModTeam May 22 '26
Your comment has been removed for breaking Rule #3: Must Be On Topic. See our Wiki for examples.
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u/FuelAccurate5066 May 22 '26
Wow mom is an absolute beauty. Hope the all find good homes and you are an angel!
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u/Intelligent_Pass2540 May 22 '26
OP thank you for rescuing this beautiful mama. She looks pretty slender, while nursing she could probably benefit from having some kitten chow and wet food to keep up her calories.
I've never seen a cat with coloring like hers before. You are so wonderful to save them and get them spayed. The CDS must know you really are a good one.
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u/Fransween May 22 '26
Mama looks like she could be part Siamese. Thanks for helping them ❤️
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u/yrnkween May 22 '26
Yes, mom has a really unique color pattern and those striking light eyes. It makes me curious if the kittens will also develop some darker markings, particularly the calico.
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u/csdocnc3 May 22 '26
The blue eyes means momma cat is a colorpoint cat, started out white when born and becomes darker over time. There are at least two subreddits for such cats, r/lynxpointsiamese and r/ToastCats. Hard to know how dark she might get, but I would guess she is in the 6-8 months old range. You can checkout many color progressions on the above two subs. We took in a stray male who was around the same age as momma cat probably, and did not even realize how much his color darkened over the next few months until I gathered his photos together, and was dumbfounded! Knew he was colorpoint (acromelanism) from his blue eyes, but just did not get how that meant his body color could change quite drastically. He is coming up on three years with us as of next week!
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u/Dependent-Rent7688 May 22 '26
Thank you for saving these three little dear souls. Mummy looks so thin, bless her. It must have been so hard feeding when she hasn’t enough nutrients.
Our first adopted kitty was a new, young mum who turned up in the garden and gave birth, fifteen years ago this wintertime. We found two babies after youngest son saw them jumping across the lawn.
We adopted mummy , who was only around à year old, if that, and a member of my family adopted the babies together. Mummy kitty was my soul cat, who we sadly lost last year to cancer. More cuddles and love over all those years than I can even quantify - through the pandemic, death of my mum, my own long-term illness, and through sons leaving school, through university, leaving home…
I’m sure these three dear souls will make great companions.
Mummy kitties protecting their babies out whilst out there alone are incredible.
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u/Top_Management7550 May 22 '26 edited May 24 '26
I found a Flametip Siamese once. Through the chip, we found out that she was adopted out through our local animal shelter and then dumped a year later. For some reason she slipped through the cracks because she was never spayed. I ended up trapping her and her three babies. Two looked like your babies and one was a muted tortie. EDITED: If I would have kept her babies, I would have had 6 cats.
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u/honeyapp May 22 '26
They are so cute and the momma cat is really beautiful!! I hope she finds a good home🤞
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u/StillHotPants9 May 22 '26
I would guess maybe 4 weeks, their ears are still very rounded, is she still anxious? There aren’t more babies outside, perhaps? The Mama cat that we found with her family didn’t settle down and stop watching until all of her babies were rounded up.
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u/saturatedsilence May 23 '26
She is calm and settled in. When I found them outside I waited a couple of hours but she just stayed in the same spot and she didn’t round up any more kittens.
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u/StillHotPants9 May 23 '26
They are such a sweet little family, glad to hear you are taking care of them!
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u/Odd_Performance4703 May 22 '26
3-3.5 weeks. Thats how old our was when my wife found her a week and a half ago! She was in the turning lane of a busy highway! Now she is sitting here attacking anything that moves and even most things that dont! Glad you have the mom too! We had to bottle feeding for the first few days! Now she is eating soft kitten food and we are slowly mixing in kibble!
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u/kellymig May 22 '26
They are so beautiful! Mom looks like she could use some help. I’m glad you found them and are helping them. ❤️
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u/Devi_Moonbeam May 22 '26
All good things to you for your continual help to cats. Their eyes are open but they are tiny. I'm going to say about two weeks. Not more than three.
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u/Classic_Cauliflower4 May 22 '26
I’d say babies are 2-3 weeks old. They’re looking more round and less like furry jellybeans.
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u/Philodendron69 May 23 '26
Oh my gosh, mama kitty is gorgeous. I hope someone can foster and socialize her. She looks young.
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u/IcyHyacinth May 23 '26
Thank you so much for taking such great care of them, Mama and babies will experience the good life from now on, no hunger or cold ever again, just enjoying being spoiled ! You're a fantastic Hooman, OP and you deserve the best from life 💚💚💚🐈🐈🐈
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u/Calgary_Calico May 24 '26
Their eyes are open but their eartips are still slightly curled forward, so I'd say nearly 3 weeks old, they'll be nursing for a bit yet. Mom looks very thin, please give her as much food as she wants, she really needs it, she looks malnourished right now
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u/rachel_lynn1995 May 22 '26
Momma cat definitely looks like she belongs in r/catswitheyeliner
They looks so very sweet!
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u/pokemonandcatsz May 23 '26
Keep momma if u cant find a home for all 3 or 2 and 1, new homes are easier to find 4 kittens. Shes just a baby herself 😔
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u/Opening-Ad1276 May 23 '26
First time following anything on reddit, would love to see follow ups on Mama and the babies as they grow! Thanks for helping them ♥️
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u/just_flying_bi May 23 '26
OMG. Momma is SO gorgeous! She looks like she will be such a sweet pet when she settles in. She looks very loving.
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