URGENT! lone kitten - what to do??

Hi everybody,

I really could use some advice on the following situation:

I live on a beach in Morocco where there's a cat colony of about 20/25 members, many of which very young.
On the rooftop of my house used to be 4 kittens that were apparently doing 'ok' as they...well they were surviving without ever getting off that roof so I naturally assumed the mother providing for them. I've seen them a couple of times and my guess would be their age was between 2 weeks and 1 month.After a few weeks though something happened, and one day I came up to check as I was hearing a lot of meowing to find one of the kittens dead and another one (henceforward referred to as 'Puzzino') scared to death.. no trace of the other two. So I buried the unlucky one and from that day, for 3 days, I've gone up to give Puzzino some milk and also some small pieces of tuna, fearing that the mother had for some reasons abandoned him/them. By day 3 (that was yesterday by the way) Puzzino was really starting to look at me like his mother and above all I could hear him crying very often up there so I decided that the best solution to try was to take him down the rooftop and place him by my doorstep - on the beach, where most of the cats live and where there are a few mums with their kittens, roughly the same age judging by their sizes. 

I have to admit though since I am trying to provide the best possible picture of the situation that I did see an adult cat (henceforward Noir) once on the rooftp after Puzzino remained alone, and she (I presume it's a she) was just standing by him. I know Noir very well as she hangs around all day in front of my doorstep (by the way, my doorstep is also a cafè and we feed the cats daily so that's why so many like to hang around here!); anyway, that is why I still thought  that taking the little one down was worth trying,. I was hoping that if Noir was indeed the mother, well she could take care of him, but even if she wasn't or wasn't interested, there were still a couple of mothers and other young ones to hopefully accept him.

For two days now Puzzino has been staying outside, although I still personally give him some milk and something to eat (chiecken today) since when I fed the whole lot, Puzzino and the other young ones can only watch the adult ones jumping on top of each other to grab as much as possible!

I've seen him with Noir, she was licking him, but generally speaking he's always alone, shaking, and generally not seeming to be having a great time. 
When I come near he tries to climb on my legs and sit on my lap, so it's getting harder to stay away from him but it's the right thing to do, right?

Ok here is my request then.. as you might have guessed I have no idea about what would be best for him! I know i've probably already taken some worng actions and I wouldn't want to do any more damage so i'd really appreciate any feedback on the matter!

Last but not least, I am unfortunately leaving Morocco in a week to return to Italy for a while....there will still be somebody looking after the cafè and feeding the cats but I wouldn't count on him to really take a specific interest in Puzzino... so I'm trying to leave him in the best possible condition to survive.

Many thanks,
Stefano

It seems to me that he is the perfect candidate to be adopted into a home situation, either as an indoor store cat or better yet, as somebody's pet.  He is not acting like a feral at all, climbing up your legs and wanting to be held.  Although Noir seems to be acting like his aunt (and she may well me that, as sisters often raise their kittens together), if she were his mother, she would not leave him alone.   I don't know the rules between countries where you live, but many countries allow animals to cross the borders with their owners as long as they are microchiped and have received a rabies show a certain amount of time before the trip.  If it were me, I would take him to a vet, get his vaccines, worming and microchip, and take him with me.  Cats that young usually travel very well in a small carrier, and you can take them ona plane under your seat, or in a train or in a car, with the proper sized safe carrier (do not EVER put them in baggage compartment!!)   If you cannot take him with you for some reason, try to find someone who will take him IN until you come back, and the he can be your pet.  If you just leave him, the chances of his being there when you get back are quite slim, and even if he is, he will probably be quite wilkd and would not recognize you.  Best of Luck!  I think you were meant to be his meowmy all along.

thank you very much for your reply first of all!
I've considered taking him with me but there's quite a few logistical obstacles and ultimately as much as i'd love to have him with me I think he'd be better off here. So what you're saying is you don't think he'll manage in the group of cats currently living here? I really want to do what's best for him but I can't guarantee a stable place for him to live elsewhere. And I'm coming back in no less than 6 months! I wouldn't care if he didn't recognize me, I only wish he can make it through and live here by the ocean with the others.
For a cat this young (he must be 3 max 4 weeks now) would you still think that a proper house, away from his kind, would be a better solution?
Does he not still have a lot to learn from others of his specie before being immersed in a human environment?

I appreciate your help,

Stefano

Just an update after tonight: he stayed outside and I found him this morning, alone, with an eye closed and all dirty...
clearly the other cats are not accepting him and i'm wondering if these things might take some time or if I should consider impossible for him to be accepted by the group. 
In any case, I've looked into the regulations concerning a possible transfer from Morocco to Italy and it looks absolutely not doable in the timeframe I have (i'm leaving in less than a week). He be issued with a passport, equipped with a microchip, undergo vaccination and most of all there's a waiting time of 2 months before he's allowed to cross the boarder!
I really don't know what to do apart from asking local moroccans if they're willing to take him in, although this is proving to be not a very difficult challenge as they're being overflown with cats on the streets around here.

So the most immediate question is: given the situation, is it better to just leave him outside (still feeding him twice a day) and hope he makes it or should I keep him in the house in these 5 remaining days knowing that after that he's going to have to go back outside?

many thanks for your help!
Stefano