Found 2 kittens in a box on the street! Need help!

Basically, when I was walking home from work I found a box, I looked inside it and there were 2 kittens!

I think that someone abandoned them (cruel people) and left them on the street. What do I do with them?  

They looked pretty dirty, so I took them to my local vet and she told me that I can either keep them or send

them to a shelter, after they get shots/stuff like that. I would keep them, but I live in a New York City apartment

which is small, and I already have 2 1-yr-old boys, Boogie and Gandalf. I really want to keep them though. 

I named them too, one of them is Sparks because his ear is damaged and it looked like a lightning bolt (so

sad) and the other one is Donut because he's so fluffy. 

My only other option is to send them to an organization called Northshore, which will euthanize if they don't

get adopted. I don't want that to happen. The cost of extra cats is not a problem. 

What do you think I should do?

Only you can decide. The bottom line is what is best for them. If you can keep them and provide a good home, do so. If you have any hesitation about that, try to find homes for them. Shelters are inundated this time of year but the kittens will have a good chance of being adopted there.

Thank you so much for helping them - especially making sure they got a vet check. You saved them, for sure!

Thank you @Ondine  ! I really want to keep them but I have to discuss it with my vet and see if it will be ok with Boogie and Gandalf.

I will keep this thread updated.

Can you put an ad in a local paper or somewhere online? They have a much better chance of getting adopted privately than if you take them to a shelter this time of year. You could also post their pictures at local churches or YMCA's, etc. If you get a cute enough pic, maybe someone will see it and call you and want to adopt one of them. I would not send them to a shelter that euthanizes cats and kittens who are not adopted within a few weeks, but that's me. It sounds as though you're already falling in love with them!

So the problem is not how you shall best provide care for two small kittens - I understand its no problem for you, you know how to do it?

a couple links anyway:: www.kitten-rescue.com ,  http://www.kittenrescue.org/index.php/cat-care/kitten-care-handbook/

But you want advice about:  to keep OR send away?

My advice is similiar as Ondines [and MsAimee].  The optimal is you keep them - after all, its your quest, and your glory. so keep the full payment too!

But if you cant keep, because you feel 4 cats too much in a small flat, good is you do foster them till they get a good adoption age, and under the time, use your network and connections, to find them good home / homes.

Its easier to find a good home who are willing to adopt a kittens, without having any problems with it, than to find a good foster home, who must take on all the troubles themselves.

I dont know anything about this organisation you mention.  Many organizations do try to foster kittens whom they think will be adoptable, as long they arent too small.

but all good shelters are almost always full.  so the best bet is almost always to foster them yourself, if it is at all possible.

Although they are sometimes willing to help you with vet costs.

ps.   And if your search for adoptions homes gives you more good places then these two?  advice them to contact some nice shelter.  Or even paradoxally, the ultimate: a high kill shelter...  To save a cat from the death row is a especial  feel, and the cat understands it too, and knows to be grateful...

@StefanZ  @MsAimee  @Ondine  I'm gonna leave them at the vet until I pick them up (I decided to keep them!) The vet is going to give them their required medicines and shots.

Good for you!

I'm glad to hear they are going to have a new home with you.

There is some advice here on how to introduce them to your two boys.

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/introducing-cats-to-cats

Let us know how it goes. We'd love to see some pictures too, I can't get enough of cute kitten pictures.

Good for you. I say again - you saved them!

@Norachan  Donut came home and Boogie and Gandalf are very curious about him. No violence yet. He's still hiding, he's freaked. Donut got his shots, and so did Sparks. However, the vet found that Sparks has feline leukemia (poor boy), so he will be getting surgery. They are both 4 months old, brothers. 

Here is Donut, he only let me take a picture at the vet. 


Sparks is getting the surgery as I type. 

Guess I'd better add Donut and Sparks to my profile picture 

Surgery for feline leukemia??

Or are they doing something entirely else?  Its a treatment too, if you so want to describe it....

Good luck!

Wow, I never heard of surgery for leukemia either. Could you explain what they do?

Donut is very handsome, glad to hear the introductions are going well.

@Norachan  @StefanZ  usually cats can produce antibodies at Sparks' stage of the virus, according to my vet. However, Sparks can not produce those antibodies. For whatever reason, the vet refused any injections or pills, so they have to insert the antibodies into his bloodstream manually (by means of surgery). But actually if none of you have ever heard of surgery for this, that makes me kind of concerned.

I am sorry but this sounds suspicious to me too. I was always told there is no treatment - just a vaccine. Hopefully, someone with more information than I have will chime In here.

KoolKatz said:

 
@Norachan  @StefanZ  usually cats can produce antibodies at Sparks' stage of the virus, according to my vet. However, Sparks can not produce those antibodies. For whatever reason, the vet refused any injections or pills, so they have to insert the antibodies into his bloodstream manually (by means of surgery). But actually if none of you have ever heard of surgery for this, that makes me kind of concerned.

Click to expand...

@KoolKatz

I live in NYC and work with a lot of vets in the city and I have never heard of surgery for FeLV, and its a virus not a bacteria so an antibiotic is confusing.  I would absolutely get a second opinion before I let any vet do surgery for Feline Leukemia.  Which borough are you in?  If you want a vet reference I can provide numerous references in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, possibly staten island.

@Norachan  yeah I have little idea about what Feline Leukemia really is... however I definitely want to get this done with ASAP so it doesn't get worse fast.

So @StephenQ  I live in Manhattan, so a vet reference would be nice. Thanks!

EDIT: They actually apparently already did the surgery, so I don't really know what's happening. What surgery did he get? I'm going to post something on

Cat Health to find out more about this.

There are a couple of things I am struggling with here.

First of all, they surely must be siblings, found together at 4 months old.

If one has tested positive for felv, then surely the other should too.

It also means they would most likely have acquired it from their mom, born with it.

There is no cure for felv, and I am clueless also what kind of surgical procedure was done to 'add' antibodies.

From my experience with felv born in kittens, it is basically treated the same as it would be for fiv, supportive care if/when any symptoms show up.

It's more or less a breakdown in his immune system, and can life a long, healthy life and pop up many years later, or it can suddenly cause him to become sick, and go downhill from there.

I don't know about giving antibodies.

Besides that, why is she not willing to give any injections?

catwoman707 said:

 
and I am clueless also what kind of surgical procedure was done to 'add' antibodies.

Click to expand...

She perhaps knows of some new, experimental method of changing the "inside of bones", where the white bodies and antibodies are made.  Its done by a injection into the middle of some thick bone, often the breastbone,  I think...

I have never heard it done with Felv me either, but this vet perhaps knows???...

I also agree with your other questions.  If one of them has Felv, so probably the other too...

Can it be something other than feline leukemia, but with a similiar sound?  Its very easy for a layman to hear wrongly, or remember wrongly.

@catwoman1015  they are brothers. Sparks has a tear in his ear, so maybe another stray with it bit him? Is that another way it can be transmitted?

All my vet said before the surgery was that he was getting antibodies put in his bloodstream through surgery, which doesn't make sense when you can just give an injection. However the vet refused to give any pill or injection, for some reason he wouldn't tell me.

Now I'm sure that something's going on. He said Donut was fine, and he got some shots (rabies, etc.). Donut is doing very well, he gets along with Boogie and Gandalf, but if he has felv, then I should take him to a (different) vet ASAP, or at least get him out of where he can infect Boogie or Gandalf. However I don't know pretty much anything about felv, which is why I trusted the vet's surgery. Can it be transmitted by bite, or only genetically?

I'm very concerned, definitely going to read up on this.

@KoolKatz

FeLV is transmitted neo-natally so if the mother has it, then ALL the kittens will have it, so both of yours would have it, not one, and it is also transmitted by bites, fecal matter in older cats who weren't born with it.

At TCS we are very careful not to interfere with a licensed Vet's treatments or advice, but based on what you are telling us, I am very concerned about your vet. Nothing you are describing - if you are reporting it accurately, is within normal vet practice.  I googled surgery for feline leukema and came up with nothing.

There is exactly one FDA approved treatment for FeLV, and its injected under the skin, see below from wikipedia (boldface/underlining is my emphasis):

In 2006, the United States Department of Agriculture issued a conditional license for a new treatment aid termed Lymphocyte T-Cell Immunomodulator (LTCI).^[10] Lymphocyte T-Cell Immunomodulator is manufactured and distributed exclusively by T-Cyte Therapeutics, Inc.^[11]

Lymphocyte T-Cell Immunomodulator is intended as an aid in the treatment of cats infected with feline leukemia virus (FeLV) and/or feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), and the associated symptoms of lymphocytopenia, opportunistic infection, anemia, granulocytopenia, or thrombocytopenia. The absence of any observed adverse events in several animal species suggests that the product has a very low toxicity profile....Reconstitution in sterile diluent produces a solution for subcutaneous injection.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feline_immunodeficiency_virus

And this is from another site that I will cite from http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/gen...line_leukemia_virus_and_related_diseases.html

Anecdotal reports of antiviral agents and immunotherapeutic agents reversing viremia, improving clinical signs, and prolonging survival are abundant. Controlled studies using naturally infected cats have been unable to substantiate a benefit from these therapies.

And a good overview of the illness from http://pets.webmd.com/cats/facts-about-feline-leukemia-virus

Can I ask what Borough you are in?  I don't want to ask who your vet is because I don't want to get that specific but if you need a recommendation for excellent vets in major well known practices I'm happy to help.  I am going to guess that your vet is the only vet in your practice.

In the meantime I can only urge you in the strongest possible terms to get a second opinion ASAP from another Vet that you find independently of this vet (without his/her help).

@StephenQ  there is no sign of a mother, and Donut is doing absolutely great, so I assume that another stray bit Sparks.

I am very concerned.