The Bitty Kitty Brigade

06/17/2025

Craving some kitten time? Come get cozy with the bitties of BKB at Bitty Kitty Cuddles—happening this Sunday, June 22, at Chuck & Don's Pet Food & Supplies Highland Park location! Snuggle sessions are limited, so grab your ticket now and help us save more tiny lives.

06/10/2025

We'll be at the MidCity Farmers Market tomorrow. Stop by and say hi to some bitty kitties!

Calling all cat lovers!

This Wed is our first Great Cat Extravaganza! Grab a friend and put on your favorite cat shirt to keep the cat-themed energy up at the market! Well-behaved adventure cats who would enjoy the market are welcome on leashes, in backpacks, and in strollers.

We have special guests from cat-focused organizations and vendors with cat toys and accessories:

: free supplies to support cat owners
: bottle-fed kittens for viewing
: info on adopting cats (and dogs)lemew : biochemist-created cat toys + accessories
: cat toys, with proceeds supporting local cat orgs

Plus live music 5-8 by .guitar, great hot food options, and fantastic local food and craft vendors! Oh, and did we mention ice cream?!

05/28/2025

🐾 Take Me Home Tuesday 🐾

Somehow, two wagging, snack-obsessed, floppy-eared impostors have made their way into our kitten rescue. And guess what? We're not mad about it.

Meet Pound Cake and Moon Pie—the puppy buddies you never knew you needed. They're here. They're cute. They're a little confused by the concept of litter boxes. But they're ready to get to their forever homes!

Don't worry—they've been updated in kitten culture:
✅ Naps in sunbeams
✅ Zoomies at 2am
✅ Dramatic stares from across the room

Come meet our honorary kittens!

🐾 Interested in adopting? Apply here: https://bittykittybrigade.org/adopt/available-puppies/

05/23/2025

🐈‍⬛ FERAL FRIDAY 🐈‍⬛

There’s “CAT” in ATtiC (and kittens too!)

Three years ago, we helped a south metro neighborhood TNR (trap-neuter-return) a robust colony. One mother had gotten into an attic through a hole in the soffit to raise her kittens and we ended up trapping them all on the roof (see our Feral Friday from May 27, 2022). Word must have gotten out because, recently, another female moved into the neighborhood and had attic kittens in a home on the next block!

It took a team of volunteers to help the residents with this colony! When the first volunteers went up into the attic to investigate, they found a mother and her two-week-old kittens. We decided to leave them, but made sure the neighbor, who also feeds the cats, was putting out lots of food to keep her around. A couple weeks later, another volunteer climbed up to place a live camera, and found a tiny kitten all alone. That kitten was underweight so came into our care.

On the camera, we could see three more kittens that looked larger and healthier. Our volunteer, Kevin, climbed into the attic and set up an oversized trap with the door held open by a block of wood on a string. The string lead all the way across the attic to the hatch, where the resident was ready to pull it when all three kittens went inside.

In the meantime, we started working with the neighbor to trap untipped cats. We luckily caught the mother, along with three other adults. We know that if you catch only some of the kittens, you risk the mother moving the rest, so in this case we wanted to catch the mother first. Kevin continued to climb into the attic to refresh food and we all watched the camera feed with baited breath.

Finally, one evening, all three kittens went into the trap to eat together! The resident quickly ran to the hatch and pulled the string, and voila, she got them! All three kittens were trapped together, and the best part was they were able to be reunited at our foster volunteer’s with their tiny sibling, who had been making gains and growing bigger.

As sad as we were to remove the kittens from their mother, we also know that they were eating on their own and were at risk of falling down into the wall. The homeowner had already cut two holes in walls to retrieve stuck kittens in the past, and we didn’t want that to happen again. The mother and other cats were returned after being sterilized, and the soffit will be sealed up, but not until the cats get to walk through to see there’s nothing there anymore.

We still have a little work to do as the owners are counting four more cats to TNR. Stay tuned as we try to wrap up this colony in the next couple of weeks.

05/16/2025

🐈‍⬛ FERAL FRIDAY 🐈‍⬛

Why did the fox cross the river?

To get to the food in the drop trap! Our volunteer Jody was trying to catch two grey and white cats when something other than a cat set off the camera. It was a fox! A young one, trying to sneak a few bites of food.

We often hear from colony caretakers worried about animals like foxes showing up near feeding stations and wondering whether their cats are in danger. But rest assured—cats are usually savvy enough to outsmart a fox.They’ll take off for days, sometimes weeks, returning when it’s safer. Cats are also faster and can climb higher to evade them.

In the Nest video, you can see a dark cat getting cornered by two foxes. The larger fox is in the lower left corner and the smaller one is on the path to the left. The cat eventually went after the smaller fox on the path, making the larger fox flee. And a moment later, you can see the smaller fox run past the camera to join to larger one while the cat ran away.

Other animals often eat side by side with outdoor cats: opossum, mice, raccoons, and yes, the occasional fox. Our advice to colony caretakers is to not leave food out overnight or to keep it in a safe place that prevents the other animals from getting to it. Many caretakers have made raccoon-proof feeders, like the one shown here: ⁦hhttps://amzn.to/3F7EQ0A Cats are creatures of habit and if you slowly move their feeding time up and make a noise to announce food is there, they will quickly learn.

Making a safe environment is critical to a cat's survival and we applaud caretakers who have added safe feeding stations and lots of cubbies for their cats to hide should an intruder wander through.

05/16/2025

Thank you to Orphan Kitten Club for providing a grant to help with Emerson's care! Emerson stayed in oyxgen at the emergency vet for a week to help him get over his pneumonia. He's been home for a few weeks but will see an internal medicine specialist next week as he just can't seem to kick his issues. We're grateful to Orphan Kitten Club for helping make all this care possible!

05/14/2025

💖 Take Me Home Tuesday 💖

Meet Tiger Latte! This sweet girl has a gentle soul and an irresistible purr that melts hearts. She’s thriving in her foster home, where she enjoys the company of her two kind cat foster siblings. Tiger Latte is all about chin rubs, rib scratches, and quiet moments with her people. Could she be the purrfect new addition to your family?

Interested in adopting? Apply here: https://bittykittybrigade.org/adopt/available-kittens/

05/09/2025

🐈 FERAL FRIDAY🐈

We first met Arlene three years ago. She was asking for help trapping a few cats that were living in her shed and visiting her for food. Knowing how quickly cats reproduce, she wanted to get them spayed and neutered before the population got any larger. The challenge was, she lived south of the cities, nowhere near any of our volunteers. So, we met her halfway in a parking lot and held a quick workshop on TNR (trap, neuter, return).

She got set up and starting trapping cats. That’s when she saw her. One lone calico kitten. We loaned her a drone clip to attach to the trap so she could single out the kitten. There were a lot of texts and a lot of cheerleading, but in the end, she got her! We asked if she wanted to keep her or if she needed help with placement. She wasn’t sure she wanted a kitten but was willing to hold her temporarily. She had lost her husband of over 50 years and just wasn’t ready for a new commitment.

She continued to work diligently to TNR all the cats on her property. To date, she has trapped all the cats on her property; at least a half dozen cats. And she stays on top of it! Every time a new cat without an eartip shows up, she reaches out to borrow a trap and goes after them until she gets them! She’s become quite a pro on all things TNR, including holding and transport! And, after listening to her friends suggesting she needed a little companionship in her life, she ended up keeping the kitten, who she named Honey Bear. Thank you, Arlene, for being a hero to your cats by caring for them with food, water, housing, and giving them the biggest gift of all, spay/neuter!

05/09/2025

A big THANK YOU to everyone who came to our kitten shower to celebrate with us! Thank you to Lake Monster Brewing for hosting us and thank you to Twin Cities Photobooth who donated their services for our kitten (and puppy) selfie station! It was so easy and so much fun to use and look at the cute pics and gifs everyone created. 📸

05/06/2025

🌞 Take Me Home Tuesday 🌞

Purrsaluna is feeling a little lonely this sunny Tuesday…

Why, you ask? Because all of his siblings have found their forever homes, and now he's the only one left without a buddy to bask in the summer rays with.

Purrsaluna is a sweet and curious boy who loves to cuddle and follow his humans around to see what they’re up to. Whether it’s lounging in a sunbeam, helping you “work,” or curling up for a nap, he's happiest when he's by your side.

Could you be his new best friend and sunshine buddy? He's ready to soak up all the love—and the sun—with you!

🌞 Interested in adopting? Apply here: https://bittykittybrigade.org/adopt/available-kittens/