Kelly And Her Little Orphan Foster Kittens

08/02/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/14jkjfKsYNE/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Today has been an absolute nightmare. I’m shattered by the losses of kittens. Just completely broken. And then I read this post by the kitten lady & realize that even the most renowned kitten rescue person on earth is going through the same things & feeling the same feelings. I’m still broken. But I’m not alone.

I’ve been a little quiet here because this has been an extremely sad week of losses. I try to keep this a happy space, so I often don’t share challenges until I’m confident they will go our way. Every so often, they do not. We took in a litter of preemie kittens this week and in spite of sleepless nights, long hospital hours and lots of critical care, they did not survive. I am really heartbroken.

We also took in the baby pictured here, a 6 day old named Esteban. He’s having some issues too, but is hanging in there. I’m sharing so you can root for him and for us. We need a win.

For me, loss doesn’t get easier, it just changes shape. I used to cry over losses because I felt guilty that maybe there was something more I could have done for the individual baby. Now my tears are a much more complicated blend of anger, sadness and disappointment—with the state of veterinary medicine and the animal welfare industry—and with myself for not yet achieving the very ridiculous self-imposed expectation that I am somehow going to fix it all. That neonatal kittens remain such a blind spot, so de-prioritized, so hopeless at every level of animal welfare, is a disappointment that reaches far beyond my sadness about any one case. It’s a feeling of genuine distress that the world is not changing as quickly as kittens deserve, and that I am powerless to speed it along.

I know that we are achieving amazing progress. Orphan Kitten Club has impacted 250,000 kittens. We are funding groundbreaking research about kitten mortality, training shelter professionals in kitten lifesaving, and saving vulnerable lives from coast to coast. I see the transformations that take place in my own two hands and am overcome with hope for what is possible. Some days I am moved to tears by all we are accomplishing. Other days I am reminded of how far we still have to go.

My feelings are too complicated for a social media, and I don’t even know if people read long text anymore in this attention economy. So I will just whisper a thank you to anyone out there who reads this and gets it, and who is working to improve neonatal welfare too. They need us to see them and to build the better world they deserve.

07/29/2026

Today was the day. Purrlock Holmes left me to join his brothers & their AMAZING foster, Alyssa Johnson. I’m very excited to report that Purrlock is fitting right in. I knew it was time. He was becoming very playful & had lots of energy. I know that he is living the dream over there. And Alyssa has been so kind in sending me photos & updates. My heart misses him but it’s also filled with happiness that his little neurological self is a normal kid now🥹

And as Purrlock makes his exit, 3 new babies have come to stay with me. I swear every time there’s a big storm, babies show up at the shelter. A man came in with 2 kittens, wrapped in a hoodie. He told the girls at the desk that if they didn’t take the kittens, he was going to set them down & walk out. So they called me & I told them that I would be there shortly for the kittens. As I’m walking out the door, another call. A woman just walked into naws with a tiny kitten that she found in a box at the Shell gas station. I told them I’d take that one too.

Side story… if kittens come in when Ashley Maree & Shelly Ryan are there, they come up with names based on where the kittens are found. As I’m rushing to get to NAWS Humane Society of Illinois, these two are shooting texts over with names they want to give these kittens. They tell me they like Bush & Twig for the ones found under a bush😑 No. That’s all I said. No. We came to a compromise.

So I got there & Shelly had them on heating pads with blankets like the pro she is. I start assessing them.
1. White Female, 4 days old, COVERED in fleas. Latches onto the bottle, her weight is good. Name: Seashell
2. Black Female, 2.5-3 weeks old. Mostly clean. Chews on the bottle but is swallowing the formula. Looks fairly healthy overall. Name: Rosebud
3. Black male, sibling to Rosebud, needle SCRATCHES off the record. I was too flustered to even think to take a picture. He had this huge thick mass of solidified gunk on his face. I personally have never had a kitten with such a horrible mess of a face. Name: Leaf

I run to the sink to start trying to work on this stuff covering his poor baby face. This is when my favorite superhero, Michelle O'leary showed up. She came straight from work to help me, without even being asked. Ugh. My eyes are leaking for some reason😂🥹 I gave the little guy a bath & was able to peel a layer of yuck off followed by relentless rubbing to loosen the rest up & wipe it off. I handed him off to Michelle once he was clean & I went to grab the lil flea bag. Michelle gave Leaf some fluids & B12 & tube fed him. She got him all stabilized while I worked on Seashell.

So it’s day 2 now. Seashell is a little beast. She’s a solid little warrior girl. Rosebud thinks she’s a grown cat with grown cat things to do. She tries to run off when I feed them. Not like she’s scared. It’s like she’s late for an appointment. And baby Leaf is improving!!! He can’t eat on his own. I have to tube feed him. His nose is always running. His eyes crust over from time to time. And the stuff coming out the back end is unholy. But he’s gained weight & he’s active. He’s on oral antibiotics, 2 dewormers & an antibiotic eye ointment. It seems to be helping.

Goodbye little Purrlock, I’m so happy to see you living that big kid life with your brothers🙏🏻

Welcome Seashell, Rosebud & Leaf.
🐚 🌹 🍃

07/26/2026

This is Gracie. She was brought into Chicago Animal Care & Contrl in some kind of cup holder. Her placenta was still attached. Taking that into consideration, along with the fact that she looks premature & her weight reflects the same… I’d say that there’s a decent chance that her mother was very young & was lacking the instincts to care for the baby.

I drove up to Chicago & scooped the little critter up. She’s strong, all things considered. My biggest concern is that these tiny ones sometimes struggle to digest kitten formula with their premature digestive systems. There are of course many possible difficulties with these tiny ones but that is for sure on the top of my list.

Alright Gracie… let’s do this, little girl💪💕

07/25/2026

Purrlock Holmes is continuing to gain weight! Stools are soft so we’re working on that. His joints still act a little loosey goosey. He walks on his paws now but sometimes they trip him up when he rolls an ankle. However, he’s taken up biscuit making to work out the muscles in his wrists. As you can see, he is very dedicated to get these biscuits ready tonight.

07/22/2026

Anyone remember Gene Kelly & Grace Kelly? Gene had the severely ulcerated eyes. Look at them today! Grace was always protective of her sick brother. And today it seems she’s still the one front & center, with Gene hanging back a bit, being cautious. They’re definitely a bonded pair in the most heartwarming way. If you’re looking to adopt a couple of sweet kittens who have overcome so much in their short lives… contact NAWS Humane Society of Illinois to set up a meet & greet. Or come on out to the retails shop in Mokena on Friday to meet them🥰

07/21/2026

I need to name some kittens. Lesssssss do it!!!!! There are 4 ginger babies, less than one week old, who are going to be joining my crew this evening. I do not have photos of said kittens, so Baby Silver & his siblings are working as models for the purpose of the post. Ok. Orange cats. Orange names. Pick a category for me…

**ORANGE PRODUCE**
Carrot
Papaya
Apricot
Orange
Yam
Cantaloupe

**ORANGES**
Clementine
Valencia
Tangelo
Mandarin
Satsuma
Seville

**THE SUN**
Sunny
Sunrise
Sunset
Sunray
Sunbeam
Sunlight

Comment with the category of names that you want to vote for. I will choose their names from the category with the most votes.🧡🧡🧡🧡

07/19/2026

I have been dealing with a million and one things recently. I can’t even remember what went on. It’s been a whirlwind of taking in kittens & passing along kittens & doing intake on kittens & returning other foster’s kittens that I’ve had. Teaching tube feeding for kittens, finding new fosters for kittens, making emergency trips to try to help a kitten (I do not take adult cats -with occasional exceptions- and I do not take feral kittens -no exceptions-) who ended up being a really sick feral, making trips to give flea baths to kittens (bonus, found an infected injury on one of those kittens).

Today, I am finally taking a day of rest with Purrlock Holmes. CACC has bottle babies that they need a foster for. But man… I just need a day. Just lay here & rest with my guy. I should be catching up on chores but…

If you have been trying to get in touch with me & I have not responded, I apologize. I’ve genuinely had so many messages to respond to & many of them have been very high priority kitten things. Behind all of that stuff I’ve been busy with are phone calls & messages, one after the other, to make plans, get information, send pictures & videos of injuries & unusual looking p**p. Antibiotics & dewormers & probiotics. Gathering supplies for other fosters & dropping them off. There’s a lot & my phone does not stop. Even today, while I’m taking my day of rest, the messages continue. So I have dropped the ball on answering many of my messages. I apologize for that. I will be trying my best to get back to everyone asap. After my day of rest with Purrlock Holmes🙏🏻

07/14/2026

🆘🚨‼️Looking for a hero‼️🚨🆘

NAWS Humane Society of Illinois has had one of “those” mornings. We have a severe medical situation with a kitten that’s on its way after being dumped in the heat in from of animal control. Which we’ll figure out later.

They also have 2 kittens coming in who were trapped at a trailer park. Looks like a black & a tuxedo.

Kittens can not stay in the building because they do not have fully developed immune systems & are susceptible to health issues. They need a foster, right away. I am willing to go there to asses them, give them flea baths & fill dewormers for the lucky foster who brings these adorable babies home.

Be their hero. They need you❤️ Please reach out as soon as you’ve realized that you’re the hero they’re looking for.

07/12/2026

Whew, it’s a hot one out there🥵😮‍💨 Especially when you’re a sick kitten, dumped outside of NAWS Humane Society of Illinois in a cardboard box with your family.

We are stretched to our limits with kitten season upon us. Our bottle feeders have kittens that have weaned & no longer need a bottle feeder. But without a regular foster to move them along to…. They continue to take up space with the bottle feeders, which means that we are turning away all neonates that show up currently.

And then someone comes along & dumps a whole family in front of the building. Now we have a back log of animals at animal control because of this unexpected, sick family that required us to move other kittens around & tie up resources that were previously scheduled for the animal control kittens. And the longer those kittens are in animal control, the more bacteria, viruses, parasites, etc they’re exposed to with their compromised, unvaccinated bodies.

This post is about awareness. Awareness that people need to spay/neuter ANY cat that they feed. If a neighborhood cat eats at your house & is trapped at your house, it is absolutely legal for you to take it in to be altered. There are low cost spay/neuter packages available that include vaccines. Please stop the cycle. There is no place for these kittens to go & statistically, 75% of those kittens born outdoors will die before they reach 6 months of age. They will not pass peacefully. They will suffer.

Awareness that there are not enough fosters to help even a fraction of these innocent lives. And that fostering is not as big of a project as many people think. We can make it work. A cat playpen. A bathroom. A walk in closet. A dog crate. A spare room. There are so many ways to bring kittens in & foster them. All you need to do is bring them in for their vetting appointments that they can schedule to work around your availability. And then bring them for adoption events &/or meet & greets with adopters. If you have limited transportation, we can connect you with other fosters in your area that may be able to help you with that. You can tell us what types of fosters will work for you. Bottle babies? Mush babies? Bigger kittens that are weeks away from their spay/neuter & adoption availability? Special needs kittens like Purrlock Holmes? Single kittens? Pairs of kittens? Full litters of kittens? Moms & babies? Kittens currently available for adoption? Or even just temporary fostering for those of us that have to go out of town or have surgery or whatever may take us away from home.

If you knew the impact that these things have, you would be shocked. You might foster one single kitten, but you’re taking it from another foster who will now utilize that open space in their home to take in an entire litter. And the one kitten might end up with you for 1 day, or 1 week or 1 month. Depending on the age, it’s generally not a super long term commitment. And you may spay one neighborhood cat & for less than $100, you could be saving dozens of kittens from being born out in the elements & suffering before dying horrible deaths at the hands of parasites, exposure, predators, starvation & more.

Please help🙏🏻
You can apply to be a foster with NAWS using the link below.

https://new.shelterluv.com/matchme/foster/NAWS/Cat