What's New?

For Freya

If you're visiting our web site today, chances are you know about Freya, the little 4-week old kitten who has a serious birth defect that makes it nearly impossible for her to eliminate. We're helping our friends at Animals in Distress raise funds for Freya so she can get the CT scan, blood work, radiographs and eventual surgery that may give her the quality of life she deserves.

We've already provided a grant of $1000.00 to Newtown Veterinary Services (NVS) to go towards Freya's care. We expect we'll need to raise an additional $1500-$2000 over the next few days. We're asking Freya's friends to please donate to our General Fund-the donation widget is to the right. ALL donations that come in this week will go directly to Freya's care. If there is any additional funding we will bank it for her followup visits.

Thanks to NVS for supporting rescue efforts by giving rescues a generous discount, which certainly helps a great deal to lesson the burden of fundraising and makes it possible for us to help kittens like Freya.

We're sending our love and prayers to little Freya. We don't know if she will be a candidate for surgery or if she will have complications. All we can do is proceed thoughtfully and respectfully with regards to her future—which we all hope will be a happy and healthy one.

Sweet Dreams R Olson

Twinkle's Good Luck

Twinkle broke the "heel" of her back right leg two weeks ago. We're glad to report that she's doing well, though having to be confined to a big cage is not a lot of fun for her. We make sure she gets plenty of snuggle time every day and her cage is in the sunny living room where she can have visits with our cats.

Twinkle even got a get well card and special toy for her cage which she loves! Thank you to Lisa for that sweet gift.

We'd also like to thank EVERYONE who jumped at the chance to help Twinkle with a donation for her surgery. We raised every dime we needed in less than 12 hours, which made it possible for Twinkle to get her surgery less than 24 hours after the accident (part of the wait was due to having to schedule her to see an orthopedic surgeon).

In a few days Twinkle will have her third bandage change, then probably another week in her cast before we know how she'll do going forward. She may need another surgery or she may be able to finally get her cast off. Even with all that happened to her, Twinkle remains a cheerful and affectionate kitten.

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Twinkle-Twinkle's Unlucky Break

3-month old foster kitten Twinkle-Twinkle somehow broke her leg this evening. We rushed her to Newtown Veterinary Services where they determined she will need surgery TOMORROW 8/26.

We are in DIRE need of funds to cover the costs for her care. We've set up a special fundraiser for her on PetCaring. You can visit THIS LINK for details OR you can simply press the DONATE TODAY button on the right. We are trying to raise at least $3000.00 and possibly more once we have details on what she needs.

You can also mail a check to Kitten Associates, P.O. Box 354, Newtown, CT 06470-0354 or call Newtown Veterinary Services at 203-270-8387 to make a donation directly.

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Piglet Reaches a Remarkable Milestone

Piglet didn't have very good odds in reaching his first milestone of opening his eyes, but as you can see in the photo, our little guy isn't so little any more (and he DID open his eyes we promise!). Piglet not only has a mom, but his grandma-Laney also gave birth to SIX very BIG, healthy kittens and Piglet is part of their family now, too.

Having double-mamas made all the difference for this precious kitten. Piglet gained an ounce in a day after Laney gave birth and has been gaining every day since. We couldn't be more pleased that Piglet is doing well and his new "aunts and uncles" will give him the companionship he needs to thrive.

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The First of our Two Pregnant Cats Gives Birth

Winnie and her mother, Laney are our latest pregnant cat rescues. Winnie, barely out of kitten hood herself, gave birth yesterday morning to 3 precious kittens. Winnie's youth, living in filth with little food or support, she was covered with fleas and very likely inbred with her siblings. The odds were against her kittens having much of a chance to survive. As it turned out 2 kittens were stillborn and only one survived birth. His name is Piglet and he weighed just 2 ounces when a normal birth weight is 3-4 ounces.

We named the other kittens Tigger and Eeyore because every kitten that arrives is named and loved even if their time with us is short. We owe it to them to give them the respect and care they should have had for a very long life. Though our hearts are broken we are focusing our efforts on supporting Winnie, as she learns to be a caring mother and helping Piglet stay warm and well fed.

Tonight is Piglet's first weigh-in and we're praying we see a slight weight gain, which is the first sign that he may be with us for some time to come.

Winnie and Piglet NEVER had a chance to survive if it wasn't for the efforts of our devoted foster mom, Moe. This is a perfect example of why ostering literally saves lives.

If you'd like to get updates on Winnie and Piglet, please visit our Facebook page or check back here.

If you're interested in fostering either in the Newtown, CT or southeastern Atlanta, GA area, please contact us at info@kittenassociates.org

Note: Piglet is resting on a tube sock filled with rice that is gently warmed in the microwave oven. That way he doesn't get cold when he's not snuggling with his mama.

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Kitten Associates Chosen as Finalist in Dogtime Petties Awards!

Dogtime Media announced their list of Finalists in their “Oscars of Pet Blogging” contest called the Petties this week. We're completely shocked to announce that our little rescue, Kitten Associates, was chosen as one of FOUR finalists for the Best Rescue/Cause Blog!

Not only is this a GREAT HONOR, but if we win the coveted award K.A. will get a $1000.00 donation! This could be a game-changer for us because not only has our rescue been chosen as the recipient of this award, but if the following finalists win, we will get THEIR $1000.00 awards, too!

YOU CAN HELP US WIN by simply visiting this LINK and VOTE EVERY DAY until August 7, 2014. Make sure to bookmark the page so you can find it again. Then check back here in September to find out if we won!

VOTE FOR KITTEN ASSOCIATES and our friends: Covered in Cat Hair for Best Blog post

The Conscious Cat for Best Overall Pet Blog

The Tiniest Tiger for Best Cat Blog

and Texts from Mittens for Funniest Blog or Blogger

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Help Us Celebrate our 4th Anniversary!

Even with a lousy economy, adoptions down, owner-surrenders up, we're very glad to say we're still here. Thanks to all of you, our adopters, volunteers and donors, we can proudly say that together we've helped save the lives of OVER 325 cats and kittens in our four years.

To celebrate our anniversary we've taken on 6 more at-risk kittens who were living in terrible conditions. All of them are sick, covered with fleas and worse, but the good news is so far all that troubles them are things we can fix. In time, these precious souls, like the ones that came before them, will be healthy and happy and living in their forever homes.

For no matter how many challenges and dark days we've known, we are committed to providing the best care and most loving foster homes for our rescues no matter what it takes.

Thank you for being part of our success. I hope you'll continue to share our journey and be inspired to help us save more lives!

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Saving Wallace Inspires an Idea

Last week we came to the aid of the Danbury Fire Department after they'd rescued a kitten trapped inside the wall of a home. We're very happy to report that thanks to his wonderful foster mom, Christine, Wallace-the-kitten is doing very well. In fact Wallace has doubled his weight and is playing and enjoying life with his new BFF, a Great Dane named Nina.

Now that the dust has settled a bit we wanted to share an idea with all of you. We discovered that the Fire Station staff have no information on how to care for young kittens and we want to fix that problem. We'd like to put together a Kit, with printed information that includes the names of rescues in the area and vets who can possibly help with a rescued kitten. Eventually we'd like to add a page here on our web site and provide the staff with some products like a kitten nurser, rubber nipples, goat milk, a small heating pad, a SnuggleKittie™ (which literally made all the difference in Wallace's rescue), a small cat carrier and a few other items. Ideally want this "Kitten Rescue Kit" in EVERY Fire Station in the country!

We're pretty sure we can cover the costs for a Kitten Rescue Kit for the Danbury Fire Station and our own, here in Newtown, but going forward, we'd love some volunteers to help us put together these kits, solicit donations and help us get them out where they're needed.

In Wally's case, had he been at the Fire Station much longer without being fed or voided, he could have become critical and died. With a little bit of care to keep him stable until help could arrive could make all the difference for other kittens in need. If you'd like to help us put this project together, please contact us at: info@kittenassociates.org or call us at: 203-744-9228.

If you'd like to make a donation in honor of a Fireman or to help us with our new program, please visit our Donate page or click the Donate button to the right.

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Trapped Inside a Wall. Rescued by Danbury FD & KA!

Meet Wallace. He was trapped inside a wall in an abandoned house and the people living there called for help when they heard his cries. The crew was able to safely rescue the 3-week old kitten, but there was no sign of his mother or any other kittens. The choice was to leave him behind to find his family or bring him back to the station and try to get him some help.

Kitten Associates was called to step in when other rescues couldn't. Although we don't have a huge network of foster homes we decided it was too dangerous to let the kitten go on for countless hours without any nutrition so we jumped into action.

We showed some of the fireman how to feed the kitten and they were really helpful and interested in Wallace's care going forward. We feel like Wallace may have a new fan club rooting for him and we certainly hope that's the case. It was nice to help people who rescue others for a living-a way to give back to our community and to respect our Firefighters for what they do.

If you'd like to help with Wallace's future care, please consider making a donation using any of the buttons on the right or by clicking on the DONATE page above.

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Happy Birthday!

On May 13th, Celeste welcomed 5 kittens into the world. We were able to share her big day via our live SqueeTV Ch 2 web cam! After the joy of the births was over, we realized one of the kittens wasn't doing well. He was much smaller than his siblings and although we provided him with 24-hr care, he lost his brave fight after just one day. We named him Fiorello, which means Little Flower. He was a very special little boy who was white with gray polka dots that completely charmed us.

Though we're brokenhearted, we're also glad to report that the remaining kittens, two boys and two girls, are doing very well. Yesterday they turned 2-weeks old and each one is far larger than their "milestone" weight goals for their age. Celeste had us worried for a few days, but after a vet visit and some tests, we just continued to provide her with great food and love and she improved. Celeste is remarkably friendly and a great mother.

If you'd like to check in on the kittens, we've expanded coverage so you can watch them o either of TWO web cams! Visit SqueeTV CH 2 or SqueeTV CH 3

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