THE FACE OF FEAR

The weekend people found this kitten in a box full of junk, under a plastic cover in an old shed belonging to us. They insisted upon taking it to the vet just down the road. That was that. An e-mail from them arrived this morning. The vet had not been at home so they'd returned the kitten to the shed, put it in a clean box. An adult cat was there which they assumed to be the mother.

We stopped to check on it this morning. I was on my way to photograph a big gate with a scandal, or at least a bit of gossip, behind it. The weekend people had put out some milk and food, but it was long-lasting milk and the food was dog kibble, which is all they had.

The above is what we found. I only took the one shot, the poor tiny thing was terrified enough as it was. We turned back, found a medicine dropper and went back with fresh milk and real cat food. It was starving and frantic. It was also terrified of us. I don't think the cat the the weekend people saw was the mother. It looks to be five or six weeks old.

The kitten is too young to be away from its mother. I know feral cats carry their kittens from one place to another if they are disturbed but I don't think the mother came back after depositing this one in the box full of junk. She probably has more than one.

We can't bring it home. The Doberman would go out of her mind for want of killing it. Our house is small and open plan. I don't know what to do other than keep feeding it, but is cows milk all right?

Update: Have had lots of good advice and links via Twitter. Need to buy kittens milk and feed often. Had no idea keeping a kitten alive was so complicated but having it put down is out. By leaving out adult cat food for the mother, we have attracted every cat in the neighbourhood.

Another update: A happy ending to this story. The people who weekend out here have come back to taken the kitten home. This is good because I fell for it the second feeding and would have brought it to this dangerous household rather than leave it by itself.