Exeres wrote:
I found a feral kitten, couldn't have been more than a couple of weeks old, poking around in the alley between our office building and warehouse when I was leaving for lunch. I've seen what I assume is its mother running around from time to time, but this kitten was exploring on its own, gunk in its eyes, bones visible under its skin, and stumbling around near an ant hill. I scooped it up and took it to the vet my folks go to, only to find they don't take in stray kittens. I took it back to the office and tried to figure out what to do with it while bodaciously everyone told me to take it home. I ended up taking it to the PAWS shelter and for the rest of the day I've pretty much been feeling like shit because I couldn't take care of it myself.
dude no don't feel bad
i say this as a person who's rehabbed bodaciously hundreds of kittens and have three fosters right now, shit is HARD. it's hard, expensive, and frustrating because any feral kitten is gonna be riddled with fleas, internal parasites, and other diseases that you will have to treat and deal with the shit they they WILL leave all over your house. like actual shit. lots of expensive time consuming medication, vet appointments, FeLV/FIV/HW tests (because if they're positive for any you might as well euth,) shots, food...honestly it's not easy. taking it to a shelter where someone who knows how and is able to care for it properly and has funding to do so is the best thing you could have done for it.
i'm lucky that i have a friend that is a vet and refuses to take my cheddar when i go to her for snap tests and medications, and i know how to give my own vaccines and can get them very cheap at a feed store near me. otherwise, i'm honestly unsure how else i could do it.