Lost kitten, was I wrong.

But I'm sure you kept her inside until she could be done.

Take them down!

Of course you did the right thing, OP. It may have been different if this had been an adult cat, but no cat owner should be letting a 12 week old kitten out L, and your description of her little claws sounds as though she's been through a traumatic experience. Youve put up posters close to where you found her, posted on social media, and taken her to the vet so I don't think there's any more you can do. I would be inclined to take the posters down in a couple of days. If a kitten of mine had escaped and gone missing at such a young age, I would be frantic and would be searching everywhere, as woukd any responsible pet owner. It sounds as though you've fallen for her, and she's lucky that you e rescued her.

Great answer 😂 the cat distribution system landed on you!

Well done op, you've absolutely done the right thing. If she belonged to anyone, they shouldn't be letting her out anyway.

Cat charities are overrun with kittens at the moment. People not getting their cats neutered, and not being able to care for kittens, is a big problem.

OP you didn't do anything wrong. If she really was really only 12 weeks old then she absolutely shouldn't have been out. If it's an accident that she's out then any caring owner would be looking for her desperately. She needs a home either way and if you've taken her to get checked for a chip and you've put shoutouts on social media then there really isn't much more you can do. Enjoy your new family member. It sounds like she's going to have a good life with you

Well, I'm glad the little creature is safe with you :)

You've done a very kind thing. I wish more people were like you😺

@BiscuitlyBoyle oh my goodness, what a handsome boy he is 🥰

You did the right thing op. One of my cats got lost at 1 year old. We put up posters and social media and went looking late at night with the biscuits. A family with kids and cats had taken her in and saw my posts and gave me a call. I'm grateful they did (she was chipped so they would have found us once they'd taken her to the vets which they planned to do).

If the family are looking for her then they'll see the posters and social media d make contact.

I had a similar situation.
A ginger cat would turn up at my back door and yowl every night. To start with I would ignore him but after a while I realised that he was skin and bones with knotted unkempt fur. Against advice I started to feed him. I put his details on local lost cat groups and made him a paper collar but I was of the opinion that if he was a pet then his owners didn’t deserve him.
A cat rescue charity came out and confirmed that he was a complete male and chipped but not registered. After a while they agreed to take him. Turned out he was a pedigree Maine Coon but he had a deformed paw. My theory is that he was dumped in the park behind us as he wasn’t worth as much as he could be due to his deformity. He now has a very loving home.

What I’m saying is that if the owners of this kitten are letting her out unchipped, without being neutered and riddled with fleas then they don’t deserve her and I wouldn’t give a second thought to them.

(before and after photos attached.)

Haha I can imagine, try having one that can't go out while the other two can

I think our vets would have chipped him if I'd insisted, but he was really small (semi feral who'd been abandoned by mum at 5 weeks) so they thought that the least trauma the better, lol.

I'd mention the cruel behaviour of the children to the school too, unless you know the kids in which case I'd have a word with their parents. You could suggest to the school they might want to get a speaker in from the RSPCA to do an assembly on being kind to animals.

Good on you@timeforacoffeebreak you are absolutely not wrong! Last week, a shelter I help at rescued a stray kitten, only a few months old herself and she had to give birth but was too weak and inexperienced that the babies died as she couldn't open the sacs. She's in a complete mess herself, just a broken little bab, and was literally a kitten herself having babies. If you had left the kitten there, that would be the best case scenario to what could have happened to her.

You did a great thing in my eyes.

We always have girls so maybe they prefer to chip while we wait for them to get done. 😅 ours is getting chipped next week and I’m on edge about her getting out by accident as it is since she’s a desirable colour and being claimed by a random. It’s a military operation to get the washing on the line. Open plan living 😅

100%, or a stray. There are a surprising number of stray cats about, often being fed by well-meaning people who think they have homes elsewhere.

It's very common for them to chip while the cat is under anaesthetic - it's just easier and less traumatic/painful.

Our latest kitten wasn't neutered until six months (vet advice as his balls hadn't dropped, lol) and they chipped him while he was under. We asked about getting him done before, but they said it's just easier to do it while they're already asleep.

If it was in a poor state, it could well be a feral kitten anyway. There are a lot more feral cats than you’d think. Congrats on your new addition!

You saved her. If the school was by a main road the chances are the kitten would have been run over. It may have been a stray cats kitten and the kitten slipped away from it's Mum. Keep the kitten and it will have a happy life.

20 weeks off the top of my head for cats.

at what age do they have to be chipped?

You did the right thing, I would have done exactly the same. Have you found a home for her now?

Pretty much that is how I came by the pair I have here.

I advertised but nobody came forward so I made a bed for them, fed them and now they come and go as they please. They have three meals a day plus snacks and get brushed and combed every day. They both chatter to each other constantly and I burble and trill to them too. DH sings to them and makes up silly ditties about them.

I have not had cats myself ever apart from when I was a kid in nappies and I love them far more than I thought I would as I'm a dog person. Having said that, they have a lot of dog like traits so I wonder if they were raised with dogs.

There was an old lady in the village who went to live with her daughter and I suspect these were her cats.

Cat distribution rules.

Yes this is what I was coming on to say. I'd remove the photo and say "cat found" and leave it upto them to describe. They must prove they owned her before you hand her back. There's some truly, truly awful people out there. If she was covered in fleas and not chipped sounds like she wasn't cared for.
You've done all you can, in the meantime looks like she has claimed you! She is beautiful x