Orphan Kitten Project

The Orphan Kitten Project is a vet-student run, non-profit organization at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. Orphaned and abandoned neonatal kittens under 8 weeks of age are taken in from the community and given a complete physical exam by the project coordinators. These kittens are then fostered by members of the community who bottle raise them in their own homes. The kittens are weaned, FeLV tested, spayed or neutered, provided any necessary medical treatment and given their FVRCP and FeLV vaccines before being put up for adoption. The purpose of this Project is twofold: 1) We aim to rescue these animals (since many would not survive without our care), get them spayed or neutered, and placed into caring homes. 2) The Project is an excellent way to train future veterinarians in kitten neonatal husbandry techniques. None of our foster kittens are involved in non-invasive medical research and no healthy kittens are euthanized because a permanent home cannot be found. All kittens remain in the program until they are adopted out.