Itty Bitty City Kitties

16/02/2025

I am SO excited for this! I love talking about kittens and their specialized care! It was such an honor to be asked to chat with The Shelter Cats Podcast! Thank Mew!

Hello there cat people!

14/02/2025

My funny Valentine…

…. has the best ride faces ever 🤣

13/02/2025

🚨 EMERGENCY 🚨

We have NO funding. NONE.

Above is a real-time screen shot of the rescue bank account and it is scary, SCARY low. Scary low. Before anyone asks, “why do you need funding if you don’t have any fosters?” rescue is costly in many, many ways, fosters involved or not. With all the fundraising I did before the holidays, I used that money to pay off the $6,000 in vet debt and care credit debt for the remaining medical expenses for the kittens from August. I also used that money to pay for vet care for 34 pets, whose pet parents were struggling.

And now... Sigh. I’m totally dead broke and Kitten Season is on the horizon, and I am already having to say no. Just this week, I’ve had to decline help to 16 kittens, as well as 3 pet parents, desperate for help.

I hate asking. Life right now is more expensive than it has been in decades. Everyone is struggling and desperate - and I am no different. We have two incubators to buy parts for and fix so I can save tiny beans, the heat is broken in the rescue and I am out of almost all of my supplies.

I want to open my doors, and I want to open them this week, but without funds, I can’t do it.

If you have anything, even pennies to spare, literally every single cent counts. If you can donate, donations can be made (and are totally tax deductible) via:

➡️ Venmo:
https://account.venmo.com/u/ittybittycitykitties

➡️ PayPal:
https://paypal.me/SamanthaKnox314?locale.x=en_US

➡️ Zelle: [email protected]

Links in bio and my stories.

If you can’t donate, I would be incredibly thankful for a share.

Thank you. Thank you for always helping me save lives. Without this amazing community, none of this is possible.

20/01/2025

Let us honor and remember the visions of love, acceptance, equality and freedom for the people of this nation, and the world, the great Dr. King had -on this day, and forever.

Hate won’t win - it’s just louder.

15/01/2025

Alright - not gonna lie… I basically stopped moving and glued my face to the TV the last week.

Well, kinda. I can’t actually “stop moving”… There are cats and dogs and chores and homeschool and dinners to be made and doctors to call and work to do. But, I have felt this incredible heaviness watching my home state (and soul state) struggle. So many friends have lost everything, so many places I grew up visiting are gone. It’s utterly heartbreaking and stopped me in my tracks.

I have to say, watching people come together to help and support and volunteer and donate has been incredibly inspiring. It reminded me, as I’m sure it has all of you, how truly remarkable people can be when we love one another.

Love, support and community are why I love rescue so much. Helping others, giving back, and making a change, even a tiny one, give me clarity and focus.

I looked over at Boxer today, and I was suddenly jolted back to earth. He was so peaceful, so safe, and is so deeply loved. Two years ago he was sleeping in a dumpster, and now he’s here (snoring).

My state is on fire and in pain, and I’m still buried under sick kid things, but I have to muster and to get back to the Boxer’s in my life.

Big things ahead this year, and I guess I better get my 🍑 in gear and get on making them happen, right?

01/01/2025

May the light of tonight bring you forward into a beautiful tomorrow.

#2025

30/12/2024

One of my favorite pictures from this year is also one of the hardest to look at. It’s the last picture of Stimpy, before I lost him (his sister, and three others) to a horrific battle with PanLeuk. It was a season of heartache, and one that left me devastated.

Instead of erasing his memories, I like to look on them as a reminder of all the lives we’ve saved before him, and all the lives we’ve saved since his loss - and the ones in the future we’ll continue to save.

As 2024 comes to a close, the thing we need most to continue this life-saving work is support through your donations. Every *single* cent saves lives - literally lives - and changes their futures.

If you can donate, donations can be made (and are totally tax deductible) via:

➡️ Venmo :
➡️ PayPal:
➡️ Zelle: [email protected]

Links for donations in stories and bio.
If you cannot donate, please share!

Cheers to a difficult, and beautiful, 2024.

28/12/2024

Boundaries are very important things to have in every aspect of life. Be it work, friendships, family - knowing where to hold your line is important and clearly a thing I struggle with.

What is written above is a reply someone local felt I “needed to hear” in response to a general public ask looking for kittens. My reply was simply, “Currently, we have no fosters” - and I don’t. This is not lost on me. This is the first year without kittens or extra cats dancing thru the Christmas tree and knocking over gingerbread houses.

Are there a billion, boring reasons for this? Sure. Funding is limited, time is limited, focus is pulled toward chasing down vet truck potentials… and, as always is my reminder, like all other rescuers, I have a life (and a family) outside of cats.

Right now, and for the last several months, I’ve had a whole other hurdle sucking all of my time into a void- Sawyer, and his increasing pain and inability to move, causing a wake of new-life chaos. New doctors, therapies, medications, scans, imaging, speciality hospitals - all without answers yet, which lead to his fear (and *mine* ) he’ll never be “a normal kid” again.

Did all of this manage to coincide with a hellacious kitten season? It sure did. Life is like that, is it not?

So *KAREN*, YES, I’m out of fosters, and YES, I busted my tail and hustled like a pro to make that happen so I could focus my entire energy into my little person and what HE needs right now - his mom.

May 2025 bring a world with more compassion, more kindness, and a lot more understanding.

27/12/2024

Santa 🎅🏼 2024 …
The Year We Discovered the Truth 😭…

It wasn’t my favorite year, but he truly loved his time with Santa, and told “dad jokes” and chatted about ways to help spread the love and story, and to be a good “helper” so the littles behind him can keep believing.

But sigh… My mama heart is sad. I love Christmas Magic and the joy and wonder it brings. I’ll miss the nervous anticipation of seeing the Big Man in Red, the excitement of putting out cookies and the hushed whispers of making lists, and running to bed to not be awake when he arrives… We still have Elf Magic, which I treasure.

Please time. SLOW. DOWN. I’m just not ready to lose my precious baby to the throws of teen angst and hormones. I just want one more sleepy snuggle, one more magic hug and one more moment where mama is all he needs.

25/12/2024

Clearly thrilled to be dressed to theme, Krampus paused for a photo before destroying the tree out of rage and humiliation….

Merry Mousemas…! May your day be as joyful as a Mouse’s was until I made him wear this outfit….

🎅 #

25/12/2024

I’ve always felt Christmas Eve was magical for many reasons, but the biggest reason… My dream that it would be the one evening I could talk to my animals.

This is from one of my favorite childhood picture books, “Poor Gabriella”. It’s a beautiful story about animals and our compassion and kindness. It’s one of Sawyer’s favorites now, too.

Merry Magical Christmas Eve from ours to yours.

21/12/2024

“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness?” – John Steinbeck

❄️ Happy Solstice ❄️

13/12/2024

Sunshine ☀️ Squashie

Yes - Squash was adopted.
Yes - She’s very tiny.
No - I didn’t adopt her “too soon”.

Squash suffers from - “Perfect Tiny Princess” Syndrome, AKA - “Adorable Runty BB” Disease, and/or - “Wee Tiny Smols”.

She’s perfect, she’s healthy and most importantly, she was very ready for her home. I feel like we all have some Mouse PTSD because Mousey IS weird and small, which is why he never was placed up for adoption (despite the *hundreds* of inquiries from folks who “wanted a forever kitten” - nnnn gross).

At first she baffled me. I took in this teeeny potat of a bean and couldn’t believe she was as old as I was told. NO WAY NO SIR. Of course I went on an expedition to find answers and prove myself correct.

I was not correct.
Nope. Wrong. Big wrong. All the wrong.

She was just - SMOL. The way she remains. But she IS now tested for icky, dewormied, vaccinated, microchipped and *SAFE* to go home and thrive there.

She will be spayed, but it could be a whiiiiile, so she’s off to the amazingly capable hands of her mom, to learn to love her new big sister, and grow up in her home - the way it should be.

I heard the concerns (so much of them) and I swear and promise, I didn’t slip on a banana peel a hoof off kitten who wasn’t ready. Ppppppfttt.

The big bummer - I now have no more Squash Content for you, so if you need to sulk, that’s just fine. For now, enjoy these last three pictures…
(Photo Credit to Sawyer)

11/12/2024

💚❤️ Christmas Kitten ❤️💚

10/12/2024

The only thing I want under the tree…
💚❤️🎄❤️💚

09/12/2024

Yes, Chef.

03/12/2024

⭐️ BIG MEWS ⭐️

If you squint, you’ll notice a special something under the tree… I’ve been hinting at it for quite a while, but I dare say it’s time for a reveal!

Come back at 8p EST and find out what exciting thing I’ve been keeping SECRET!

And don’t forget - Giving Tuesday is *HERE* and we’re *DESPERATE FOR YOUR DOLLARS* !!!

Every *single* cent saves lives - literally lives - from death.

If you can donate, donations can be made (and are totally tax deductible) via:

➡️ Venmo:
hItty Bitty City Kittiesescom/u/ittybittycitykitties

➡️ PayPal:
https://paypal.me/SamanthaKnox314?locale.x=en_US

➡️ Zelle: [email protected]

Links for donations in stories and bio.
If you cannot donate, please share!
See you at 8p!

03/12/2024

Still Life: Dog Bowl Reflections
-Squash, 2024

Alrighty folks, Giving Tuesday is a *HERE* and you’re going to spend the day being smacked in the face by 10zillion charities who are desperate for your dollars - which is exactly what we’ll be doing all day, as we’re *DESPERATE FOR YOUR DOLLARS* !!!

Just how desperate, you ask?

Telethon desperate. Tin Can of Coins desperate. Sad Sarah Maclaughlin Song, desperate. Get a tattoo of your name on my face for the highest donation, desperate.

DES*PER*ATE

In all seriousness, the lives we can save each year are 1000% dependent on financial donations. Without your financial support, we can’t SAY YES and save more tiny lives.

If you’ve got anything to spare, anything to give, every *single* cent saves lives - literally lives - from death.

If you can donate, donations can be made (and are totally tax deductible) via:

➡️ Venmo:
hItty Bitty City Kittiescom/u/ittybittycitykitties

➡️ PayPal:
https://paypal.me/SamanthaKnox314?locale.x=en_US

➡️ Zelle: [email protected]

If you cannot donate, please share!
Thank you for helping us save lives!