You found a kitten outside alone. Leave it be.

01She is almost certainly nearby.

A mother cat leaves her litter constantly. She goes to eat, she goes to drink, and when she is moving them she carries one at a time, so for a while there is exactly one kitten sitting where you found it. She also will not come near while a person is standing over them.

"It is more than likely mother cat is nearby."

02Under four weeks, it did not get there alone.

This is the test that actually works, and it goes by what the kitten can do rather than how small it looks. In the first four weeks they cannot walk far, cannot keep themselves warm and cannot even go to the toilet without their mother. So a tiny kitten trotting about in the rain is not one that has been abandoned. It is one whose mother is a few feet away.

"1-4 weeks: 'neonatal' stage. (Kittens rely on mom for everything. Cannot even pee/poo on their own. Unlikely to be walking around alone in rain.)"

03At three months she leaves anyway.

This is the one that catches people out. Around three months a mother stops looking after them and the kittens start hunting for themselves. A half-grown kitten on its own is not a tragedy, it is the normal next step, and picking it up at that moment takes it out of a life it was already managing.

"3 months: Many mom-cats leave kitten at this stage. Kittens start hunting."

04So please, leave them be.

If you really want to do something, here is the something. Watch from a distance for an hour or two, and do not move the kitten. She has probably gone to hunt, and she will not come back while you are standing over it. Sitting at a window with a cup of tea and your eye on that spot is the whole job.

"So please... Leave Them Be."

05Ask the watchman.

Then ask around. The watchman, the shopkeepers, the restaurant on the corner. Somebody is very often feeding them already, and these may be community kittens who belong to a street and a handful of people who know them. This is the advice that gets the best results, and the reason is an honest one: people cannot bear to leave a tiny thing alone, so being given something to do is what makes leaving it possible.

"Did some human dump kitten here? Ask watchman, shopkeepers etc. Somebody may be feeding them already."

06Unless it is in danger right now.

A busy road, an open drain, dogs, ants already on it, heavy rain with nowhere dry, or a kitten that is cold and floppy when you pick it up. Then none of the waiting above applies and it needs a vet today. Emergency contacts and NGOs are here.

07A dry corner, and food every day.

A carton on its side under the stairs is a warm dry place. The part that matters is the every day, because a kitten fed on Tuesday and not again until Sunday is worse off than one nobody started feeding.

"Give it a warm, dry place outside & feed it everyday. Let it learn to hunt."

08Dewormed, vaccinated, neutered.

Deworming and the first vaccines come early; neutering at around five months. This is the bit that actually reduces the number of kittens in your lane next summer — one spayed female is a litter that never has to find homes. Ask us and we will point you at what is running near you at the moment.

"Get it dewormed, vaccinated & when they are 5 months old get them neutered/spayed…"

09Has the mother died?

This is the question to answer before you pick anything up, and it is a different question from whether the kitten looks alone. If she is dead, or it was dumped by a person and never learnt to hunt, or genuinely nobody is feeding it, then yes, it may need a home.

"So before getting kitten home: Has mom cat passed away?"

10It stops being a kitten in four months.

Food, vaccines, a vet when something goes wrong, and somewhere for it to go when you travel. That is the actual ask, and it is worth answering honestly rather than hopefully.

"If you get a kitten home - be ready for 10-15 years commitment. Can you commit to 10-15 yrs of food, vaccines & other responsibilities of kittens that never learn to hunt?"

11Why it may never get adopted.

None of this is true of indies, and all of it is what people believe. Adopters in Pune are still not that good. That is why a kitten taken home on a good impulse can sit unadopted for a year, and why the question above is a real one rather than a lecture.

"Most still think: dirty, has fleas · diseases · not house/litter-trained · not meant for home."