folks, I have heard in the past week of two non-related incidents of kittens who died probably due to be being tranported in this current heat wave.

I say probably as neither were postmortemed, but both had long broken journies in hot sweaty cars, both of them were under 8 weeks old and both kittens died within hours of leaving the breeder/fosterer and being apparently healthy!

Be very very careful if you buy a kitten and have to transport it in this heat.

Better still, wait till the heat wave is over then pick it up. Any decent breeder/shelter/rescue organisation will (or should) work with you on this. If they don't ... think twice if you really want to buy a kitten from someone so inflexible on animal welfare issues.

If you must travel with a kitten... do it in the early morning or late evening... and even then take sensible precautions, if need be, phone your vet for advice on travelling with young animals in this heat.

And nothing to do with the heat... general rule... never buy or accept a kitten younger than 8 weeks, and definitely not lighter than 800grams... whatever age the breeder tells you the kitten is ... any weight under 800grams is unacceptable, and potentially dangerous.

Good advice.

Oh Tje, I so wish I could leave you rep for that great post but it is not letting me spread my repping love

People so easily underestimate the effects of heat and stress on a young kitten. It should be a sticky!

Oh no Another one died? Can you PM me?

Folks, listen to this advice. It could mean the difference to whether the exciting time of collecting your fluffy new kitten remains that way, or turns into a guilt ridden experience where you ask yourself why you didn't wait ... well if you're normal and have a concience that is.

P.S It wont let me leave you rep either Tje

Thanks everyone!

Will PM you now Aurelia.

Can anybody and everybody maybe please help keep this post up top for the next few days when the temps are still tropical?? Please bump it if you see it slipping dowm. Thanks in advance, the kittens out there will be better for it.

**bump**......................

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Mum to Yitzach, my gorgeous moggie of 14 years....and Walter, my silver tabby BSH who is 6 months old.

OMG, I think I did the reputation thing wrong... I meant to give positive but I think I gave negative... Sorry if I did

This post needs to be stickied while we're having such hot weather.

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don't worry about the rep thing PurpleCrow... the only thing I care about is getting the message out there. Any contribution you make to that is more than welcome in my book!! Thank you very much!!

p.s. I am just editting this to add... your rep thingy looks perfect to me, and your comments,,,, it has a wee green circle beside it so all is well it wasnt negative rep. Thanks for your support.

Can I also just add.. everyone who else who has repped me... THANK YOU all very very much, and spread the word, stick noses in, be a busybody, just stop silly folks embarking on long car journies with small kittens as long as these temps are so high. Thanks for caring all.

Important message Stickied.

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We travel in the car with Henrick (obviously not a kitten) all the time and its often the coldest place to be, yesterday when it was really hot I actually took Lilly (and me) out into the car to cool down with the air conditioning on, it was literally the only place we could find that was cool and she was getting distressed. Surely most cars nowadays have air conditioning now? I was unaware that 800g is an unaceptable weight, I dont think Lilly was far off that when I got her and I agree she was imo underweight, she put heaps on since though . Thanks for the info.

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gsds (Henrick and Bella), the cats (Syd, Lilly, Elvis and Dizzy), the gerbils (Honey, Lisa, crusty, Millhouse, Flanders, Bart and Homer), the rats (Valentine, Flower, Petal, Blossom, Koda, Cava, George), the mice (Minnie, Pop, Seudag, Caraid, Silver, Trouble, Athena, Pandora, Aphrodite, Meep, and Springtime)