Kitten HELP!

[graceanne]

Ok, background real quick: I got this cat (m&m) after she'd been hit by a car. I was told by her past owners that the ver said she couldn't have kittens. Well someone was wrong cause she did. Then I thought that cats couldn't go into heat while nursing. This time I was wrong. And that's this set of kittens. Yes, she has an appointment in two weeks to get fixed, so please don't go off on me about getting my animals fixed, ok?

But M&M had eight kittens. Their was a runt. Yesterday I noticed that a couple of the kittens had ulcers in their mouths, so today I took them to the vet and got them all taken care of. While I was there I had the vet take a look at Runt, cause s/he's not growing. S/he's the size of a newborn kitten, and s/he is four weeks old. The vet said that the other kittens have been starving Runt, and that I need to sepererate Runt, cause the other kittens are starving him/her. I've been giving her baby formula ( I can't afford kitten formula, and she's too ill to take even remotely solid food at this point. ) How often do kittens need to eat? I don't want to feed her ever time she croaks at me (she's too week to meow) just to find out that I'm making her sick from over feeding her. I didn't think to ask the vet this stuff when I was there.

On the bright side, though, she's moving around a bit more, her croaks are sounds more like meows that they did, and she had a bowel movement (on me ), so I must be doing something right.

 

[FurryFury]

It's been a long time since I was a vet tech but I think the rule then was, newborn ever 2 - 3 hours, as they get older every 4 hours. Check with your vet though cause over feeding can kill a kitten or puppy.

Good luck!

*hugs*

Fury

 

[canadiancutie]

Ok, background real quick: I got this cat (m&m) after she'd been hit by a car. I was told by her past owners that the ver said she couldn't have kittens. Well someone was wrong cause she did. Then I thought that cats couldn't go into heat while nursing. This time I was wrong. And that's this set of kittens. Yes, she has an appointment in two weeks to get fixed, so please don't go off on me about getting my animals fixed, ok?

But M&M had eight kittens. Their was a runt. Yesterday I noticed that a couple of the kittens had ulcers in their mouths, so today I took them to the vet and got them all taken care of. While I was there I had the vet take a look at Runt, cause s/he's not growing. S/he's the size of a newborn kitten, and s/he is four weeks old. The vet said that the other kittens have been starving Runt, and that I need to sepererate Runt, cause the other kittens are starving him/her. I've been giving her baby formula ( I can't afford kitten formula, and she's too ill to take even remotely solid food at this point. ) How often do kittens need to eat? I don't want to feed her ever time she croaks at me (she's too week to meow) just to find out that I'm making her sick from over feeding her. I didn't think to ask the vet this stuff when I was there.

On the bright side, though, she's moving around a bit more, her croaks are sounds more like meows that they did, and she had a bowel movement (on me ), so I must be doing something right.

awww!!! I don't oknow too much about the topic, but it sounds like you're doing a good job. give yourself a hug for me!!

 

[chris9]

Maybe you can call the vet and ask him to be sure? Good luck with the kitties! I'm very envious!!!

 

[FurryFury]

Here are some good links.

http://www.kittencare.com/askKC_Feeding_Kittens.html

http://www.kitten-rescue.com/bottle_feeding_kitten.html

http://www.hdw-inc.com/tinykitten.htm

http://www.thepetprofessor.com/secArticles/cat/Bottle_Feeding_Orphaned_Kittens.asp

Okay so I'm a google and a cat person.

Fury

 

[graceanne]

Thanks. We actually just gave her water for most of today, cause she was so badly dehydrated. Then she started being awake for a few minutes at a time, so I moved her up to formula. I gave her some at 10, then 11, then 12, so I think she's not getting anymore for a bit. If I kill her from over feeding her, I'm going to be a tad bit upset with myself.

And thanks, cutie. I need a shot of energy, if you have any. *hugs*

Right now I have her napping on the heating pad. I put an old cotton diaper over it, and then another over her to keep her warm. She's so tiny that she gets cold at the drop of a hat, poor thing.

 

[graceanne]

Here are some good links.

http://www.kittencare.com/askKC_Feeding_Kittens.html

http://www.kitten-rescue.com/bottle_feeding_kitten.html

http://www.hdw-inc.com/tinykitten.htm

http://www.thepetprofessor.com/secArticles/cat/Bottle_Feeding_Orphaned_Kittens.asp

Okay so I'm a google and a cat person.

Fury

Oh my gosh! This is awesome, fury, thanks. *hugs*

 

[FurryFury]

Oh my gosh! This is awesome, fury, thanks. *hugs*

My pleasure. Good night beautiful. Oh and don't forget, the burping and how to help the poor thing pee and poop. A warm wet washcloth while holding over the toilet, stimulates that, like the mothers tongue. If she won't do it.

Good night.

*hugs back*

Fury

 

[catalina_francisco]

Thanks. We actually just gave her water for most of today, cause she was so badly dehydrated. Then she started being awake for a few minutes at a time, so I moved her up to formula. I gave her some at 10, then 11, then 12, so I think she's not getting anymore for a bit. If I kill her from over feeding her, I'm going to be a tad bit upset with myself.

And thanks, cutie. I need a shot of energy, if you have any. *hugs*

Right now I have her napping on the heating pad. I put an old cotton diaper over it, and then another over her to keep her warm. She's so tiny that she gets cold at the drop of a hat, poor thing.

You're an angel and I am sure this little kittie will agree. Question is, will you be able to part with him/her after all this? Me thinks perhaps you are not meant to. Happy nursing.

Catalina

 

[blondie03]

Grace, is it possible for you to let the kitten nurse from it's mother? You may have to seperate the mom from the other kittens for a few minutes every couple of hours to let the baby nurse, but that way the baby is getting all the nutrients it needs from it's mom.

 

[Kajira Callista]

Grace, is it possible for you to let the kitten nurse from it's mother? You may have to seperate the mom from the other kittens for a few minutes every couple of hours to let the baby nurse, but that way the baby is getting all the nutrients it needs from it's mom.

the mom is prolly the one who stopped the kitten from nursing. they do that if there are too many kittens or the runt is sick. she wont take the kitten back to nurse now anyway. if she does it would be a very unusual thing.

 

[Netzach]

Maybe take your cues from how often the other kids are eating?

Sounds like you are doing fine. I bet they are so freaking cute.

 

[Xelebes]

Yeah, my family raise two kittens who lost their mother at 2 weeks of age so we managed to raise them into adulthood. Yes, Ibeliebe for the first few weeks it is per 2-3 hours and after a while it is 4. You also have to force them pee for a while - rubbing the belly near the pee-hole (I don't know which gender it is, so I am going to go with that.) The kitten will have difficulty peeing by itself for a while until it figures out how to do that.

 

[graceanne]

Thank you, everyone for your advice and support, but she died during the night. I thought she was doing better, but evidently she wasn't. She finally went to sleep, and so I went to sleep. I got a couple of hours later to feed her and she was dead.

To answer the questions and comments above, the mother wouldn't feed her and she was too weak to nurse from her anyway. Frankly the other kittens wouldn't even sleep with her anymore, I'd put her on a heating pad (on low) to keep her warm.

And I knew that I was probably gonna end up keeping her. K was getting attached to her, too.

 

[SweetDommes]

I'm really sorry Grace *hug* you did your best, take comfort in that and the fact that the kitten knew it was cared for and loved.

In the future though, you really need to get kitten formula - people baby formula is not the right nutrients at all and can contribute to malnourishment and dehydration. There are other things that you can do too, but right now I can't remember what they are (Holly will know - next time you have an issue like this, PM her).

 

[graceanne]

I'm really sorry Grace *hug* you did your best, take comfort in that and the fact that the kitten knew it was cared for and loved.

In the future though, you really need to get kitten formula - people baby formula is not the right nutrients at all and can contribute to malnourishment and dehydration. There are other things that you can do too, but right now I can't remember what they are (Holly will know - next time you have an issue like this, PM her).

Thanks. And I'm getting my cats fixed in two weeks, so it probably won't be an issue again. And I learned a lot from this thread, so if it is I'll know what to do. I'll also know in the future to keep a closer eye on the runt. If I'd been watching closer, and intervened earlier, she wouldn't have gotten so bad. But the kids bug the kittens so much, I was just leaving them alone otherwise so they could get some rest.

 

[Quint]

Hugs for you....

When I was young, we found a den of baby rabbits in our backyard that the mother had abandoned. All but one had already died of starvation. We took the survivor into our house, named it Nermal (after the obnoxiously cute cat from Garfield), and tried to take care of it. It died in the night too, after well-meant but unsuccessful attempts at feeding it. I'm sorry you went through this too.

 

[graceanne]

Hugs for you....

When I was young, we found a den of baby rabbits in our backyard that the mother had abandoned. All but one had already died of starvation. We took the survivor into our house, named it Nermal (after the obnoxiously cute cat from Garfield), and tried to take care of it. It died in the night too, after well-meant but unsuccessful attempts at feeding it. I'm sorry you went through this too.

We did that once, too, but that was after my cat had mauled it. I was four and my mom heard me scream and she looked out the window in time to see my hit the cat over the head with my toy shovel like three times. She ran out to see what was going on, and I'd wrestled the baby rabbit from my cat, and 'saved' it. It died that night. But, on the bright side, my mother (after finding the remains of the baby rabbits mother) went looking for it's nest, and we did save the last 5 bunnies. We raised them (without making them tame - only my mom handled them, and then only long enough to feed them) then set them free in a near by field.

 

[FurryFury]

Dear Beautiful GraceAnne,

I'm so sorry about the kitten. *hugs*

I once had a little puppy die on me too. I had brought it home from the clinic because he would have died without care. He died with it too and I felt guilty even though, I did my best for him. I'm sure you did your best for this little kitten too. We can only try and it doesn't always work. Then we are sad and often feel guilty even when it's not deserved guilt.

Sometime I'll tell you about bottle raising a whole litter of kittens if you like. For now just know that you are a wonderful caring person and things go wrong sometimes that we can't help.

Fury

 

[Netzach]

Aw...I'm sorry she didn't make it, hon. *hugs*

 

[ammre]

Thank you, everyone for your advice and support, but she died during the night. I thought she was doing better, but evidently she wasn't. She finally went to sleep, and so I went to sleep. I got a couple of hours later to feed her and she was dead.

To answer the questions and comments above, the mother wouldn't feed her and she was too weak to nurse from her anyway. Frankly the other kittens wouldn't even sleep with her anymore, I'd put her on a heating pad (on low) to keep her warm.

And I knew that I was probably gonna end up keeping her. K was getting attached to her, too.

I was reading this thread hoping away that the kitten survives and seeing positive reults that you said, then that... i jsut got hardcore faclempt.

;\ *hugs*

 

[graceanne]

I was reading this thread hoping away that the kitten survives and seeing positive reults that you said, then that... i jsut got hardcore faclempt.

;\ *hugs*

What's faclempt?

But thank you everyone. *hugs* K's gonna take me and A up to his moms this evening to bury it. She owns her property, and has for like 15 years, so it's unlikely she'll ever move, and that's very comforting to A.

Funny story, though. B (my three - almost four year old) asked where the 'little kitten' was. I told her it was dead, and had gone to live with Jesus in heaven. She gasped and said "Jesus isn't in my heart anymore?"

 

[Miss Diva]

What's faclempt?

But thank you everyone. *hugs* K's gonna take me and A up to his moms this evening to bury it. She owns her property, and has for like 15 years, so it's unlikely she'll ever move, and that's very comforting to A.

Funny story, though. B (my three - almost four year old) asked where the 'little kitten' was. I told her it was dead, and had gone to live with Jesus in heaven. She gasped and said "Jesus isn't in my heart anymore?"

I am glad you decided to be honest with the kids and tell them the kitten was dead. And having the burial with the children present will let them know that life is a cycle. I have no children however my brother and cousins always ensure that their children attend funerals and such. It lets them know that life is a cycle.

 

[Summer_Jasmine]

I am so sorry the kitty passed away.

My 3 1/2 year old's preschool class found a dead bird a few weeks ago while going on a walk through the woods. E told me he said to the bird "bye-bye bird, we're sorry that you're dead." It is amazing how even at a young age they have a concept of death.

 

[snowy ciara]

I'm sorry about your baby kitten, Gracie.