orphan kitten questions

[scooby]

some friends had a wild cat that had a litter and they handled the kittens and mom then took off, the other two died and the third they brang in the house two days ago cause a storm moved through and they said she was "half frozen" by the time they found her. anyways they called me to take her so i did and as far as i can tell she is about 3-4 weeks old she has 4 front incisors and her canines, eyes and ears open and she can get around wobbly. she is very tiny about 1/2 the size of my hand, they found them i believe sometime around halloween. anyways they have had her the last two days and have just been feeding her scraps of ham, veggies and crap, i got her yesterday and gave her a bit of wet cat food. But I'm wondering if i should put her on a milk replacment for a couple more weeks or just continue feeding wet food. her stools are runny and yellowy mucus type and she is just getting it all over her, dont know if its just from the scraps they gave her or if she should be on milk or what. so can anyone chime in on this and give me some advice whether i should run to the feed store and get some KMR for her. Or any other advice thanks a bunch!

 

[Cats Critters]

At that age I would put her on kitten formula in till she is about 8 weeks, but with a little bit of solid food available. Also you are probably going to have to clean her hind end for her , she hasn't learned to groom yet.

 

[scooby]

do they need replacment till 8 weeks and how much a day do you think?. i.e cc,tbsp,how many a day , every - hrs ect ect

 

[miltonsmom]

Ahhh, something I know about having raised a kitten from 3 hrs old. You can buy a nursing bottle with milk replacement at the feed store or even Wal-Mart - it will guide you as to how much to give her at a time. I started my little guy on milk soaked kitten food when he was six weeks old and by 8 weeks he was eating dry cat food with no problem.

You do need to stimulate her bowels for her for a little longer. Just take a warm wash cloth and pass it over her genitals an hour after she's eaten and before you feed her again. It's an automatic response for her to pee and poop when you do this - it's something that mother cats do for their young during the first few weeks of their life and while unpleasant to do, it doesn't take too long and she's almost old enough that you won't have to do it for too long.

Keep her as warm as possible. She needs warmth, b/c her little body isn't generating enough heat to regulate her body temperature. I used a heating pad wrapped in two towels, never put the heating pad directly against an animal, it can burn them severely. My old basset loves baby animals too and would take the kitten and put her underneath her, which simulated mama more than I ever could! They make these great discs that you can microwave for 6 minutes and they will generate soft heat for up to 12 hours.


Good luck and enjoy her.

 

[scooby]

she is using the litter box when we put her in it, but she still is to little to find her way to it we've just been putting her in it like every 2 hrs or when she starts moving around after waking up but we are having to rinse her butt off after almost every bowel movement cause she is getting it all over herself. and i am a little concerned about how often and the color/consistency of her poo.

 

[gofasterstripe]

Ive just finished raising wild kittens. I took them from the wild cat that comes round here to have her kittens so I had to take them before I had more cats having kittens round here. I found them when they were about a week old with their eyes still shut. I kept and eye on them and took them into the house when they were about 3 to 3 1/2 weeks old. I fed them kitten food and water mixed into runny goo and hand fed them 5 times a day for a week untill they figured out they could do it them selves. I had no probs with any of them, they ate, pooped, slept and at 6 weeks old I also gave then dry cat food. I only rehomed them about 3 weeks ago when they were 12 weeks old.

 

[scooby]

Well i got some KMR and a bottle and mixed some up and tried to give it to her she didn't want it at first then she got a taste of the milk and started chewing franticly and chewed off and swallowed the tip of the nipple in about 20 secs. so is this gona hurt her system or will she just pass it in a bowel movement? i poured the rest into a bowl and she lapped it up so i guess she doesn't need the bottle.

her in a index card box

 

[2many2count]

google for kitten formula and they have several for you to chose from but basically evaporated milk, white corn syrup and ugh I cant find the recipe I used back when....lol old age set in again I guess.