Question for all the Cat Lovers

[joedie]

This morning when I went to the barn to feed the 2 cats, a little kitten about 8 weeks old came out from under the barn covered in cobwebs. No problem, I picked her up, very friendly, must have been socialized somewhere and she can stay here no problem. BUT, then I ran an errand to the local USDA office and find a little kitten under a truck crying, my guess is 2 weeks old, no more than 3 and just skin over bones! I'm sure he hadn't nursed his momma in a while. I told him if he came out from under there, I'd take care of him and he did! So, I got some kitten food and moistened it with water and he ate like the starving kitty he is. He is so little and scrawny, I bought a litter box and brought him into the laundry room for the night and a towel to lay on with fresh food and water. I plan on keeping him in at night until he gets a little bigger. I can't keep him in the house due to cat allergies. I'll bring him to the vet on Monday as I'm sure he has a little belly full of worms and appears to have a slight eye infection and probably ear mites. He spent the afternoon sleeping on grandkids laps and is now quite acclimated to humans.
My question is are ones this young likely to survive without momma on just kitten food? Someone told me not to give him milk because they can't digest cows milk? Any suggestion on what else to do for him? He's a cute little buggar. If he survives, he'll be one of the barn cats.

 

[Chick_a_dee]

If you can get your hands on some RAW goats milk, it will do WONDERS. My boy (Accio) was raised on a hobby farm from 2 weeks old. Abandonned by his mom in the barnyard and screamed his head off for a day before the owner of the farm brought him in. He was raised on raw goats milk and the love of a 4 year old girl. He's a spoiled, ill tempered kitty but he's healthy and alive 3 years later.

 

[Imp]

If he's 2-3 weeks old he'd probably benefit from some of the kitten milk available at the pet store. When I took in the 3 kittens about the same age, I bottle fed them the milk for a couple weeks and started weaning them at about 4+ weeks. Sorry I'm drawing a blank on the name of the kitten milk right now. But if he's eating soft cat food I think that's a good sign. Glad you are taking him into the vet, I was lucky, no health issues at all. Hope the same for you. Is it pooping and peeing normally. At that young age you may need to stimulate.

Imp

 

[welasharon]

Pet replacement formula or goats milk. You can sometimes find it in the grocery canned milk section. just dont give it cow's milk. It can kill them.

ETA: and keep its eyes wiped of matter so he doesn't lose his eyesight till the vet can check it out.

sharon

 

[darkmatter]

Found kittens are the best: Once many years ago I was working inside a security fenced area (not area 51)that had been fenced off for over 20 years. Cats had gotten fenced in originally and their gene pool was limited since they were living out of the dumpsters and breeding under the work trailers. We enticed kittens out from under the trailer with lunch box scraps and captured a few. I carried one home to my work location RV in my lunchbox mewing and spitting right through the radiation monitors (it passed). I stopped and got cat supplies, opened a can of canned catfood thinking a can would feed this tiny kitten for 2 or more days. The kitten ate the whole can in one sitting and I thought it was gonna die it was so tightly bloated. I was "Mr Mom" after that and that cat loved me for many years---I named him "stirfry" after what I thought of the gene pool he came from.

 

[MomtoSyd&Emma]

we had a kitten that small years ago, the Vet had us mix KMR or goats milk (KMR was what we used as goats milk wasnt easy to find) anyway mix the KMR and gerber baby food lamb or chicken puree. She had me use a plastic spoon and literally spoon feed him, he survived and grew to be a big boy!

He probably has an upper resp. infection hence the eye goop, that can be contagious so try to keep him away from the other cats/kitten until its cleared up!!

Thank you for taking them in!

oh and you know we all want to see photos!

 

[bock]

I hope he survives!

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

Hi there, if you give me your email address I can send you a PDF with easy recipes for kitten milk replacer, and some general kitten care. I work at a vet and with a cat rescue.