4 week old kittens! Pics #14, 18 19

[Freedom]

My friends found 3 kittens in a tree stump. No sign of the mom cat, and they asked around, no one had seen her in some time. The kittens were mewing up a storm, so my friends took the wee ones home, had them vet checked, he said they are about 3 weeks old (this was last week, so they are no 4 weeks).

I go see them tomorrow -- WITH camera, never fear, PT!

So Barb and hubby Bill have been asking friends to adopt a kitten and one is now "taken." The question has arisen, at what age can the baby be separated from her litter mates and go to her new home? There is no question of weaning, so we can't go by that.

The new home had a cat, who died suddenly of a heart attack just this morning.

Any insights welcome!

[catmandu]

We cant wait to see those tiny Cats of the Future,
and they certainly are lucky that you found them, and they will get great Furrever Homes!!!
:love::love:
Thats a break in the chain of Feral Cats who grow up wild and have more litters of Cats :love: who will live sad desperate lives.
:):):)

[catmandu]

Oh I mised your question. At 4 weeks there are things like Baby Kitten Fod KMR and A Vianin Gel until the Little One gets to be about 8 weeks old.
I have read that an important thing is to keep the Babies warm, as they are suescetible to chills.
Good Luck with You Cats of the Future!!!
:love::love::love:

[momcat]

I can't wait to see those beautiful little babies!

[happylabs]

The question has arisen, at what age can the baby be separated from her litter mates and go to her new home? There is no question of weaning, so we can't go by that.
Any insights welcome!

I rescued a litter from under my shed a few years ago. They were about 4 weeks old. I was amazed at how they instinctively knew how to use the litter box. They also ate moistened kitten food right away. I was very fortunate that a very good friend took two females and they could not have been more than 4 or 5 weeks old. Another friend took one of the kittens about the same time. I am sure there is probably something official about this on the internet but as long as they can eat and use the litter box I see no reason they cannot be adopted.

Here is a picture of the little darlins. Everytime I look at this picture I wish I had them back again for just a few days. They were sooooo much fun!

http://www.geocities.com/happylabs_web_design/undertheshedgang.jpg

Every once in a while my friends will send me updated pics. My brother has Max so I get to see him frequently.

[Freedom]

Aw that pic is adorable!!!

[Pinot's Mom]

That picture of all those kitties is wonderful! :love:

Now, back to the question at hand:eight weeks is the usual standard, but there is, as Catmandu said, special supplemental food they should be getting, and keeping them from chill is KEY!! Good luck; keep us posted! :)

[Randi]

It's a good thing the kittens were found, so they didn't have to starve to death - also glad to hear some of them found homes. :)

In Denmark, kittens are preferably not adopted out until they are 12 weeks old. That is because they still learn a lot of things from their mom, and their immune system will be stronger. They are also less likely to get behaviour problems later in life, but in case the mom has disappeared, of course they can survive, given the right care.

Good luck with them!

Happylabs, that kitten picture is so cute!! :love:

[snowbelle15]

I can't wait to see the kittens! I bet they're the cutest things ever. I'm glad your friends found them and took them in. I wouldn't want to think about what would of happened to them if they didn't. Good luck with the kittens and take lots of pictures. :)

Happylabs, AW! They are adorable. :)

[MoonandBean]

Hooray for some good news!!!!!!! Like Gary said, the feral chain has been broken and those kitties will hopefully never have to know the life of a homeless cat.

[lvpets2002]

:love: Awwee so glad the babies were found & will have good homes.. At 6 Six Weeks of age is good for adopting out.. They will have a good set of teeth & should for sure be on wet food..

[GILL]

When LUCKY came to at one day old, I set up a carrior with a heating pad under 2 towels. This kept him warm and out of drafts. The cover was on but not latched. We feed him kitten milk and as he grew we added a litter box, water dish, and a food dish with most kitten food. The water dish has to be very shallow and hard to tip over. The frist pic. is at about 4 weeks, the next at about 7 weeks. He is now at 53 weeks and one of my loves.

[bilousmom]

:love:;);)Thank you all for the advice on the kittens. I'm going to hang onto them for at least another two weeks, til they are 6 weeks old. They are doing well with the litter box. Two of the three are doing fairly well with lapping up formula from a low dish. They also are eating some soft food. One of them makes a holy mess of herself evert time she eats. She (quite literally) is really into her food. Hope this stops sometime soon!!!! I wipe her - but she always looks like an adorable mess.

Their stools are still quite runny - was told this is fairly normal at this stage. I also noticed some blood - was told that could be stress or parasites - and they are still too young to treat that...not to worry about it. Of course I was panic struck! I know nothing about kittens. They are very affectionate and adorable. I have found a good home for one of them, where he will get a LOT of love and attention and always be indoors. I had a call today about one of my little girls, and decided not to adopt her out since they were looking for an indoor/outdoor cat. I just don't believe in letting them wander outdoors; it's just not safe for them.
So, if anyone knows of a good home - please let me know! I can give you my phone number and I am in MA.
Thanks again for all the tips.

[bilousmom]

Photos of Newman (white and orange male), Chaos and Precious (calico females)

http://i711.photobucket.com/albums/ww120/billnbarb/2009/July%202%20kittens/IMG_0441Small.jpg

http://i711.photobucket.com/albums/ww120/billnbarb/2009/July%202%20kittens/IMG_0442Small.jpg

Chaos
http://i711.photobucket.com/albums/ww120/billnbarb/2009/July%202%20kittens/IMG_0443Small.jpg

http://i711.photobucket.com/albums/ww120/billnbarb/2009/July%202%20kittens/IMG_0444Small.jpg

http://i711.photobucket.com/albums/ww120/billnbarb/2009/July%202%20kittens/IMG_0446Small.jpg

http://i711.photobucket.com/albums/ww120/billnbarb/2009/July%202%20kittens/IMG_0460Small.jpg

Precious ( the "runt")
http://i711.photobucket.com/albums/ww120/billnbarb/2009/July%202%20kittens/IMG_0460Small.jpg

http://i711.photobucket.com/albums/ww120/billnbarb/2009/July%202%20kittens/IMG_0450Small.jpg

http://i711.photobucket.com/albums/ww120/billnbarb/2009/July%202%20kittens/IMG_0452Small.jpg

http://i711.photobucket.com/albums/ww120/billnbarb/2009/July%202%20kittens/IMG_0456Small.jpg

[momcat]

Hi Barbara, Please accept my huge welcome to Pet Talk! Thank you and bless you for helping these little babies. Because of your efforts these little ones are going to enjoy the life every kitty deserves. Good call on not adopting a kitten out to someone looking for an indoor-outdoor kitty. Groucho is 8 years old and has been strictly indoor since the day he decided he was coming home with us.

I do hope you'll be back and will become part of our PT family. When it comes to anything cat, this is definitely the place to be. There are several folks here that are extremely knowledgable about kitties. Except for a good and trusted vet, the best advice you can possibly get is right here.

Have the babies been checked by a vet yet?

[bilousmom]

Thanks for the welcome. The kitties were briefly checked over by a vet at a clinic that I first brought them to. My first intention was to bring them to a shelter. Since I didn't know if they were healthy or not AND didn't have any idea what to do with the little ones, I brought them to a clinic about 30 minutes away. This place is wonderful. They have a woman named Rose who does wildlife rescue. A few weeks back I had to bring in a tiny chipmunk that didn't end up making it after a few days because of a puncture to the lung from an outdoor cat, apparently (another reason for my not wanting the cats to be outdoors). Anyway, had the kittens been sick, they would have kept them - but the doctor did a quick check and found nothing wrong with them as of yet. So, now I had healthy kittens with no where to bring them. The local shelter is a no kill - but the problem is they are between dog officers - so noone is there full time. I brought them in there and a police office took the kittens and put them in a nice clean cage. Comfortable looking enough, sure...but with volunteers only coming in to feed them twice a day and do some cleaning, I felt that they woudn't get the love and socialization I felt they needed. So, after torturing myself all day with pictures running through my mind of the poor little things, I sprung them out the same night. I'm so glad I did. They are a lot of work - but oh lord, are they adorable. You may have noticed that in the pictures, Precious doesn't quite look as fluffy as the others. That's because when the food goes down, she is literally in it!!! She's the runt, and the slow learner of the bunch, god love her. I just hope I can find good homes for the two Calico's.

:)

[Prairie Purrs]

What an adorable trio! I'm in love with Chaos--gorgeous markings, and look at all those whiskers! Thank you for taking such good care of these little dollbabies.

[Freedom]

I had a wonderful time at Barbara's this afternoon, playing with the wee ones! Here are a few more photos:

Chaos
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q57/sfsamm/2009/July%202%20Barbs%20kittens/IMG_2420Small.jpg

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q57/sfsamm/2009/July%202%20Barbs%20kittens/IMG_2421Small.jpg

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q57/sfsamm/2009/July%202%20Barbs%20kittens/IMG_2422Small.jpg

Newman (falling asleep on my leg)
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q57/sfsamm/2009/July%202%20Barbs%20kittens/IMG_2426Small.jpg

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q57/sfsamm/2009/July%202%20Barbs%20kittens/IMG_2427Small.jpg

Barbara with the 2 calicos asleep on her lap, and her 2 dogs: Maltese Lily, and Bilou the bichon
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q57/sfsamm/2009/July%202%20Barbs%20kittens/IMG_2429Small.jpg


The Trio (Chaos is in the middle)
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q57/sfsamm/2009/July%202%20Barbs%20kittens/IMG_2424Small.jpg

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q57/sfsamm/2009/July%202%20Barbs%20kittens/IMG_2425Small.jpg

More on the way!

[Freedom]

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q57/sfsamm/2009/July%202%20Barbs%20kittens/IMG_2434Small.jpg

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q57/sfsamm/2009/July%202%20Barbs%20kittens/IMG_2435Small.jpg

My camera batteries were dying a fast death, lol. I took these to try and show size, with the small dogs suddenly looking enormous next to Newman
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q57/sfsamm/2009/July%202%20Barbs%20kittens/IMG_2433Small.jpg

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q57/sfsamm/2009/July%202%20Barbs%20kittens/IMG_2432Small.jpg

And 2 short vids

This vid got cut off as I thought I was taking a photo, not a video. :rolleyes:

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q57/sfsamm/2009/July%202%20Barbs%20kittens/th_MVI_2414.jpg (http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q57/sfsamm/2009/July%202%20Barbs%20kittens/?action=view&current=MVI_2414.flv)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyeZQ3RUOZY

[astrid]

Hi and welcome to PT!!
The little babies are so adorable and what you are doing for them is wonderful, God bless you.
I love the 3 of them, but I don't know why Chaos is my favorite.. maybe is that "mischief" look on her face.. they're adorable!:love:

[Barbara]

It's funny- you are Barbara with Bilou and I am Barbara with Filou (look at my avatar;))
These three are cuter than cute. I am so glad you take care of them. Kiss their cute nosies for me.

[bilousmom]

Sandie had fun with the kittens yesterday. I didn't know I was going to end up in the pics too! And oh, so flattering! I look drunk! Exhausted yes, but drunk, no! Arrrgghhh! They are adorable kittens. Chaos is full of mischief, sure hope I can get her a good home. She's super affectionate.I have a funny feeling I'm going to end up with Precious. She's the slow learner...the runt...therefore she won me over pretty easily. They are all absolutely adorable. Newman (orange) is super smart; the others are definitely learninig from him. My husband says it's because he's the only male, so naturally that would occur. Good thing he's a kidder...otherwise the locks on the house would be changed when he got home today, tee hee! Just kidding...he's a great guy. He even supported me when I told someone no to adoption yesterday that was going to raise the cat to be an indoor/outdoor kitty. Yay, Bill! And he's not even doing the work. He's just about as smitten as I am with the little guys though. How can you not be?

[Pinot's Mom]

How can you not be?

Exactly - how can you not be? They are ALL precious!! :love:

[bilousmom]

Found all but Precious homes. So...I may just have to keep her. Don't know yet. I am still concerned about the loose stools and the slight blood in them. I was told not to worry. What do you all think?

[phesina]

Ohhhhh, aren't they just ADORABLE?!!! Thank you so much, Bilousmom, for giving these babies a home and a chance. God bless you, and may the little babies grow up big and strong.

Welcome to Pet Talk!!!!!

Pat and my 6 cats Peony, Sydney, Poppy, Elmer, Bob, and Sparkler