Help Needed Asap! Tiny Kitten!

[All Creatures Great And Small]

He made it through the night OK (I guess, since he didn't wake us up), and has enjoyed 2 bottle feedings this morning and a little soft food. Just a moment ago he took his first wee in his litter box, but he still has not had a BM, which worries me. When we got him yesterday, he had residue around his butt and tail from diarrhea, but he hasn't made anything since being here. I am going to set up a vet appointment for tomorrow when I have a day off, to check him over and make sure everything is working.

Dudley is just furious about this new, loud creature in the house - he refuses to come up and sniff the kitten, just keeps hissing, growling, and backing away! If I let Dudley smell my fingers with kitten smell on them, THAT sets him off too. He's so territorial, I just don't know how this is going to work out. It really is hilarious to see him having such a fit over such a tiny, harmless little fluffball.

And I still have the little matter of explaining this to hubby when he gets home........oh well, I usually have the final say anyway, so it's a done deal Cats are pretty low-maintenance, so he won't add too much stress to this already chaotic household, unless he and Dudley can't ever learn to get along.

I'll try to post some more pics later.

[Cataholic]

ACGAS!!! Thank you for coming to this little kitty's rescue! He looks a tad older than 3 weeks (since you could sex him, he is prolly older), so, keep up with the feeding, really as often as he seems to want it. I would still stimulate him bum for poop purposes, but, he should be alright, if he is peeing on his own.

Please keep Dudley away from him, and your own hands! I would wash, wash, wash both before and after contact with the kitty to reduce any possible exporsures to both YOU and Dudley...you never know....

USUALLY an introduction between a baby and an adult cat is not an issue. So, once little kitty is vet checked, let Dudley see what all the fuss is about, with supervision, of course.

Good luck and way to rescue!

[All Creatures Great And Small]

Well, he made a nice firm poopy yesterday evening, so I don't have to worry about diarrhea! I've been feeding him little bits of Dudley's soft food, but today I will head to the pet store to get some actual kitten formula food. Last night at work I picked up a bag of kitten kibble, and the pieces are pretty tiny, but the poor guy just couldn't manage them with his little teeth - luckily we have a coffee bean grinder, so I put the kibble in there and ground it up real small, and he munched a bunch of that. He doesn't seem to know how to suckle from that bottle, but if we pour the milk replacer onto a saucer, he can lap it up pretty good without snuffling his nose in it.

He is just adorable, and I can see already how some of his markings will be - he has pretty arm stripes, and rings on the end of his tail like a rattlesnake - I can't wait to see what color his eyes will be, since they're still kitten blue.

Dudley is still really cheesed off about this whole thing, and he has been king of the roost for all of his 5 years, so I don't blame him. Once the vet gives us the green light, I'll keep trying to introduce them to each other. I've been holding Sammy while talking nicely to Dudley, encouraging him to come in the room without hissing - we've gotten as far as Dudley smelling the tip of Sammy's tail when Sammy isn't looking , and then dashing out of the room when Sammy turns around. (He's such a puss!) Here's Dudley checking out the terrifying beast that has come to live with us :

[Vermontcat]

LOL! I love the photo of Dudley looking at tiny little Sammy!
Really Dudley, there's nothing to be afraid of, he's just a little fluffball!

[kimlovescats]

How adorable! Dudley will learn what FUN truly is again in no time at all!!!!

[shais_mom]

Great pic!
he is sooooo cute!

[Rhiannon]

What a cute picture!

I've taken in over 40 kittens (not all at once!) and that one looks to be about 4 weeks old. Usually by that time, it's hard to get them to suckle from a bottle. I use syringes. That way, I can control the flow and I can keep better track of what actually made it into their stomachs.

Is his belly very round and a little on the big side? If so, he probably has worms. Once an infested kitten is dewormed, their appetite goes way up and they start putting on weight. And since he seems to eat just fine from a plate, you can just mix his kitten milk in with the kitten food. I would hold off on too much dry food just yet since it sounds like he only has very small milk teeth. Plus most of that dry stuff has too much fiber for a baby that young.

I think someone touch upon this already, but don't let your big guy eat or drink from the same bowl as the baby, and don't let him use the same litter box. The kitten could be carrying, among other things, distemper, feline leukemia or feline AIDS. I would test for them as soon as you can.


Well, that's all, I guess! Sorry if I repeated anything anyone else said. And sorry if my posts tend toward the verbose side. I am just in a rambling mood today!

[moosmom]

He looks wonderful!!

Word of caution: Please wait till you have your kitten tested for Feline Aids/Leukemia. You don't want Dudley being exposed.

Sounds like you're doing everything right. One suggestion is to mix a little KMR with canned kitten food. He may walk in it (it's not a pretty picture) but at least he'll be getting the nutrition he needs. This way you won't have to bottle feed him.

That's a great picture of Dudley looking at the kitty. I wish I could come up with a caption for it.

[Kirsten]

He looks so sweet in the pictures! Will you keep him?

You've got a lot of helpful advice here already, and he seems to much better meanwhile!

Any idea how old he is? From the pictures, I would say 3 - 4 weeks?

Kirsten

[bluekat]

OMG, he is so cute! I didn't read the other posts, did you take him to the vet? I'm just wondering, not sure if you did.
BTW, I'm so glad that you took him in, its way better than a pet store. And at such a young age, I don't think he'll like the shelter.

[All Creatures Great And Small]

Thanks, everybody, for all the great advice so far! We just got back from the vet, and the most surprising thing we learned is that Sammy is........a girl! I thought I saw "bumps" back there, but I guess it was just some fur or something - we're still going to call her Sammy though, but now I keep getting mixed up and saying "him" - it will take me awhile to readjust. Everybody at the vet's office was fussing over her - she must be as cute as we think she is! (One lady there said to the kitty, "hey, these people even buy antibiotics for rats - you'll be in good hands!" )

She is a very healthy little stinker - no ear mites, no sneezing/discharge, no goopy eyes, and her appetite is VERY good! She eats pretty well from her plate, and really chowed down on the ground up dry food this morning - she even kneaded and made little kitten sounds while she was eating it!
(She eats with her entire head - I have to get some waterless shampoo to clean her off with between meals!)

I got her to drink a little water, and the vet said there's no harm in still giving her kitten milk, but she's old enough to not really need it as much as water. She was still too young to test for FeLV, but will be tested in 3 weeks, along with a second worm test. Apparently it's a good idea to do a series of worm tests in case there was a false negative the first time around. She does have a round, fat belly, but the vet didn't think it was anything unusual. We have some dewormer to give her for the next 5 days, so we're on the right track. She'll be getting all the vaccines an outdoor kitty would, on the off chance that she would sneak out of the house on it (it's been known to happen ), and she'll be given Frontline and Heartgard when she's old enough.

We're using one of the old rattie cages with carpeting in the bottom as her "crib" while we're not home, since she's VERY curious and would get into heaps of trouble! It's 3 feet by 3 feet, and about 18" high, so she will have room to beat the crap out of glitter balls in there. We also plan to keep this cage in a separate room from the mean old big brother, who really doesn't want to get anywhere near her anyway, until we get her test results back.
(The little peach fuzzball in the front is Sammy ) We're heading to the pet store now to get some properly-sized food and water dishes, and a litter box. (And probably some toys, and 10 or 20 totally useless but cute things..........)

[bluekat]

Have you decided to keep her? I would, she is so cute! She is very small compared to that cage! That first pic is so cute too!
Good Luck with her!

[moosmom]

Did the vet say how old she was? My estimate is about 4 weeks old. That picture is hysterical!! ROFLMAO!!! She sounds lik a keeper to me. I'm sure once hubby gets home and takes one look at her, he'll fall in love. I know I have!!

[Desert Arabian]

Yes!! We are keeping her. We decided to keep her 3 hours after we got her...


We got back from PETCO about a half hour ago...we bought her another green fleece bed, water and food dishes, 6 more ball toys (glitter, foam, etc), a periwinkle collar (not putting it on her now...to small), and some other goodies. The rats and Dudley are getting a little jealous. lol.


The vet said she was 4 weeks old.

OH YEAH I ALMOST FORGOT...ha ha ha...this is funny. Right after we got done at the vet we went up to our local pet store called Animal House, (this the pet store where Sammy came from) to pick up some kitten goods. When we went up to the counter, the manager lady was up there and she kept on giving us "looks" and seemed kind of mad. She looked in the carrier and said "that's the cat". HA HA HA- we took the cat from her....and they couldn't sell it....HA HA HA. When you think about it that is EXTREMELY sick and wrong that they were going to sell a stray cat with no medical backgrounds at the pet store. SUCKERS!!!! We saved the kitty from the pit!! We're not going to that pet store again...now that PETCO opened!!!

[All Creatures Great And Small]

Well, she managed to step square in the middle of her milk dish and get her whole self sticky, so - her 2nd bath in 2 days!
Then, after she's all dry and fuzzy - time for bed:

Sigh........I had forgotten how much fun "babies" are........