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When I was in town today, I stopped at a local plant/pet supply store to pick up some more plants.
The woman who owns the store is involved somewhat with cat rescue - she adopts out rescue cats and kittens there at the store; all adoptive cat "parents" have to sign an agreement to get their cat spayed or neutered as soon as they are old enough and then bring the proof in from the vet that it's been done (my daughter-in-law got one of her cats there).
Anyway, while I was there, a young woman came in with something wrapped in a hand towel and she was kind of freaking out. She had found a newborn kitten on her porch - apparently she has some feral cats around her place, and to her credit, she has been trapping them and taking them in to be spayed and neutered - but there are a couple that she hasn't been able to catch and she thinks, for whatever reason, one of them left this newborn kitten on her porch.
So, not knowing what to do with this kitten, she rushed it into the store, knowing the owner's work with cat rescue and hoping she could do something for the kitten because she had never raised one herself. The owner of the store wasn't there and the guy working there was kind of wringing his hands, saying, "I don't know what to do."
I told the woman that I had raised kittens before and she asked if I would take it. I said I would and she offered to pay for the kitten milk replacer (I told her no, that wasn't necessary).
But then I unwrapped this baby from the towel and was shocked! It was brand new, and in fact, was still wet! My first thought was that it was a premie because it looked like it didn't even have hair - or at least, very little. But then I realized it just looked that way because it was wet (it turns out it is a white manx - no tail!).
So, I've got it home and warmed up on a hot water bottle. It has taken some milk replacer - actually sucked on its own (I use a syringe). I haven't gotten it to pee or poop yet.
Ok, I have raised kittens before. I know how to feed them and I know how to make them go potty. But, to be honest, I haven't had much luck with these very tiny ones - the last ones I raised successfully were probably about ten days old when I got them (based on them having just gotten their eyes open).
I've done some googling to make sure I'm not missing anything - the only thing I came up with that I didn't already know was one site highly recommending that when raising a single kitten to be sure and hold it for as much as three or four hours a day.
Any suggestions here? Has anyone here successfully raised kittens this young? Am I missing anything?
Any suggestions here? Has anyone here successfully raised kittens this young? Am I missing anything?
Brevity snipped.
You do have to handle them a bit when feeding and when stimulating it to urinate and defacte. It must have contact with something alive. Use a WARM cotton ball or WARM soft cloth to make it "go". A kitten bottle is better than a syringe. Why are you using a syringe? If it gets too much formula it can go into the lungs or sinus cavities and kill the baby. Also, they must be kept WARM at all times. This is where so many people lose the neonates. They either let them chill off or they overheat them. Keep the box or basket heated in some way 24/7. I used to use a safty made box with an overhead light-bulb for heat. I kept them a 90F for the first week. Then gradually dropped the temperature a few degrees a day. With a single or two kittens you may need to keep them warmer longer.
All I have for heat is the hot water bottle. I was in a hurry to get it home (I was thirty miles from home when it was given to me), otherwise I would have stopped and bought a heating pad.
I'm planning on getting up a couple of times during the night to refill the hot water bottle with hot water and to feed.
I've never had any luck getting them to take the bottle - the syringes have very small tips and they will suck those.
I've done the potty thing with the wash cloth and it did poop.
Kitten is alive and well this morning. She had me up several times during the night - not just to eat but she really does seem to want that one on one contact. Kind of a vocal little thing.
She took 1 1/2 cc of milk replacer this morning - sucking on her own, not force fed.
My biggest concern at the moment is that I'm not seeing any pee. It could be coming off on the wash cloth, I suppose; it's just that I remember from past kittens the pee being more obvious. Hopefully it's nothing to worry about and I'll keep trying. It may be that since she was so young when I got her that it just hasn't worked its way through yet.
I'm thinking about calling my vet this morning and see if they know anyone who has a momma cat with a new litter of kittens. It's a long shot, but if I could find a momma that we could try to foster this kitten to, it might have a better shot. Because I spay and neuter, I've only had a couple of cats over the years that have had kittens, but each time, we ended up with another kitten (rescue situations) about the same age as the litters and the moms were quite happy to take on another baby.
I just called my vet - they don't know of any momma cats and she said they rarely do hear of them until the kittens are weaned and the momma is brought in for spaying.
I'll probably try a couple of other vets, maybe a feed store or two in case any customers have mentioned having new kittens.
Otherwise, I'll just keep on doing what I'm doing and hope for the best.
I do have a line on a momma with a two day old litter. The girl who has the cat works at one of the feed stores I do business with and she said we could try it and see if her momma will take this one.
I'm just a little concerned because she told me that their attitude is "if it makes it, great, if not, oh, well."
The baby took 2 cc's a little while ago, so she seems to be doing well.
Edited to add: I had thought about posting something on CL; hadn't thought about this very forum.
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