New runt kitten, help please

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  • 23 April, 2014 at 5:02 pm #806431
    Frost
    Participant

    I adopted a female kitten the other day, just over 2 months old. She was from a litter of 2(currently potty training her brother for a friend).

    This little girl, who I’ve yet to name, is very clearly a runt. She is roughly half her brother’s size! She also seems to be a little sick. Her eyes and nose get a little runny from time to time, I’ve been keeping on top of wiping both clean. There’s no redness, or swelling, just a little goo throughout the day. Her previous home was pretty chilly, and dirty…I somewhat wonder if that could’ve been a factor in her illness, or if it’s just one of the many viruses cats have.

    She is very full of energy, plays for hours on end, has a very healthy appetite, and lets not forget she loves a good rough and tumble with my older kitten(they’re meant to be companions!).

    She has a choice between Hartz KMR, or fresh water. She prefers the KMR. I also leave out kitten crunchies for her, and a plate of meat. Both of which she loves to munch on frequently.

    I was wondering if I should be (very) concerned about her current state, being the runt, and being ill? Is there anything I can do to help? Besides taking her to the vet, as I already plan to do so after Friday(payday).

    23 April, 2014 at 5:42 pm #806434
    Buttons
    Moderator

    I too have a cat that is very small in size but that is due to a medical issue.. If she has runny eyes and nose she probably has Feline herpes.. It causes cat flu like symptoms and cause eye swelling and neezing .. I have two cats with this virus and it only normally rears it’s head when a cat is very young or feeling a bit stressed or under the weather.. I make sure they have L-lysine in their diet it help keep the herpes virus at bay preventing flare ups.. I’ve found it also helps small cats gain weight and really improves their coat..

    I’ll see if I can find one of my old threads with the details of dosage ..

    23 April, 2014 at 5:44 pm #806435
    Buttons
    Moderator

    L-lysine

    23 April, 2014 at 6:25 pm #806439
    Frost
    Participant

    Thank you very much, Buttons. I read the thread, and will be buying some L-lysine to give the siblings(chances are brother has it too).
    Hopefully with that in the little girl’s system, she’ll recover quickly and start growing!

    Would you recommend anything else? I’m still very new to raising kittens, I’ve only raised 1 prior to this runt(I really need to think of a name!), who is 7 months old now, very happy and healthy, but still… I don’t know much! Any tips, tricks, advice is very much appreciated. 🙂

    23 April, 2014 at 6:47 pm #806444
    Buttons
    Moderator

    Well l-lysine was a wonder for me an had help countless rescue kitties I’ve dealt with.. I would always recommend a wet food diet for all cats… You say they are two months old now so you can start weaning them off the KRM.. If you can get a wet food with a low to no grain or cereal content all the better.. Long term dry food diet in my opinion isn’t a good diet for any cat especially male as there are a lot of cases of urinary tract infections and blockages in cats on dry only food diets so I’ve taken all my 5 kitties off dry food and try to keep my Buttons on a raw food diet but I know that’s not for everyone.. But most importantly!! Have them spayed and neutered ASAP as soon as they’re 5 months you can have them fixed.. This prevents so many behavioral issues and of course make sure there are no more unwanted kittens..

    Sounds like your doing a good job …

    23 April, 2014 at 6:53 pm #806445
    Jeankit
    Participant

    Warm welcome to TDK. Can’t top the wealth of knowledge shared by Buttons for you!
    Here are some links from a past chat link on Raising Kittens:

    Jeankit

    Participant

    Here is a list of helpful links that will help in raising kittens, orphans, newbies!

    http://www.cat-health-guide.org/kitten-care.html

    http://messybeast.com/handrear.htm

    On-line vet link too:

    http://www.free-online-veterinarian-advice.com

    24 April, 2014 at 4:00 am #806507
    jcat
    Participant

    Frost, Hartz kitten replacement milk is not the brand I would recommend, but if she’s doing well on it, that’s great. There is also a supplement you can get from good pet stores or websites like entirelypets.com called Nutrical for kittens, it is specially formulated for sick or malnourished or underweight kittens. Best of luck!

    24 April, 2014 at 4:37 am #806512
    Frost
    Participant

    @Buttons&Jeankit – Thank you both for the information.
    I try to feed the kittens more meat than dry food, sadly my income won’t allow me to switch entirely to meat.


    @jcat     I had bought it before I got her, didn’t think she’d be in such poor shape. It worked well for my older kitten(when I first got her), very well actually, and that’s why I picked it up again just before getting this new girl, on the off chance she wasn’t fully weaned. I’ll have to order Nutrical online, as I know no store in town, or even in the nearby towns supplies it.

    I checked out her ears earlier, either mites or infection. I have never seen ears that badly crusted over before. No odor, but boy oh boy, the black crust was built up so badly I couldn’t even see her ear canals! Had to very carefully dislodge it with a damp, warm Qtip(or20). Still pretty dirty, but at least her canals are visible. She’s got 2 blistery looking bumps by the opening of her ears. When I was cleaning up her ears, the Qtip knocked one and a very small amount of blood came out. Her ears are very itchy. 🙁

    I checked her brother’s ears, he has the same black crusty build up but it’s not even remotely as bad as hers.

    My shopping list doesn’t want to stop growing! However it’ll be worth it if it all gets her little body on track.

    24 April, 2014 at 5:21 am #806517
    jcat
    Participant

    Well, http://www.entirelypets.com is a very reliable site and you can also order things through amazon through this site, which means our beloved kittenmaster gets some help to pay for keeping this site running. That does sound like ear mites. Poor little ones, they are lucky to have you.

    24 April, 2014 at 5:30 am #806518
    Sikandar Nirmal Singh
    Participant

    it could even be a mix of both. frost every cat is different, and what works for one may or may not work for another, even from the same family. i had cats who loved cheap dollar store catfood, which was great for me. i’m sure it wasn’t the best quality food, but it was what i could afford and they were happy and healthy. others r very picky. my best friend has my one cat now, and she says he’ll eat ANYTHING (just like his mum, i’m afraid hahah) but they have a feral outside who they are feeding too, and that one is pickier.

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