Hi all, I’m new to the site and hoping for a little advice on new kittens I got. I have two adult cats- one is seven years old (got him at eight weeks so he was litter box trained and everything). My second adult cat is four years old (anxious cat due to her being rescued off the street at six weeks old (she hid in the room for a month)). We had arranged to get kittens from an oopsy litter when they were old enough however due to a feral cat in the area eating kittens (it ate an entire litter in the neighbourhood and ate one from this litter) we had to get them yesterday. I was under the impression that they were at least six weeks old but they are probably only between four and five weeks (I can’t 100% tell and the owners are so useless they didn’t make a note of what day they were born). Anyway, I was completely unprepared for such young kittens. I didn’t have formula, bottles, nothing and being a Sunday late afternoon, nothing was open for me to go get. I googled and googled and gave them some water through a syringe when we got home and then gave them a bit of rice water (also through the syringe). I stimulated a pee out of both of them, but no poop yet. This morning I went to the shop (it opens before the vets do here) and got a tin of kitten food and a baby bottle because I read that you can actually wean them off milk at this age. So this morning again I gave them about 4mls of rice water and then about another 4mls of diluted soft kitten food (they started to get very fussy and wouldn’t take more). I stimulated a pee again but still no poop but I read that a) mommy cat would have done that before we collected them (we haven’t even had them for 24 hours), b) the change of environment could delay it and c) they don’t necessarily have to poop after every feeding or even every day.
I’m not sure if I need to go get a tin of kitten milk (considering they can actually be weaned off it now)? And if I’m feeding them enough (I’m pretty sure they are supposed to have more but they start rejecting the food after a few mls).
The kittens are happy- they are playing and exploring the room and sleeping after feeding so I think that’s its going OK, I’m just not sure if I should give them milk too? Their teeth are way too small to handle solid foods.
Thanks for your advice!