New Young Kittens

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  • #851296
    Alaina
    Participant

    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!

    #851301
    Kittyzee
    Participant

    Go to the grocery and get some goat’s milk. They are still too young to be weaned entirely yet, but the weaning process can BEGIN. The goat’s milk is good for them, and full of probiotics for their digestive systems. It’s in the refrigerated milk section, or in the baking aisle in cans or powder. The canned is condensed, so add water 1 to 1. You can feed this mixed with some wet food to make a gruel and put it in a bottle or syringe. Cut the end of the nipple off so the gruel can pass through easily. Make sure they don’t inhale the food into their lungs. You can probably introduce them to the litterbox at this point too, although some take to it easier than others. Please used plain clay, unscented, nonclumping litter while they are very small and learning as kittens tend to eat litter and the clumping can cause blockages.
    I’m going to post a couple of links for you on hand rearing kittens. These will help from newborn to the weaning stage. Good luck and keep us posted!
    http://www.safehavenforcats.com/newborn.htm
    http://messybeast.com/handrear.htm

    #851388
    Alaina
    Participant

    Thanks Kittyzee. I made up some kitten gloop for them and am feeding them kitten food and chicken. The girl is very fussy and they both refuse to drink plain water but other than that all seems to be well. I haven’t seen poop but there is evidence of it (my one dog has decided she wants to groom them).

    I am worried about my resident cats though. Granted it’s only been three and a half days, but they seems to be out the house more avoiding the kitties. My male sniffed them the day we got them and was fine, but the one kitten hissed at him this evening and he ran out the house (and he’s seven). My other car is pretending they don’t exist. She sees them but is too scared to really engage in them (she is four, was found as a feral as a young kitten).

    Will they eventually all get along, or at least tolerate each other without feeling it necessary to leave the house?

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