Newborn strays HELP!!

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  • #659322
    jcat
    Participant

    So you don’t need to trawl through the threads:

    The tent test is to test for dehydration:

    Tent test: pick up a good pinch of kitten’s skin at the neck and let go.If it snaps back immediately, she’s hydrated okay. If it takes a little time to go back down, or, worse, it stays up in a ‘tent’ shape, she needs fluids, such as pedialyte (from the supermarket, children’s aisle) or home-made pedialyte below.

    Note, in the United Kingdom, pedialyte is called Dioralyte. Also known as rehydration salts.

    Home-made pedialyte:

    Pedialyte:

    * Pedialyte formula (from World Health Organization)…no preservatives so short life-span

    * 1 cup water (boiled then cooled)

    * 2 tsp sugar

    * 1/8 tsp salt

    * 1/8 tsp baking soda

    * (this Pedialyte formula gives needed electrolytes & some sugar for energy)

    Combine all ingredients and warm

    #659323
    chickentherapy
    Participant

    Oh thank you for that recipe! Boy is looking after the kitteys this morning and taking them to the vet so I will get him to mix some of that up for them. They all made it through the night and after each meal they spend the next half an hour trying to climb out of the box. A few of them have figured it out so a bigger box is on the cards today! I am hoping this is a good sign that they are thriving, they couldn’t walk two days ago and now they are pulling themselves out of a box bigger than them! The only one that is not giving that a shot is the little grey runt. She spends most of her time on the heat sock, she ate a fair bit at their 1am feeding but again only 2ml at their 5am feed. Most of them are sucking down 7-11ml per feed every 4 hours. There is one little champ that has been doing 11ml each feed and wants MORE! Should I let him have more of restrict him? He still hasn’t pooped and his belly is starting to get firm but he burps a lot.

    No poops from any of them yet… Ill update when they get back from the vet.

    I keep doing the tent test and it goes down fairly fast – very fast on all of them. None of them stay up. But a couple of them have smelly slightly yellow peep. Maybe UTI?

    I have never been a cat person (chickens and old dogs are my thing) but golly gee these kittehs are growing on me!

    Oh! Here is a video of them after their 5am feed this morning πŸ™‚ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edmNRRe_ShU

    #659324
    chickentherapy
    Participant

    Oh and about the honey thing – I am vegan and dont have any honey… would maple syrup or agave syrup or even a home made sugar syrup work the same?

    #659325
    chickentherapy
    Participant

    And also, thank you both so much! I seriously would not have been able to cope the last couple of days without your advice! I am not great at replying asap but I have been reading everything and it has been so beyong helpful! I was so overwhelmed by different ideas on the net I had no idea where to start with looking after these babies (who would have known about the wee technique??) but I think so far they are doing well… better than they would have living on a grated radiator in the rainy autumn weather anyways!

    #659326
    Kiplings_cat
    Participant

    I imagine that sugar syrup would work fine; I gave my diabetic cat Karo syrup (corn syrup) when he had a hypoglycemic episode. All of these are simple sugars that can be absorbed through the gum tissue to give a quick boost to the blood sugar. Because if their blood sugar is too low, they will become very lethargic and unable to suck. But it doesn’t keep the blood sugar up long- think of a sugar rush! so it needs to be followed by formula (or repeated)

    #659327
    chickentherapy
    Participant

    Ah true, OK, with the runt I will try the syrup and then formula. See if she will perk up!

    Just got news back from the vet – she was really surprised at how well they were all doing. She said we were doing everything that we need to be doing and that they are around early 3 weeks and weigh around 290g each. She said that they must be pooing or they wouldn’t be eating as much so maybe they are doing it and the other kitties are cleaning it up? Or maybe they are doing it in the middle of the night when we are half asleep and we think its just wee? I dont know.. But she said that their bellies are actually quite soft so thats good! They do all have the flu and I will take them back for a proper appointment later this afternoon to get some antibiotics for them but she said that 99% of strays have the flu or get the flu and they either make it or they fade, its just part of being a stray kitty. I say Bugger that! Ima drug my little kitties and hug them and warm them and feed them until that flu buggers off!

    I had a beautiful little mouse once that caught a respiratory infection when she was about 1 month old. She lived until she was just over two and every morning and afternoon we would give her little drops of antibiotics and when she got wheezy or sneezy she would have a sauna (bathroom with a hot shower running) and tea tree oil (which I wont be using on the kitties now! It hasn’t hurt them over night but Im not going to risk it!). She ended up passing away an old lady and it was from an inoperable tumor next to her lung. I plan on looking after my little gray runty just as much as my little mouse Anastaysia πŸ™‚

    #659328
    jcat
    Participant

    I think you’ll find that yellow, slightly smelly peep is actually poop…

    #659329
    Kiplings_cat
    Participant

    That is great news that they are doing so well!

    #659330
    chickentherapy
    Participant

    Are you serious? I have been so stressed that they weren’t pooping and that they had uti’s and all the while its just their weird poops? Awesome! But grr! But awesome!

    Kiplings- I know! I’m stoked! I can’t stop smiling!

    My poor beautiful anxious rescue dog needs some attention now that I know the kittys are going to be OK πŸ™‚

    #659331
    jcat
    Participant

    It is, it is wonderful news, and they are such cuties on the video. Yep, they are walking and wanting to explore their surroundings and playing with each other — try to let them out for supervised play at least once a day in a reasonably kitten proof room, you’ll both have great fun and they will probably want to climb on your lap for some cuddles too! I have read that the most confident kittens are those that are brought up ‘under foot’ (within reason, of course), from my experience with my fosters I’d say it’s true.

    You’re very welcome re the advice, it’s so easy to give it but you’re the one who has to do all the hard work! Try to keep feeding the little runt little and often, I’d be trying to coax her to take another ml every couple of hours during the day at least. I don’t think kittens can eat too much or get too chubby but some websites disagree, they say if you feed them too much, they might get tummy troubles. I think this lot have had a terrible start, they’re sick, they’re behind, if they want to eat, go for it. You are doing the most amazing job!

    #659332
    jcat
    Participant

    Kitten poop is mustard yellow at first, and since they’re only on formula, not solids yet, it’s not going to be all that solid itself. Once they start on solids mixed into their formula (you can try this at four weeks), their poop will still be yellowy but begin to get more like toothpaste consistency.

    #659333
    chickentherapy
    Participant

    Runty has been getting around 2ml every 2 hours, I try the bottle at first but she doesn’t accept it so I use the syringe. I will give her some sugar syrup today and see how she goes after that.

    When should I start on the solid mix? What sorts of solids should I mix in? My dog is a crazy vegan (he turned his nose up at meat when I was fostering him when he was a and he had my heart) so I am not really sure what to feed them… When do they go onto biscuits?

    #659334
    jcat
    Participant

    If Runty has been getting 2 ml every 2 hours, that’s pretty good, she probably doesn’t need the sugar syrup unless you’re trying to get extra calories into her. There is a supplement called Nutri-cal which you can also give her.

    You can try weaning at four weeks (obviously the sooner, the less work for you πŸ™‚ ) but some just aren’t having any at that age, it all depends on the kittens. I had some that were chewing raw meat quite happily at four weeks, others that refused anything but milk till around 8 weeks. But they all come to it in the end, cats just like to do things in their own time.

    I wouldn’t advise biscuits, they tend to be a bit dehydrating, but if you do want to feed them, you must also always have fresh clean water available for the cats. I would start with a good quality wet kitten food (Royal Canin mousse is apparently irresistible) and drizzle it with KMR on a wide flat dish. They will probably walk in it but that’s okay, weaning is always messy. If they turn their little noses up, just keep trying until one day they’ll discover it’s actually yummy and much more filling than milk. But it may take a while. Some people do it the other way and mix a little bit of wet food into the KMR so they are sucking a sort of wet gruel. Whatever works is good.

    I wouldn’t advise trying a vegan or vegetarian diet on a cat and they also need many more (and more complex) nutrients than dogs, so it is important to feed them properly πŸ™‚

    #659335
    kaitlyn
    Participant

    That video is precious!!!! I’m so glad they’re all doing well… especially the little runt πŸ™‚ They may be little now, but watch out, before you know it they’ll be getting into loads of trouble πŸ˜‰

    #659336
    ladysky61
    Participant

    Unlike Dogs, Cat’s are carnivores and need the meat.

    #659337
    chickentherapy
    Participant

    Ladysky – I didn’t say I was going to not feed them meat, I just asked what sort of foods should I feed them as meat is not really my forte…

    Kaitlyn – golly gee, I can’t even imagine what they will be like in a week. Already they are trying to crawl out of their box and stressing me out!

    Jcat – is there a good site for home made cat foods? I like to use fresh produce when it comes to my other animals, lots of fruits and vegies, so I would like to do the same with the cats whether it be mince beef or fish… And maybe just supplement anything that I can’t recreate with a powder..

    #659338
    jcat
    Participant

    CT, I wish I could help but I just don’t know enough about Australian foods, There is a good quality firm here who do several types of raw minced meat for cats (pure beef, beef and heart, steak and kidney, veal), in the supermarkets, and I just scoop out about 200 grams for my cats for their evening meal. I give them raw chicken livers once or twice a week (no more because they’re too rich in vitamin A). BUT I also give them a good quality wet food every morning out of a pouch or tin because they also need lots of trace elements and other nutrients and I know they won’t get that from my just feeding them minced raw meat. In the wild they would also be getting small bones (for calcium — not so important for grown cats but very important for developing kittens) and the ‘green’ lining of the stomach of small herbivores, and they should get sardines or similar for omega oils, etc etc and that all just gets a bit too complicated for me.

    However, if you do want to go the whole raw feeding hog, with ground-in bone etc etc, there are apparently good discussion groups on Catster where people will be happy to advise you. I’m sure there must be good discussion groups in Australia too.

    The only bad thing is that it wouldn’t be particularly pleasant for a vegetarian (I’m semi-veg). But feeding mine half wet food and half raw seems to work quite well so far (touch wood).

    But I’ve no doubt someone in Oz is doing good raw foods or providing information for those who want to. I’d start with Catster and get googling! (To get to Catster, click on one of our avatar photos and you’ll find our Catster pages for our cats.)

    #659339
    chickentherapy
    Participant

    Awesome, Ill check out Catster. Thanks!

    Btw, I took them back to the vet yesterday afternoon to get the antibiotics and it turns out there is no cat flu yet, just some weird sneezing. so YAY! And their feeds are MASSIVE now! I had one kitty at their 8am feed take 28ml!!!! They are all averaging around 14ml every 3 hours now. Little chuggers!

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