hi! i’m currently caring for a kitten who is about four days old and has been separated from her mom since birth from what we can tell. she was found in a bush in our neighborhood being circled by dogs and we couldn’t find the mother, so her care has been on me ’round the clock for the last few days.
the kitten seems great. she’s eating, she’s peeing clear/pale yellow fluid regularly, she’s strong, and seems to have a ton of fight in her, but i have a few questions and all the information i’m from various sources seems to conflict.
could anyone with advice help me here?
1. is KMR absolutely necessary? i live in an area with a few ethnic stores and a pharmacy but i’m unable to find it here and my transportation is limited at the moment, so i’ve been feeding the kitten a recipe i found online that seems to be doing the trick. (evaporated milk and water in equal parts, yogurt, mayonnaise, egg yolk, cod liver oil, etc.) i’ve seen several people state that their kittens thrived on similar recipes, so i’m wondering, could i get by with this for a bit longer or should getting the KMR be a top priority?
2. on her second morning with me, she had her first poop and had passed it completely on her own. (walked away for a moment, came back and there it was.) it was a golden yellow with a bit of brown and not *soft* but certainly not especially firm. she had two other poops that day, both similar in color, then no poop on her third day, and a small poop early this morning that was a darker shade of yellow. (the first two also being passed without any stimulation.) googling you find that yellow poops are either the poop of death, then find other results that say yellow poops are perfectly normal and EXPECTED from a bottle-fed kitten. can someone please explain? as i said, the poops are perfectly normal in consistency, it’s just the color that is off.
3. aside from the little poop we had this morning, she hasn’t pooped in two days now and i’m beginning to worry? her tummy looks pretty swollen, but it doesn’t feel firm (it’s squishy!) and it doesn’t seem to be bothering her. should i be worried at all?
4. she eats anywhere from 3-8 mLs per feeding with an average of 6 mLs and i try to feed her every 3 hours, but she seems to like to eat a lot and sleep a lot and i’m wondering if i should start waking her up and feeding her on an actual schedule rather than whenever she’s awake? (it’s the weekend, so i’ve been with her 24/7, pretty much.)
i apologize for such a long, wordy post, but i’m really just hoping to keep this little gal happy and healthy and any advice would be appreciated.