Hi everyone,
A neighbor of mine found a newborn kitten squalling on a rock near the apartment building and took him in. I assume the mother got spooked while moving him. I have no idea if she’d have come back for him but there are a lot of tom cats running around which could have proved dangerous for the tiny kitten.
He was rather cold so I immediately brought him in, warmed him and ran out to get formula and a kitten bottle (wanted to get a syringe but couldn’t find any). My best guess is that he was around 2 days old, small enough I could close my hand up around him completely. I was kind of terrified by just how small he was. However he didn’t seem malnourished or sick just slightly dehydrated (hopefully he got enough colostrum).
While Hoping for the best I kept in mind that he might not survive but each day he has grown stronger with regular bowel movements of appropriate consistency and color. I’ve had him for 7 days now and his eyes began opening yesterday.
One concern was an eye infection which I believe he had when I got him but didn’t notice until it began to swell more. Warm cotton ball soaking on the eye to dissolve the crust allowed it to drain. The discharge was opaque, slightly yellow. Over a couple days the discharges became smaller but not wanting to take a chance I took him to the vet this morning and got some some anti-biotic ointment which I am to use 3 times daily. She told me to put it in both eyes as precaution.
I’ve been fairly stressed and exhausted this past week taking care of him but glad to know they said he’s doing very well and aside from the eye infection seems extremely healthy. So I certainly feel more confident and relaxed now.
I’ve hand raised 10 newborn puppies before after the mother began to reject them (overwhelmed first time mother) and most of the same basics care applies but between feedings I continue to do my research on orphan kitten care just to make sure I’m doing everything to give this little guy his best shot at survival.
So now at 10 days old and doing well I’m finally coming around to picking out a name. I didn’t really want to or get too attached at the start.
I don’t really have any questions at that time, more that I wanted to share my experience. Oh.. one does come to mind. I downloaded some female cat purr mp3’s and was considering putting an Ipod speaker in the corner of his nest. I know they cannot hear much at this age but perhaps feel the vibration from the speaker, so any thoughts on that? I also have a couple small beanie babies in there to simulate litter mates.