Getting 1 month old kitten ... need help

I work with a lady that can no longer keep her kittens. So i am going to take one. They are about 1 month old. I have never had a kitten before in my left. So any help would be great.

What type of food do i need to start him eating, when to start / how to start to litter train. you know the basics. any help would be great. thanks

first off if this women can no longer keep the kitten's isn't there anyway you could take all of them along with the mum just untill they have finshed weening ?

Originally Posted by shadow_kitty

I work with a lady that can no longer keep her kittens. So i am going to take one. They are about 1 month old. I have never had a kitten before in my left. So any help would be great.

What type of food do i need to start him eating, when to start / how to start to litter train. you know the basics. any help would be great. thanks

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Shadow....at 1 month old this kitten is only 4 weeks old and will be barely weaning. Does she have the mom cat still?? Is there any way that you could take the entire litter and keep them with their mother until they are older?? Ideally, kittens should not leave their mother until they are between 10-12 weeks (around 2 1/2 to 3 months of age). Since you are getting a kitten that is so young, you may still need to bottle feed it if it hasn't fully weaned yet. I would recommend you bookmark this site:

http://www.kitten-rescue.com

and click on the 4 -5 weeks page for information on what to expect.

Also, if this woman does have the mother cat and is only giving away the kittens, make sure she has the mother cat spayed so that it will not become pregnant again.

Katie

sorry was ment to be finshed nursing

Even if you can't take all of them, at least try and take 2. At 4 weeks old they really need their mama and her milk, but if they can't have that then they at least need a littermate.

that's what i did Tortie when i took in my 4 week old kitten's i went for just 1 when i relised how young there were i took on 2 as the owner would not allow her cat to be taken but there was no way i could have taken all 5 plus mamma aswell but i do think how the other 3 are now as when i got mine home i had to bottle feed and stimulate them ect.. but she allowed me to take 2 , there 6 month's old now and they do not leave each other's side

Awwww....they sound sweet. Is it really hard to raise young kittens on the bottle? I was thinking about fostering young kittens when my hubby and I get a bigger place and my husband said he'd think about it, but I just wanted to know if it was as difficult as people say.

It's not difficult, it is just time consuming and messy. They need to eat every few hours, that means taking them places with you or not going to work and waking up thru the night to feed them. Plus they are just a mess. You will stimulate them to poop and they won't go and then you put them down in their cage with fresh clean blankets and they suddenly figure out how to go on their own hehe.

It is a really great thing to do. I personally wouldn't want more then two bottle babies at once though.

Originally Posted by TortieBaby

Awwww....they sound sweet. Is it really hard to raise young kittens on the bottle? I was thinking about fostering young kittens when my hubby and I get a bigger place and my husband said he'd think about it, but I just wanted to know if it was as difficult as people say.

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Personally, I think it's difficult b/c both my FI and I have jobs so we would have to take shifts going home to feed them. So if you don't feel quite up to the challenge of bottle babies, tell them you want something a bit older. Once they're off milk and eating wet food and going to the bathroom on their own then you can leave them for 4 hours (thus only going home on a lunch break) to check on them/offer food. It's much easier and I think a good stepping stone to get to the bottle-babies.

Well, I've raised kittens before, I even have 3 right now that just turned 6 weeks old today. I also have a clean freak cat who had a litter once and is obsessed with kittens. Ever since my other cat's kittens were born the "slean freak" would lick their bums and make them go to the bathroom whenever she could. Sooo....I don't think that would be a problem, I would give them to her to raise but I would just have to feed them. Also, I don't work right now so I have all day to devote to their care.

Also, I figure the shelters could use more help with the young ones rather than with the older ones. I mean, those will get adopted out pretty quick and they don't need much care, the young ones, however, as you said, require a lot of time and effort. So, I figure it would help out the shelter a lot more by taking those ones off their hands. I'm not sure though, it's a pretty big commitment and I need to wait til we have a bigger place.

Speaking of which, my kittens are getting into trouble downstairs so I have to go.

I will have my husband talk to the lady on monday to see when they were born.from what she told us the first time we took it as they would be a month old, but it could of been wrong. She did say that they are ruing around, and that the mom is starting to wean them, and she has already started to litter box train them.

Now back to my question: if i get the kitten now, or if we wait tell it is between 8-12 weeks old, do i need to give them a milk replacement like KMR, do i feed them dry kitten food. Right now i have a 1 1/2 year old female cat that is eatting 2 cans of wet food a day, and has a bowl of dry food out at all times. What do i need to do different with a kitten, then what we are doing now.