Info Please...

Hi, my name is Jeanne.

I am here to get a bit of help with a 20 day old rescue kitten. I do have kitten formula and bottles, and all the various things I have read that I will need to raise this little guy, but he also has a health issue that I am unsure of what to do. The little guy has a vet appt. for next Tuesday.

First, he seems to hate the nipples on the bottle, will he get better with it given some time? I even bought 3 different available type of nipples thinking he might not have liked the first.

He also sneezes, and has a mildly runny nose, and his eyes were all gunked up so they could not even open. He was a mess. I cleaned him up with a damp warm rag, his eyes can now open for him to see, but he still has a nasty discharge from his eyes, I want to say like pink eye, but worse, it periodically oozes out from his eye lids. They are also swollen a bit.

When I called my vet, who ever answered the phone tried to tell me it was perfectly normal for kittens to be sick. I even went into explaining just how sick this guy is and told her about his eyes. All she said was, "thats normal, all kittens are sick before they get vaccinations". Somehow, I find this very very hard to believe, seeing as though I have seen plenty of other litters of kittens that were not sick like this little guy. I find it a bit frustrating that my own vet office receptionist thinks this is no big deal.

I have terramycin eye ointment, can I use this to help his eyes till he can see a vet? Is there anything I can do for him till the vet can see him?

I would use the eye ointment and clean the eyes frequently. That usually clears it up in a couple of days, but I would keep up with it for about a week. That's what has always been prescribed for all of my goopy eyed kittens. It's common but I wouldn't call it "normal".

It's not that uncommon but I would not say it's normal. Is there another vet in your town that you could call?

Do you have a plastic eyedropper that you could use? At least it's better than not getting any formula. Maybe he's refusing the milk because he's sick?

I'd suggest calling back to your vet, and asking to speak to the vet, not the receptionist. Receptionists, for all that they try to be helpful, and some are certainly more knowlegable than others, don't always know the correct answer.

I figure you probably know this since you've been researching what to do with the baby, but when you feed him/her, make sure he/she is on his stomach and not on his back... and maybe squeeze a small drop or two (but not much) onto it's tongue so it gets a taste. It might be that it's just tasting the latex on the nipple and not liking it.

Good luck with the baby, and please let us know how it goes.

UPDATE:

We got through the night with no problems, as of this afternoon, he is now nursing from the bottle, although not very happily since he growls while nursing, I think he just had to figure it out. He seems to want to feed about every 3-4 hours right now, and takes about 4 cc's per feeding. I think his eating like he does is because he is sick.

Started him on the eye ointment last night, as I type this, his eyes are almost drainage free already, and he can actually open his eyes on his own. Amazing how quick that stuff worked its magic. Will continue to apply 2 times daily until he sees me vet.

He is still sneezing and his runny nose has gotten a bit less runny, but I think he still needs the vet to check him over for this too.

On another note, I am in love. This is my first kitten, at 33 years old, you would have thought I would have had cats/kittens some where along the way. I have had cats, the inherited type, those that usually come with your new place of residence. All always older cats, never ever kittens. Sadly, I have taken everyone into the home and when I tried to move, they ended up freaking out and ran off, never to be found again. Needless to say, this is a new experience for me. I have raised puppies before, but never realised that even as babies they are very different than kittens... and here I thought this would be like raising pups..lol

Little orange boy now has a permanent home/family, with me, my husband, my teenage son and daughter, 3 dogs, rodents and reptiles.... yes, I run a zoo here at my house... he also has a name..... my husband has been calling him Garfield... yeah I know, not very original.. but my husband is a Garfield fan.

Anyone know how to post pics here? I would love to share!

I'm glad to hear that Garfield is doing better.

A lot of us have free accounts at www.photobucket.com

You can upload your pics to photobucket, then there will be code provided under each pic there. Just copy the code that starts with IMG and paste it in your post. There's probably a sticky here about pics and sizes but I don't have the link. The longest side should be 640 pixels or less, I think. I think Photobucket can resize your pics too.

We'd love to see him!

Three to four hours is the standard, and honestly, I know this is a pain, but he should be fed throughout the night too. Sounds like you're being a great kitty mom! I'm sending all the good healthy no eye gunk and stay hearty vibes I can to you and Garfield.