Rescued kitten - is he eating enough?

My vet asked me to take in a kitten that had been abandoned , along with his littermates, in a parking lot. My new boy was the only one not euthanized.

The vet estimates that he is about 4 - 5 weeks old, but he only weighs 9.5oz! The vet fed him Iams canned food mixed with water, and told me to continue this regimen.

Little Guy (he hasn't told me his name yet), eats about 1 teaspoon Iams mixed with an equal amount of water every 3 - 4 hours. He seems to have a good appetite and lets me know when he is hungry.

Is this enough food for him? He's alert and gets around well, just a little wobbly. But I can feel every rib and vertebrae since he's so skinny. He also won't drink water.

Thanks

sounds like it, since he isn't drinking a lot of water, that is good you are mixing a good amount of water into the Iams canned. Have you tried a bottle at all?

I don't know how to convert oz to lbs but at 4-5 weeks he should weigh about 1lb...

Thanks for the reply. 9.5 oz is about .6 lb. I haven't tried a bottle yet, but he's taking medicine from a syringe pretty well so I think I'll use one to give him water.

Thanks again.

Be very careful doing that, go really slow, if you hear a cough, stop because that means the fluid is going into his lungs and that will drown him. Leave a bowl of water out for him to drink and keep adding water into the Iams and even add water to dry food and much it all up, heat it up slightly too, he should be set.

3-4 weeks is really young. I think you should definately be giving him formula, not cat food.

Unfortunately, the little guy didn't make it.

He became lethargic about an hour after I first posted, so I took him to the Animal ER. After a night's intensive nursing the vet recommended euthanasia. She said that the parasitic load was too great, his condition so weakened that there was no realistic chance of him surviving more than a day or so.

I'm just so angry at whoever abandoned the litter. Maybe if the little guy had been kept with his momma he would have had a chance.

The only comfort is knowing that he had lots of love and attention for the last few days.

Thanks for your help.

Oh, poor little guy. I'm sorry that he didn't make it. People who abandon babies like that should be taken to prison and abandoned.