found a newborn

ok. It has been a while since I have visited the sight and you guys were wonderful helping me with Princess Leah. She is as ornery as every by the way. A friend of mine found a kitten on thier doorstep tuesday night. They new I had raised Leah from birth so they brought the kitten to me the next day at work. Before I got the kitten they had fed him infant baby formula.

I got him yesterday and I have him on a newborn kitten formula, he is on a heatpad on low with towels in between him and the pad, I found Leahs old stuffed, heartbeat animal that he is cuddeling with, and he has pooped and peed for me. Is there anything I am forgetting??

Oh I think he is about a week old. He has one eye open and just this morning the otherone looks like it was starting.

What I am worried about is he is hardly eating but he is eating. Since we don't know how he got there or why I have no idea how long he has gone without food. I think he was a little dehydrated when I got him though. I could not get him to pee until late last night and he did not poop until this morning.

Also, I have never felt a cats hair like this. It is really think and rough. Not soft like all my kittens before. He is white but a dirty white not a bright one and the skin under this ears are black as with his legs it looks like. I could not tell you for sure what color the skin under his body is but when I washed this tail last night it turned dark grey when it got wet. Any clues on what kind of kitten he might be?

Well that was all. Let me know what I am forgetting to do for him.

Thanks

Take him to the vet ... if he is dehydrated and not taking in enough food/liquid it can be very serious.. or turn that way quickly.

He may be a colorpoint mix from what you're saying. The points don't show up right away.

www.kitten-rescue.com will help you. Please be careful using a human heating pad on one so young. A better bet is to go to PetSmart or PetCo and get a thermal pad or a pet heating pad. Less of a heating element inside those, protecting the skin from being burned (which is what a human heating pad can do to young kittens)

Depending on where you live, if the kitten got to cold his organs could start to shut down. Bringing him into the warmth and warming him to quickly can also cause the organs to malfunction. The kitten could be hyperglycemic and simply putting a bit of Karo syrup on the gums may help revive it. If he starts to crash a few drops of strong warm coffee (black) may also jumpstart the system.

Be sure the kitten is out of drafts, don't over-handle him for now. Keep the room quiet and free of foot traffic. He isn't out of the woods by any means, but at least he has someone knowledgeable fighting for his right to be here. You should be feeding every 2-3 hours like clockwork- it's a grueling schedule but hey, thank God for Starbucks! Welcome to kitten season-

Not all kittens have soft fur- depends on if the kitten is a short-or long-hair and what crossbreed it might be. When cats mate outside unsupervised by humans it's a crap shoot. You have no idea what genetic problems you might run into with this little one because the parentage is in question. You just do the best you can for him and the rest is really up to God.

I am not too worried about the heat pad. It is the same one I used for Leah. I have a thick towel doubled over on top of it and the pad set on low so even where the little guy is laying when I pick him up is just barely warm. I have him with me at work today so I can feed him all throughout the day. Same set up as I had for Leah.

He is really active when he is awake. He crawls around and hollors at me. Just when I feed him he wants to fall asleep like instantly. He does not seem sickly so I really was thinking that mom was feeding him up to a day or so before I got him and he is not liking the change in milk.

BURBING!!! That is what I am forgetting! I just went to that web sight and read through it. Thanks a lot. It is really informative. I have to go burb my kitten now!!!