need some advice on 8 week old kitten

I have a 8 week old kitten, he was born a preemie. the mother nursed him up till 5 weeks when she got ill and had to go on meds. I started feeding him formula from a bottle with some wet kitten food as instructed by my vet.

Chip is now 8 weeks old he eats wet food uses the litter but is still the size of 4-6 week old kitten he doesn't even weigh 1lb yet and he is the length from the tips of my fingers to my wrist stretched out.
thats just a bit of info on him

The questions I have are this.. I still have to get up in the middle of the night to let him out of the box to eat and use the litter due to he still gets into everything and can't be trusted on his own and he is eating his kitty litter (i use the recycled newspaper pellets called yesterdays news) and he chokes on it, he doesn't get how to chew hard food but does chew his wet food and he doesn't want to drink water.. Plus I have another male(neuteured) cat in the house who was here before chip and cookie (mother) and he has his freak out moments and I saw him jump the kitten and go to bite his neck and he looked like he was going to hurt him it wasn't play.. chip is a male as well I have also noticed he hisses at everyone and does a complete freakout and runs away..he was never like this before. we resuced the mom cat in the winter, didn't know she was already pregnant until she dropped the kittens on us. she had 2 but the first one died ..as I think they were too early. even the vet told me she wasn't pregnant..LOL ahhh yeah error!

how do I get him to stop eating the litter? if I change it to reg kitty litter will it harm him if he eats it? I would really love to put a litter box in his (what his playpen...haha) so that I don't have to get up as much through the night to let him use his litter.

how do i get him to drink water? I water down his wet food during the day and less at night as to keep him hydrated but full.

not sure how to address the other male cat issue any advice would help

sorry if the post is all over im tired, caring for a preemie kitten is like having a newborn all over again and im way out of practice.

I don't have any advice, but I sure someone will be along shortly with some answers.

I would change litters to something like World's Best which is corn or Schweat scoop. That way if he eats it is food anyway. He would not get hurt. Pet water fountains enthrall my kittens and they drink away from them. But he may be getting all he needs from the cat food you water down.

I have changed his litter to a all natural clay that is clumping free and scent free the pieces are very small and he seems to be doing better with that.. atleast he isn't choking on it and I was told if he eats it won't hurt him.. I was also told to try some apple bitter that might deter him from munching but I think my kitten is a little strange..LOL at first he ate some then ran away so I thought great problem solved..but nope not chip he dove back in for seconds..LOL and its not like im not feeding him enough..LOL he is a good eater. I still have him on 5-6 hr feeding since he has alot of weight catching up to do, I see all the pictures of kittens on here that are the same age or younger and they are all huge compared to my little chip.

I am going to go out and get a water fountain for all my cats to see if it will help bizou (older neutered male) with his toilet habits and chip in getting him interested in water.. I moved chip from his box at night to the bathroom last night and put his kitty litter in with him, he seemed to do good and I got more sleep he wasn't as rambunctious this morning I guess he had more room to play at night. Though I do play with him for a half hour to an hour every night to wear him out before bed time..

I guess with my bizou im just going to have to watch him very closely around the kitten to make sure he doesn't hurt him till chip is old enough to be neuteured.. he is not the father of chip, I found cookie (chips mom) outside half frozen and half starved this winter and took her in.. I didn't even know she was pregnant neither did the vet she must of just just been pregnant.. the vet told me she was days away from death, so I took her in fed her good gave her lots of luv and she loves it with us, she seems to be very happy and adjusted..

thank you for your posts and suggestions I would post pics of my guys but I can't seem to post pictures do you need a certain amount of posts on the board before u can?

I don't think so. Oh I am dying to see Chip and Cookie. He sounds so sweet.

well got the water fountain today, chip is intrigued by it and I Have caught him playing in it, cookie is terrified so far and bizzou well he just doesn't look impressed..LOL im hoping over the next few days they will get use to it.

the apple bitter is not detering chip from having dessert he is still digging and eating like there is no tomorrow in his cat litter, so im not putting it in anymore he is a strange little guy.. he is climbing all over the place and he is also able to jump down .. he did very well in the bathroom last night with his litter, hopefully tonight will be better.. cookie keeps whining at the door to get in, but yet she doesn't show any interest in him when he is out playing.. she won't let him suckle anymore actually since 6 weeks old all she will do is clean him which he hates and pushes her away..

I was going to adopt chip out to a good home, but he is my baby and I just can't do it.. its like giving away one of my children.. maybe if there was more than just him I could.. oh who am I kidding I would keep them all

First, thank you for rescuing the momma and her surprise kittens.

I'm not sure how to help you with the male you had first, maybe keep him in his own room for a while and let him sniff the kitten through the door? There is a lot written about cat introductions, if you do a google search on it a lot of helpful info should come up. Hissing is normal I think, it's how cats communicate to each other. I just wouldn't leave the kitten alone with him because you don't know what could happen.

As for the water thing, my cats love my water fountain. They were unsure about it at first but they both drink so much more water now. Chloe especially loves it, she likes to lick the water that comes out right on top of the fountain.

I would love to see pics You should be able to post them right way. Just upload them to a photo hosting site (like photobucket) and post the link in your message.

I posted pics of cookie, bizou and chip in this thread

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...91#post2358191