We have many feral cats in our area who do not let us around them, tonight my Dh found a kitten that was swarmed with flies, he thought that it was dead and was going to bury it when it started crying, we have washed it and forced feed it some formula, paying for a vet is not an option as we have a newborn baby and I have been out of work. Our local humane societies would put it to sleep, are there any suggestions as to things we can force feed it to help save it ? We have put it in our dog's crate so that the other cats can't get into it
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Need Help, Found Feral Kitten close to Death
- Thread starter oursweetlabs
- Start Date
Thank you for rescuing this kitty!
The most important thing is to keep the kitten warm. Here is a great resource:
http://www.kitten-rescue.com/
You can use the descriptions of what's happening at each age to determine roughly how old the kitty is.
Please feel free to ask more questions, though it might be more appropriate to post them in the Pregnant Cats & Kitten Care forum.
Laurie
The most important thing is to keep the kitten warm. Here is a great resource:
http://www.kitten-rescue.com/
You can use the descriptions of what's happening at each age to determine roughly how old the kitty is.
Please feel free to ask more questions, though it might be more appropriate to post them in the Pregnant Cats & Kitten Care forum.
Laurie
Here is a link to a recipe for "Kitten Glop." If this baby is a bag of bones, even if he/she's old enough to eat wet (or even dry) food on its own, Kitten Glop is appropriate.
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46295
Kitty may need a bath. You can just use warm water. Also, if it is infested with fleas, fill a sink with warm water and use Dawn dish detergent. Very gently wash kitty without putting its head under the water. The fleas will crawl up, and you can use a flea comb to get them off the baby. Check for ticks manually.
If kitty is young enough to require bottle feeding, you should be able to purchase KMR (Kitten Milk Replacement) formula and an appropriate bottle at a pet store - just call around before heading out. An eye dropper will work in the meantime.
Laurie
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46295
Kitty may need a bath. You can just use warm water. Also, if it is infested with fleas, fill a sink with warm water and use Dawn dish detergent. Very gently wash kitty without putting its head under the water. The fleas will crawl up, and you can use a flea comb to get them off the baby. Check for ticks manually.
If kitty is young enough to require bottle feeding, you should be able to purchase KMR (Kitten Milk Replacement) formula and an appropriate bottle at a pet store - just call around before heading out. An eye dropper will work in the meantime.
Laurie
Here is a thread "stickied" at the top of the Pregnant Cats & Kitten Care Forum - it has more resource links.
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=74659
Laurie
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=74659
Laurie
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #5
Thank You so much,
Right now it's too weak to eat on it's own but we are forcing liquids. I will mix what I can of the glop tonight and get the rest of the ingredients tomorrow.
Right now it's too weak to eat on it's own but we are forcing liquids. I will mix what I can of the glop tonight and get the rest of the ingredients tomorrow.
Good luck with the kitten
You will probably want to try and get some Pedialyte into the poor little thing as well. You can make your own Pedialyte at home as well - here's one recipe:
2 quarts water
1-teaspoon baking soda
1-teaspoon salt
7 Tablespoons sugar
When I had a really sickly kitten, I mixed Pedialyte, KMR, Gerber baby food (2nd stage chicken, beef, or turkey), high quality tinned kitten food, and Bene-Bac (beneficial bacteria to help with digestion), and we saw improvement before too long.
Just mixing Pedialyte in with the KMR will be beneficial. Depending on how old the kitten is, you may have to feed it every few hours. Any idea how old it is?
As a guide, this kitten is about 3-4 weeks old:
And she's about 8 weeks here:
And a 12 week old kitten:
Good luck, and thanks for trying your best!
2 quarts water
1-teaspoon baking soda
1-teaspoon salt
7 Tablespoons sugar
When I had a really sickly kitten, I mixed Pedialyte, KMR, Gerber baby food (2nd stage chicken, beef, or turkey), high quality tinned kitten food, and Bene-Bac (beneficial bacteria to help with digestion), and we saw improvement before too long.
Just mixing Pedialyte in with the KMR will be beneficial. Depending on how old the kitten is, you may have to feed it every few hours. Any idea how old it is?
As a guide, this kitten is about 3-4 weeks old:
And she's about 8 weeks here:
And a 12 week old kitten:
Good luck, and thanks for trying your best!
LDG gave some great advice and gave you a great website. Good luck with the kitty and please let us know how he is doing! If you have any more questions or concerns please don't hesitate to ask...many of us have dealt with very young and sick kittens and will do our best to help you save this kitty.
For keeping kitten warm I used rice socks. Put uncooked rice in a sock and tie the end. Put this sock into a second sock and tie the end. Heat in microwave for a couple minutes. Put next to kitten with a towel over the sock to keep it from being too warm and the towel gives them something to crawl on to the warmth.
Be careful if you use a heating pad. Put heating pad under carrier or box with a towel as insulation over the heating pad. Place heating pad on low and off to one side ( so they can escape hot spots)
I have used KMR kitten milk replacement and also had good luck with a brand "Just Born" sold at Walmart and other stores. One of my rescues had digestive troubles with KMR and took Just Born easily. Whatever is available to you for kitten milk should help. Goats milk helped in a pinch once.
Wishing you the best.
Be careful if you use a heating pad. Put heating pad under carrier or box with a towel as insulation over the heating pad. Place heating pad on low and off to one side ( so they can escape hot spots)
I have used KMR kitten milk replacement and also had good luck with a brand "Just Born" sold at Walmart and other stores. One of my rescues had digestive troubles with KMR and took Just Born easily. Whatever is available to you for kitten milk should help. Goats milk helped in a pinch once.
Wishing you the best.
I hope the little baby is improving. You are a wonderful person to take the time to save this little one.
