3 day old orphaned kitten - advice?

Hi Tara.
This was my go to when I rescued my Teddy, it let me know how much to feed him and how often:
http://www.kitten-rescue.com/bottle_feeding_kitten.html

Teddy normally defecated once a day as a baby. Just keep on feeding the little guy.... You can use a syringe, eye dropper, or a bottle to feed the KMR, which ever you find easier. Keep the little one warm and don't be nervous. You're doing a good job! I know I was scared to have such a little one totally dependent on me, but it get easier once you fall into the routine.

Keep us updated!

I also learned as I went with two orphans. It will get better.

To keep them warm I made rice socks. You may be familiar with these from working at the vet office. You fill a clean sock with uncooked rice, tie the end and heat in microwave for 1 to 2 minutes. I wrapped a towel over my sock so it had a rough texture they could crawl on like mom cat.

When I was watching tv I would put them on my chest inside my shirt and wrap a blanket over me. That way they feel you breathing and your heartbeat. There is a fake stuffed momma kitty that does these things. May be called "snuggle kitty" ?

Hang in there!! I know you must be tired.

I don't know anything about raising orphan kittens, but Good Luck!!! Many vibes for you and the little kitty.

No need to apologize for posts; that's what the forum is for. We definitely want to keep hearing how it goes.

And, as you know, hand-raising a kitten is truly a herculean labor of love. We have members here who have done it, often with no previous experience with cats, let alone kittens. And it can be heartbreaking, because things can go wrong.

I raised a bottle baby Lucky. I found her on the lawn maybe an hour old. I was nervous and stress too. I think you are doing a good job. It is a little rough for the first two weeks, Then things settle down. The only suggestion I have is to keep some, pedilyte (sp?) on hand Lucky got diaharia (sp?) and started to get dehydrated. This can happen very quickly. The vet suggested giving her a bottle of pedialyte. She went from lifeless back to her normal self in an hour. It quickly rehydrates them. It is a rehydration formula for infants. I also so told myself I wasn't keeping her, That was a year and a half ago. She is sleeping on my lap right now. She stole my

I raised 3 of them a few years ago. They are alot of work but once get to be a few weeks old they are so much fun!! I took mine everywhere with me, they even went to the rodeo, LOL Good luck!!!

We took Lucky everywhere too. She went camping when she was 10 days old. She even went shopping in the city.

When Lucky had diarrhea , It was just leaking out of her. It was very watery.

I would check with the vet to be sure about the diarrhea. I remember that over feeding would cause runny stools.

Of my two one had a lot of trouble with runny stools and I switched to the Just Born brand of kitten replacement milk and he did much better. They are all so different. Maybe just ask the vet to be safe. Hang in there!

They can purr almost as soon as they're born. It's a way to stimulate mom to produce milk.

I did a litter of 4 that was orphaned at 10 days old. Talk about a couple of sleepless weeks!

Get a good scale and weigh the kitten. I followed the general feeding guidelines on the KMR can and adjusted if the kittens seemed to still be hungry. We started feedings every 2 hours then gradually cut back to every 8 hours by the time they were 6 weeks old. I don't recall seeing any solid poop until they were about 3 weeks old.

Kittens also need to be burped after feeding. Usually all you need to do is massage their bodies to get them to do this. My husband and I had an assembly line to take care of them. We'd get the food and bath ready to go. DH and I would both start to feed them (1 per person), then I would switch over to the prompting to pee / bath routine. I'd stimulate them with TP (its soft and works quite well). I kept a warm bowl of water with a washcloth to give them a bath after each feeding. In the process of washing them, I would get a burp out of them. After the bath, they went into warm towels to dry and if they hadn't burped, DH would take them back and massage them thru the dry towel.

You may not have the problem with the formula spattered kittens like we had. When ours saw the food, they clambered over each other to be the first at the bottle and got them selves covered in formula most meals. The baths were essential to keep them clean. Even if clean, I encourage you to massage the kitten after feedings to get out the burp. Ours seemed to get a bit lethargic when we didn't get that burp out of them (their tummies obviously hurt).

LOL, we constantly dirty too, it was a never ending battle!! Mine were always sucking on each other, which made them go poo, which got ALL over them I think they had more baths in a few weeks than most cats have their entire life!!!!

I actually used a syringe rather than a bottle because mine wouldn't take to a bottle. Most people will warn against syringes unless you are ultra careful, as if you push in too much, you can drown them (like you mentioned about having formula coming out of his nose). My vet gave me some that were very easy to push and the kittens sucked the formula out of them - I never had to push the plunger on them. It eliminated virtually any air that could come along with the formula, and mine weren't gassy.

I can't help you with alternative bottles, sorry.

Congratulations on the firmer poop!

I used a syringe also until mine got older.