I have two 6 week old kittens, a few concerns...

Hi all im new here.

I adopted two kittens from a small local shelter that my girlfriend voulnteers at, two female tabbys they are just about 6 weeks old, she asked if we can can take two home so she doesnt need to have them in the store. One of the kittens we are keeping and the other we are fostering but it seems that my brother is going to take her.

Their names are Duffy and Oakley here are my concerns:

Keep in mind both kittens are happy, energetic (of course they nap a lot but are still very active), they are eating and drinking fine. I would say between the two of them they have about a cup of dry food a day (is that enough?).

#1 Sneezing...Duffy started sneezing yesterday, not a whole lot but enough to notice. For the first time I noticed when she sneezed she had a tiny bit of clear discharge that shot out onto our black couch. She hasnt sneezed in over an hour until just now and her nose seems to be a tiny bit wet/snotty. Any ideas?

#2 Throw-up...Oakley threw up her wet food. We just got some good quality wet food from a local pet store yesterday as they recommended it. Neither have eaten wet food ever before, they have been eating dry food from as soon as they went off their mothers milk. Im assuming the only reason she threw it up was she was not used to it, or ate too quickly? We just gave each cat a heaping tablespoon of it, duffy only ate half and oakley devoured it quickl (in a few minutes), but that was at 12:00 she just threw up at 5:30. She has always been a little squeeker but has been meowing more then usual today (shes been quiet since the throw-up so im assuming she had a upset tummy?) she also had a few bites of dry food since she threw-up.

Thanks in advance!

The sneezing and discharge is likely an upper respiratory infection. It's a viral disease, very common, like a cold. It CAN kill a kitten, so keep a sharp eye on her. If you go to the vet, he will likely give her antibiotics, but they won't affect the virus, only secondary infections.

If the kitten ate something it wasn't used to, that might cause her to vomit. Especially if she really liked it and ate too much.

Six weeks is younger than it's best to be away from mom, but we can't always control that, can we?

Originally Posted by mrblanche

The sneezing and discharge is likely an upper respiratory infection. It's a viral disease, very common, like a cold. It CAN kill a kitten, so keep a sharp eye on her. If you go to the vet, he will likely give her antibiotics, but they won't affect the virus, only secondary infections.

If the kitten ate something it wasn't used to, that might cause her to vomit. Especially if she really liked it and ate too much.

Six weeks is younger than it's best to be away from mom, but we can't always control that, can we?

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That scares me...so the medication they give the cat wont actually treat the infection? It seems like she has been sneezing a bit more then usualy this morning, can she pass it on to my other kitten

Oakley has been fine interms of throwing up, guess it was just the food and eating too quickly.

I was told their mothers start to reject them at 4 weeks, at least they have eachother and lots of love.

took them to the vet, they said they look okay and just to keep an eye on them. also got the first round of deworming done.

found out the so called girl was a boy! lol. we were just told by the shelter that they were both girls.

Re: 4 weeks and mom rejects them is not necessarily true. At that age they are not really self-sufficient yet. They are usually almost completely weaned by 6 weeks.. but will still nurse on Mom a bit if she will let them. It is best to keep them with mom and siblings until at least 10 weeks of age so they learn good cat etiquette. 12 weeks is better. Many behavioral problems with cats can stem from being taken from mother too soon. Mom still has things to teach them as do the siblings -- such as boundaries and going too far in play, even if the kittens are weaned.

With the vomiting - chances are the kitten ate too much too fast. Also, if you changed food too quickly... from food A to food B without a gradual transition, that can also upset kitty's tummy.

Yes re: sexing a kitten - can be hard to tell under the age of 6 weeks... with boy kitties not everything is "in place".

well we dont let them get too aggressive with eachother, they are friendly and we are always around.

one thing im worried about is now we have a boy and a girl kitty, will that cause anything?!

Originally Posted by matt94gt

well we dont let them get too aggressive with eachother, they are friendly and we are always around.

one thing im worried about is now we have a boy and a girl kitty, will that cause anything?!

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Not right now, but in the near future if they are not neutered/spayed - you should get them done as soon as possible, they can be fertile as young as 4 months and to conceive that young is the equivalent of a 12 or 13 year old girl getting pregnant - biologically possible but not at all advisable - so speak to your vet and get them booked in for desexing as soon as the vet will do it! Bear in mind that a male can still have active sperm left in his tubes for up to 8 weeks after castration, so if for any reason you have to get one fixed before the other, get the female done first.

Kittens are especially prone to picking up germs when they move to a new home - partly due to stress causing the immune system to not work as it should, and partly because they will come into contact with germs they have never met before and have no immunity built up for them. Sometimes it is just a little sniffle or slight tummy upset due to different water or food, but other times it can be cat flu/URI which can be very serious for little kittens so a vet visit is needed in case they need treatment.

It is always advised that you take new pets to your own vet within the first couple of days to get them a health check by your vet and their vaccination records/microchip info registered on the vets computer.

They are very young so give the vet a call first, they will need their vaccinations soon so you need to book an appointment anyway - but ask if you can bring them in before that for a checkup if they are sniffling in case it's something that needs antibiotics.

Originally Posted by Epona

Not right now, but in the near future if they are not neutered/spayed - you should get them done as soon as possible, they can be fertile as young as 4 months and to conceive that young is the equivalent of a 12 or 13 year old girl getting pregnant - biologically possible but not at all advisable - so speak to your vet and get them booked in for desexing as soon as the vet will do it! Bear in mind that a male can still have active sperm left in his tubes for up to 8 weeks after castration, so if for any reason you have to get one fixed before the other, get the female done first.

Kittens are especially prone to picking up germs when they move to a new home - partly due to stress causing the immune system to not work as it should, and partly because they will come into contact with germs they have never met before and have no immunity built up for them. Sometimes it is just a little sniffle or slight tummy upset due to different water or food, but other times it can be cat flu/URI which can be very serious for little kittens so a vet visit is needed in case they need treatment.

It is always advised that you take new pets to your own vet within the first couple of days to get them a health check by your vet and their vaccination records/microchip info registered on the vets computer.

They are very young so give the vet a call first, they will need their vaccinations soon so you need to book an appointment anyway - but ask if you can bring them in before that for a checkup if they are sniffling in case it's something that needs antibiotics.

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Thanks I took them to our local vet (where we took our 15 year old cat since he was a kitten) they said there both healthy and to just keep an eye on them.

We got their 8 week shots booked in and the 2nd de-worming treatment.

My girlfriend said she noticed the mother cat sneezing yesterday at the shelter and same with the other 3 kittens, in the shelter where they keep the adult cats there is one that is sneezing really bad which they took to the vet, so it seems that they got it from that cat.

They are still playing lots, eating lots, drinking lots, sneezing less and both look great!

We will get them fixed as soon as our vet reccomends she said somewhere around 6 months but maybe we will ask to get it done earlier. If you get your cats fixed earlier will that cause any less playfullness in their future I love playfull happy kittys and i want to keep them that way?

Thanks
Matt