Found a kitten in my yard...

So we found a kitten in our yard during our July 4th cookout. I'm not too familiar with kittens (mainly i've had adult cats) so I'm not sure of her age (I think it's a she) but she's tiny. We think she's the offspring of a group of strays my neighbor feeds (but aren't fixed). She clearly wasn't' being cared for by a human..she had hundreds and hundreds of fleas on her, and her eyes were crusty and had mucous in them. I got all the fleas off her and fed her kitten milk, and this morning her eyes look better..still crusty but it's just clear fluid, doesn't look like mucous.

Her eyes are open..I tried to feed her my adult cats kibble but she just stared at it...so I fed her kitten milk and she likes that. She's also licking icing off my plate from a piece of cake I ate! I'm calling the vet in the morning to take her in so I'm sure they'll be able to guess her age. But what should I feed her? The kitten milk says it's just for supplemental use. I thought about buying her some wet food, thinking maybe the kibble is too hard for her? Also how often should I feed her?

I'm keeping her separate from my 2 adult cats, until my vet gives the ok. Once she can intermingle..is it safe to leave her alone with the cats? When they saw her (with her in the carrier) they hissed at her but didn't attempt to swat at her or anything. Should I be worried that they might attack her? It's a male and a female, both fixed. At what age will she be able to protect herself, if they did try to fight with her?

LOL oddly enough the one animal who I thought would have issues with her, is absolutely fine with her! It's our adult greyhound who towers over her! He just thinks it's amazing how small she is, gave her the once over with his nose, and leaves her alone! My only fear is he could hurt her accidentally due to his size. But he has shown no agression at all!!

Anyway thanks for any information...sorry if the questions are kinda basic, but again, I've only ever had adult cats, so not too knowledgeable about kittens!!

Good things are going well for you!

Instead of kitten milk, use cat mother milk substitute. The brand KMR is best, although Royal Canin for cats is nowadays also good. You should buy it at well sorted pet shops. Wal Mart does also have it I believe... Vets of course.

Good you have her in quarantene at least some days, isolated from your animals.
How strict the quarentene should be?
If they are fully vaccinated, outgoing, free roaming animals - you perhaps dont need to overdo it.
But if they are strictly indoors, or go out only strictly supervised - be really observant with that quarantene...
Better safe than sorry.

A good link is www.kitten-rescue.com



Tx for helping this kitten!


Good luck!

Proceeding.

If she is almost on verge to eat herself, you probably dont need to help her with the "bathroom".
USE a classical cat litter, NOT clumping litter! Young kittens tend to test everything, thus also test to eat the litter sand... Clumping litter in their little stomach is no good for them....

If need be to help with the "bathroom", use a semidamp cloth wetted in warm water (not hot), and work this on the tummy and the behind shortly after she has eaten.
The product in small kittens living only on milk they usually describe it as mustard-alike. Although rare, it shoulnt be too loose.
.

If you wish, you can surely work so over the whole body now and then - like a cat mother would do. Very nice and healthsome.
This may be extra useful these days when it can be very hot

If you have some nice furry toy, like a teddy bear or bunny, you can give it her for company.

Kittens small like this are totally defenceless. So unless you arent totally sure your animals are friendly to her - do not leave them alone not supervised.

Although I think with a little luck they may very well with time be both friendly, protective and even motherly - both the dog and the cats.
Although many cats are afraid of small kittens!

(but observe again the quarantine-period... risks are not so great as many fears, but they clearly are there...if you want to skip or shorten the quarantene period you must yourself calculate the risks)

Just saw this thread; somehow I missed it a few days ago. I hope I can still help.

Make sure her solid food (both dry and canned, although I think the differences are bigger in the dry stuff) is kitten food or "all stages." Feed her as much as she'll eat, because it's hard work to double in size so often!

For the kitty litter, there are also corn-based and pine-based litters that are much easier on her insides, if she eats some, than clumping clay is. I wouldn't use anything with super-moisture-absorbent crystals because I could imagine that stuff absorbing too much moisture from a kitten and leaving it dehydrated.

Getting rid of her fleas is really good but keep checking her for a while for when the eggs hatch.

As for the grown cats, in my experience, grown cats seem to hiss at kittens not out of aggression but because mama cat might be around and they don't want her to tear their faces off. I would say, once she's cleared quarantine, to supervise all interaction until they start getting along. Cats are smart about helping raise kittens; I've never had trouble between grown cats and kittens once they decided the kitten was old enough to play with.