We rescued a kitten, that we are now calling Jett, from the bushes outside of our youth building at church Wednesday night (approx 72 hours ago). He was the sweetest little thing when we brought him in church into a small room with about five teenagers. He would go from person to person, rubbing his head on them and crawling in their laps. My husband and I brought him home with us and are keeping him. We have no children and no other pets. We kept him in a room by himself for the first 24 hours, then opened the door for him to roam between two rooms (bedroom and living room where we are) after that. He is terrified and hides under the bed all the time. He will venture into the living room, but runs under the table and hides. He also runs every time we make a move. He will let us pet him if we are able to pick him up, and he just purrs and closes his eyes. Last night he even fell asleep on my chest for an hour and was purring the whole time. He would wake up and look at me then stretch and fall back to sleep. However, as soon as we put him down, he forgets that he just trusted us. Very different from when we first got him Wednesday night. We love him already though!
We took him to the vet yesterday because he was limping on his back leg, and his tail is broken (hard, 90 degree angle down about 3/4 of the way up). The vet determined that he is probably 9-10 weeks old. He was running a fever of about 103.7, and the vet believes he was probably attacked and bitten by a larger animal, which are the cause of the swelling in his knee (limping) and the break in his tail. He also has roundworms and fleas. The vet treated him for the roundworms and gave him something for his fever. He sent us home with amoxicillin 2x/day for the next seven days, and told us to give him a bath to get the flea dust off of him, then treat him with Revolution flea treatment behind the neck.
We are trying so hard to let him do his own thing, and come out and roam when he wants, but in order to give him meds 2x/day, sometimes we have to drag him out from under the bed to administer them. I think I am going to start putting it on his food so we don't have to traumatize him every time, and cause us to take steps backward in his socialization this early. Also, we haven't given him a bath or treated him for the fleas yet because I am so scared this will be the straw that breaks the camel's back, and he will never trust us. Does anyone have any experience bathing a feral in the first couple of days, and any advice on doing so?
Thanks!
We took him to the vet yesterday because he was limping on his back leg, and his tail is broken (hard, 90 degree angle down about 3/4 of the way up). The vet determined that he is probably 9-10 weeks old. He was running a fever of about 103.7, and the vet believes he was probably attacked and bitten by a larger animal, which are the cause of the swelling in his knee (limping) and the break in his tail. He also has roundworms and fleas. The vet treated him for the roundworms and gave him something for his fever. He sent us home with amoxicillin 2x/day for the next seven days, and told us to give him a bath to get the flea dust off of him, then treat him with Revolution flea treatment behind the neck.
We are trying so hard to let him do his own thing, and come out and roam when he wants, but in order to give him meds 2x/day, sometimes we have to drag him out from under the bed to administer them. I think I am going to start putting it on his food so we don't have to traumatize him every time, and cause us to take steps backward in his socialization this early. Also, we haven't given him a bath or treated him for the fleas yet because I am so scared this will be the straw that breaks the camel's back, and he will never trust us. Does anyone have any experience bathing a feral in the first couple of days, and any advice on doing so?
Thanks!
