Feral kitten litter (abandoned). Goopy eyes.

Any help/advice/suggestions would be appreciated.

Here's the story...about 5 hours ago I found 3 abandoned feral kittens. They are obviously sick in some way. They're eyes are stuck shut with mucus. They were found in the attic surrounded by mold, dirt and insulation so I'm sure that's the cause.

They appear to be between 7 and 14 days old. First, I cleaned their eyes off (some were worse than others) then I washed them completely to get any debris off of them. They are now in a carrier with a warm bottle of water and space heater nearby. They seem to be warm enough. I'm going to get them kitten replacement milk tomorrow, but I cannot afford to take them all to the vet. I'm going to look for a rescue shelter tomorrow but I'm worried if they aren't healthy then they won't want them, or that it will take them several days to get here. So in the mean time...

??? Should I try and encourage my adopted queen with 8 week olds to nurse them? Even if they are sick? She is still nursing her litter.

??? I've looked for replacement milk recipes for tonight...all call for yogurt which I don't have. I'm going to mix condensed milk, egg yolk, water and karo syrup unless anyone has a better recipe.

??? What should I do about their illness? What can I do? They were cleaned about 4 hours ago and it's already back. It appears that their eyelids are swollen too. One appears much worse than the other two...should I quarantine them?

??? About helping them eliminate...how do you hold them while you try to rub their muscles to react?

Anything you see I'm not considering please let me know. Any help would be appreciated.

Since they are sick you don't want them around the others that are not. Plus you need to wash your hands before touching your cats or you can transfer it that way. It sounds like a resperatory infection. They will need antibiotics and an eye cream. Some vets will take in abandoned kittens, so you might call your vet and ask if they can take them.

a good site to look up is www.kitten-rescue.com.

continue the isolation. Letting your queen help them - THEY would be helped, but it is risky for the queen... esp as she is still helping her own kittens.
Some rescuers would take the risk, most not.

An indicium may be, if the mom is herself an semiferal (adopted you tell). successful semiferales are survivors, ie toughter than most home cats.

Replacement milk?
Goat milk is excellent for it.
Condensed milk? Try to cook it up first. The lactose (milk sugar) seems to be a little easier to get into pieces after it is cooked. sorry my bad english.

Goofey eyes is quite common in homeless kittens... it is often clamydia. they need antibiotics for it.


Good luck!

Eye infections like this are very common in kittens this age. It is totally curable but the eye ointment is an antibiotic that only a vet can prescribe. If you cannot afford to take them all to the vet could you at least take one? And explain the situation, they are very delicate at this age and though they can turn around remarkably they need treatment ASAP.

The biggest risk if you let your queen care for them would not be to her but to her other kittens. However they are 8 weeks old, and coule be removed from her at this point if you chose; and if your queen still has milk she could suckle the young ones, but no guarantee she would accept them.

I would get them on KMR in the meantime while they are being treated for their infections.

If warm water doesn't work, antibiotics may be the best thing. Since you did rescue them, you could call up your local shelter and they may even give you some medication since it's pretty common for them to get eye infections in

for regular icky eyes, you can use normal triple antibiotic ointment WITHOUT painkiller in it. Just the normal, run of the mill stuff. While a vet may not prescribe this, I have seen it work very successfully in my URI fosters (it was recommended to me by a very experienced rescuer). Just a swipe in the eye 2-3 times a day, for about 3-4 days, sometimes more. It is fairly cheap too, and you may have some lying around your house. Just make sure it does not have the painkiller stuff in it.

How is this going? Please, Stlsmiln, tell us, keep us updated!


Good luck!

Originally Posted by StefanZ

Replacement milk?
Goat milk is excellent for it.
Condensed milk? Try to cook it up first. The lactose (milk sugar) seems to be a little easier to get into pieces after it is cooked. sorry my bad english.

Click to expand...

I saw yesterday they had condensed milk in our willage shop, and looked it up.
It wrote the milk is condensed by cooking it in.
Thus, condensed milk IS already cooked and thus, possibly easier digested.

And therefore, if I was enough desperate without any good kmr-substitute milk, nor goat milk, I too would try with condensed milk...



I do in fact know some recipes based on gruel, cooked milk, egg yolk, destrose sugar, butter... Works marvelously! Perhaps not quaranteed for small kittens but definitely for their exhausted momas.
Thus, condensed milk in a recipe cant be bad for adult cats, and probably acceptable for kittens too.

I cant go out with it as an official recommendation, but in dire need...

Thank you all for your feedback!!!

It's been a while (and there were a few grueling weeks) but we have four beautiful, playful kittens.

Anyone want a new kitten in the northwest Georgia area?