Found Kitten

The poor little thing! Has she ate any food yet? As long as you keep her warm and she's eating you don't need to worry too much. A five-six week old kitten can do a lot, so just keep her company. If she doesn't eat, then that's another story, but let's start here.

As long as she eats a constant amount, she'll be alright.

Once she gets older, she should calm down a little. She's probably just confused and scared. You could try giving her a teddy bear or something because, beleive it or not, it sometimes comforts them

It is amazing how ignorant and cruel people can be, leaving an animal like that.

I think it is great you took her in, from my experience, if you keep her, I expect you will have a friend for lfe, they seem to be like that, especially when rescued, I think somehow, they know it.

Our "old girl", Molly, the silver tabby who passed away at 14 in early 2007 was like that as a kitten. When she was a small kitten, as soon as we were out of sight, even just around a kitchen counter, she would start squeeking. I used to feel bad about it, too.

She did grow out of that as she got a bit older.

Introductions take time, sometimes, there are some experts on it on this forum.

We were even able to introduce Kasey, the tortie, who was at least 8 at the time to Morgan and Taz. Kasey has "tortitude" and I took her from a rough environment, it took time but things settled down.

I brought Kasey home on May 21, 2008.

After getting a clean bill of health, the introductions started; of course, the difference from your situation is these were all adults about 8 to 9 years old.

We started with things that "swaped sents".

The let them "communicate" through the gap under an interior door for a while (hissing and posturing" for a while.

As that settled down, the face to face stuff started slowly, with supervision.

Beacuse of the age and Kasey's history, it took a while, where it might not, with younger cats from a better environment. Things are fine now.

I think, now, I would always have at least two cats, rather than one on his/her own. While they differ from dogs in their social structure, I think they interact and benifit from each other, in their own way.

Oh I agree about the declawing. I wouldn't do that to a cat ever. Just a suggestion because I have five week old orphan kittens here. I still leave a stuffed animal in with them. They love to cozy up to it. Also, I still heat a rice pad for them. Granted mine have had that since one day of age, but they really enjoy cuddling up to that and the stuffed animal. Mine are still on KMR...replacement milk. If that baby just came from momma, it may want some milk replacement (not regular milk). YOu can get it at any pet store. Good luck to you...keep us posted on how things are going. And bless you for taking this little one in..you are an angel

Generally speaking, as long as she doesn't damage anything you should be OK. But they might ask for proof of de-clawing from your vet. I know of at least one person who had their vet apply Soft Claws and put that in the note, and the landlord accepted that.

You can also get animal nail clippers for a few bucks, and just keep her nails shortened. I find that that helps a lot too.

my Firefox used to sleep w/some of my small stuffed kittens when she was still isolated!
some links that might help:
Just Born milk replacement - i preferred this to the powdered stuff.
SnuggleKitty - i think you can get these @ Petsmart!
Hand Rearing Kittens
we'd welcome whenever you get some!

Most people will dump the kittens and keep the momcat. Or it could be that this was the only kitten in the litter and the person just grew tired of it. You would be surprisd what people will do with kittens. www.snuggleme.com has a great tool for orphaned kittens. It will bring her great comfort when you are not around.

Physically, she should be fine with food and water, but she may get a little upset without anyone with her- but that shouldn't go on very long if you have someone check on her

If you put her in a small room, such as a bathroom, with food, water, a litter box, and possibly some toys, she'll be perfectly able to entertain herself. (She'll probably play under the door with your current cat, too.)

Kittens don't have a very big world. I have found very few who wouldn't settle down in a quiet room, once they don't hear activity outside the room.

But be sure to "kitten proof" the room. Put the toilet seat down. Put child-proof locks on the doors, if possible. You don't want the kitten getting into anything poisonous, and that would include most lotions, toothpastes, cleaners, etc. Don't leave strings around that they can swallow. Others here can give you even more pointers.

We have very social cats, but we can leave them for several days and it doesn't seem to scar them for life. In fact, sometimes I wonder if they even notice...

Firefox was so small she could squeeze under the closed bathroom door! i had replaced the carpeting in the house w/all hard floors prior to moving in - the gap under the door [larger than necessary since it was to accomodate carpeting] was just large enough for her to squeeze thru. took me a while to figure out how she was escaping because the door would still be closed.

Actually, I wouldn't be surprised, upset, but not surprised. I am a 50+ year old guy and I find this stuff bothers me even more than when I was younger.

I cannot write what I think of these types of people, here.

I am sure that is how we came to find our Taz in the ditch across the road, with a mangled tail, almost 12 years ago. He lucked out, the last 12 years have been good for him, his biggest issue today was, the clouds kept blocking his sun through the sun room windows.

I must confess, this would bother me, I seem to be getting more sensitized as the years go by.

I think that if you keep her, you will soon be "mom". Somehow I am not sure Taz doesn't still think of me a "mother cat".

Those kinds of people make me so mad! My poor foster cat Zoe was found wandering around with frost-bite, ear-mites, and pregnant! Who would do that? She's one of the sweetest cats that I've ever met! People like that don't even deserve to around animals!

OMG I can't believe a complex would have a declawing requirement-yes, lets require something that is cruel and inhumane. Wow. That just really blows my mind.

Ok, had to get that out

Thank you so much for taking this little soul in. He/she might not have had their nails trimmed, they could have warn them down by trying to claw out of the box I think that keeping the kitten is isolated is the best thing. And you are feeding a high quality food so that is good too. I had an orphan that was brought to me last year by a woman at work, and I put a plush cat in his pen that he would snuggle up to...it really comforted him. Also a heating pad set on low under a towel or blanket in the crate will help the kitten retain body heat. Keep an eye on any sniffles or runny eyes, as that will indicate that she is developing a URI. Also, keep checking for fleas because those guys can be tricky things, and you'd want to treat right away if they appear because little kittens don't have a lot to give away to parasites.

She is probably crying because she is lonely and scared. I know its difficult, especially when you have to split your time between your fosters and your own cats; trust me, its one of the biggest challenges. Just try to give equal undivided attention to each. When you have a sick or needy foster, it is understandable if you spend a little more time with them than your own cat. They will get over it. I think you will find that if you decide to keep this kitten, get her healthy, and eventually introduce her to your own cat, her crying will cease.

One of the ways that I relieved the crying with my orphan, honestly...was to wrap him in a towel and rub the middle of his nose, right between his eyes, over and over again until he fell asleep. He couldn't resist conking right out, almost like he was hypnotized. If the baby is really squirming and crying all the time, even when you hold her, it could be that she isn't getting enough to eat. Try syringing some warmed KMR or wet food/KMR mixture into her and see if that quiets her down. At that age, she will let you know if she isn't hungry.

Aww, that's sweet, it probably reminds her of her mommy. It's good that she's feeling a little better now.