Found Kitten, has issues

Hello everyone,
My girlfriend and I live in a small apartment complex down here in socal and are accompanied by our two 16 year old cats. Just tonight we were outside and we heard the cry of a small kitten. We saw it across the way, ran down and picked it up. We are going to be putting up signs and try to find her home tomorrow. Though in the meantime we have brought her to our apartment.She seemed like she has not eaten in days, though she did not appear to be mal-nurished or ill treated of the sort, though she ate as much as our adult cats do in one sitting. Also, she went to the litter box and came out and stained one of our pillows with blood. My girlfriend looked at the litterbox to check her stool to check for more blood, worms, ect. Her stool was very soft and did contain more blood. We cleaned her up and have been giving her lots of water.
Unfortunately we do not have much money, so just going to the vet is not that easy. Epically for a cat we do not even own. Is there anything we can do in the meantime to take care of her? Or have any insight to what could potentially be wrong?
Thanks in advance!

For blood in a stool then the best thing to do is to seek a vets advice, maybe give your regular vet a quick call saying you found the kitten, vet maybe able to help you out

I understand how difficult this must be for you...
money is a real issue for so many people now.
Thank you for taking in this poor little kitten anyway.

The bottom line is, this baby needs to be seen by a vet asap.
If you have not done so already, it is important to isolate the kitten from your other cats to be sure it does not have an illness that might be contagious. Your bathroom might be the best place for now.
A small litter box, some water, food and a soft towel would do the trick.

Be careful about cross contamination.

The Feral Cat Coalition, in San Diego might be of help to you....
http://www.feralcat.com/

Call some of these groups and ask what they suggest.
http://www.petfinder.com/awo/index.cgi?location=92128

There is a vet in San Marcos Ca. who is very inexpensive....
$22 for a visit....
Dr Hosking
http://www.kudzu.com/m/San-Marcos-An...Center-1023299

We have another forum that might be useful to you -
Caring for Strays and Ferals. It might be useful for you to ask for feedback there too.
Please keep us updated and make yourself at home.

Blood in the litter box probably should be checked out by the vet. Also if this kitten has a microchip, the vet would be able to contact her owners.

Thank you all for the replies and generous hospitality.

I would like to take the kitten to a vet, I didn't know there were clinics so inexpensive, that is great news. Plus San Marcos is just a skip down the freeway for me too.
I do have a theory about the blood in the stool although. You see, we have a neighbor that just moved in and she has a kitten herself that looks identical to the one we found. So naturally since it was outside her door crying, I figured it was hers. I left her a note last night, thinking the cat has been accidentally locked out for just a couple of hours.
I got a call back today saying that she was not missing her kitten and some other lady contacted her about 4 days earlier asking her the same thing about the same kitten. So now I am figuring that the lady 4 days ago, rather then caring for it, once she found out she would be having to go to effort to the owner found. Just kind of let it go. So no wonder it was eating like crazy last night. It may of ate to much to quick and upset her stomach, hence the blood in her stool.
If she does have a chip in her, I would love to get it scanned to find a possible owner. Does anyone have any idea how much it costs to have the cat scanned?

I don't know about the cost of scanning, but blood in the stool can be serious. Please get the baby checked by a vet...

Most vets have the ability to scan a cat for a microchip.

Unfortunately, the bottom line is that your sweetie really needs to seen a vet.
I hope you can find a way to do it.
Please keep us updated.

Thank you! Thank you!! Thank you!!! Thank you!!!!

From the bottom of my heart and soul, you are a fantastic person (people) for rescuing this little one.

I'm sure xocats referrals are really good sources for you. Please check them out.

The little one needs medical attention, now. It is much too serious. Blood in the stool can be very bad. It is much more than an upset stomach or from eating too much after being starved.

At the shelter where I volunteer (far from you in Illinois) they take in all kittens, no matter what, and there is a full-time vet there to give medical attention. So, if you are not in the position to care for her (which means being able to pay her medical bills now and in the future) please, very quickly, find a reputable, no-kill shelter with veterinary care. And please do it tomorrow. She could die without care, soon. Kittens are easily adoptable, if they are healthy. She needs a chance to be healthy.

Thank you again for being her guardian angel. She may just be an angel, in disguise. You are blessed for saving her!


Robin

On behalf of that little kitten, thank you for taking her in and feeding her.

Also, some vets are sympathetic to "found critters"...my vet helped keep my costs down very low when we had an emergency situation with a kitten my roommate found. At the time, we were still looking for his owner, and I was worried about costs (I had other cats to worry about) and my vet did a lot of work for next to nothing. Maybe your regular vet would be understanding about the situation, too?

(I ended up keeping the little monster-kitten we found, when months of searching for an owner yielded no results. The goober and all his future medical bills are mine now. )

My parents had 3 babies living under their shed. My vet needled them all and spayed the female for free. She was going to neuter the males but just didn't have the time.
So yeah, some vets are willing to help found kitties. Worth a shot! Hope it all works out for the little darling.

Most vets have a scanner and will check the kitten for a microchip for free. In addition, I think virtually all shelters have chip readers now and will scan them for free. I know we do.