Help with rescued kitten!

A few days ago my cousin brought a kitten to my house. He stated that he had found it down the street from my home and it was alone. The cat looked like it was starving and when I picked it up I could feel it's protruding ribcage and it cannot be any older than four weeks, So I took the kitten in and have grown attached to it. The kitten has normal tendencies like playing, nibbling, eating, walking around and etc, but I have noticed that there are a few things wrong with her. I am taking her to the vet this weekend, but I wanted to get some opinions before that.


1. I cannot get her to drink!
I have gotten her to eat a lot of soft food and a little bit of hard food, but she keeps refusing to drink water. I got her to drink some milk, but other than that she will not drink. I am planning on buying some kmr, but I don't know if she is going to drink it. Is it ok for me to give her liquid through a medicine dropper or syringe of some kind?

2. She seems to have some trouble breathing
I noticed this when I first saw her, but my family members said that she might just be scared and is breathing heavily due to that. I thought that could have been the case at first, but she is still breathing oddly and she isn't scared of me anymore. She takes really deep but quick breaths and she usually opens her mouth and moves her head slightly each time she breaths out. I sometimes hear weezing too or a little cracking noise. She will cry sometimes when breathing also.

3. She never sleeps
I am aware that this may be due to the fact that her breathing could be causing her pain, but I thought I would throw it out there just in case. She will sit upright and drift off, but she never closes her eyes completely to sleep and it is the same when she lays down. I have gotten herself to sleep twice in my arms by rubbing her, but usually she wont sleep.


Thanks for reading, and any input will be greatly appreciated by me and my little kitty.

Other more knowledgeable, experienced posters will no doubt respond, but #2 in particular bothers me. I'd get her to the vet ASAP. She could be developed/developed an upper respiratory illness. Kittens can go down hill FAST and die, like, within 24 hours, especially if they are underweight and otherwise medically compromised
Kittens/cat don't require a lot of water, especially if they are eating wet food.
If she quits eating, she needs to go the vet/emergency vet. Kittens/cats have a faster heart rate than humans but, again, she is a sick kitten and I'd get her to the vet as soon as possible (when talking to the vet, stress the urgency).
Thanks for caring, and let us know what happens: we care.