help needed

My girlfriend is raising a kitten with a sad story. Cant call her orphaned because this kitten was part of a litter that was found inside a feral cat that was to be spayed. The girls in the vet office took one each,there were 4. The rest of the litter have died but my girls kitten is now 10 days old, gaining weight and seems to be thriving. My question is when can we consider her "out of the woods" this constant fear of losing her is stessing us both. Thanks in advance

Oh, unusual! Aborted survived? Or cesarean made if you want to be kind.

The chances now are good as you say she is thriving. But you arent yet in the safe zone. Kittens have difficult for premature deliveries, much more than human babies.

So it is not any unusual the siblings had died...

Count at least 3 weeks before you can breathe out.   Be hopefull and even optimistic, but keep your friendship with the vet AND the cemetary janitor  if you can. 

Keep us updated, and send pics!

Good luck!   *vibes*

ps.  Tell how are you doing the nursing?  As I understand, you are handraising her?

You will perhaps have still some use of the site www.kitten-rescue.com,  about orphaned kittens.

Stefanz, thank you for you response and concern. As i said its my girlfriend doing all the work so lets be clear im not trying to take credit lol. But as far as the care, i can give you an idea. Feeding with kitten formula, made from a powder,because she didnt like the can stuff. Feeding every two hours around the clock, making a fresh bottle every time because the kitten prefers, and drinks more when its fresh. I believe she drinks about 2.5 ounces at a feeding. I think she weighed 2.5 ounces the first day and now up to 5.4 ounces. And her labrador retriever has also volunteered to help with cleaning and bathroom stimulation lol. Will send pics if i figure out how lol. Thanks again.

Hey! I'm the said girlfriend . The kitten seems to be doing well, and elielite has most of the facts correct! She was born 2.7oz, then 2 days later when weighed (finally got a scale) she was 2.5, now 10 days later she's a hefty 5.4 !

This is a picture I believe was taken a day after we got her.



This is kinda an in between stage.



And this was just today



I don't believe she was far from her due date in my opinion but I honestly don't know. I personally do not work at a vet's office, my sister works at a spay and neuter clinic and the kitten ended up in my hands. She is on Hartz Replacement Milk for Kittens, I had switched her to 21st Century from Petsmart b/c I heard it had more nutrients. It caused her constipation so I switched back. I got the GNC Repl Milk but that caused diarrhea. I'm not too keen on the Hartz b/c of the reviews of Hartz products but she seems to be doing well with it. I plan on replacing it when she's a little older and try the GNC stuff again, but that's down the road. Unless you all have a better idea?!?!? I'm open for suggestions and advice. She's fed every 2 hours and takes at average .2-.25oz at each feeding. I can't wait till she can go longer between feedings, I miss sleep LOL

I hope the pictures worked and come up LOL. Thanks for your time!!

2.5 oz is 70g, so she was a fairly normal weight at birth.  She isn't short of fur either, so I suspect the mother was within a few days of delivery.

Looks like she is doing well so far.  One cause of constipation is mixing the milk to strong - you have to be very exact about the amount of powder and liquid.  To weak and the kitten will get the runs and of course will be undernourished.  Found the following which you may have already seen:

http://www.hartz.com/Cats/Hartz_Nursery/Kitten_Articles/bottle_feeding_the_newborn_kitten.aspx

I would also advocate weighing her each day at about the same time - she should be putting on 10g or more per day - about 1/3 oz.  If you can find scales that weigh in grammes, or you can set yours to do so (some electronic scales in the UK weigh in either) it's easier in my view, rather than dealing with all those decimal points.  I make a spreadsheet of kitten weights, and use a formula to show gain per day underneath the actual values.

Fingers tightly crossed for your little kitten.  And toes, and legs...

Bless your heart for taking her in! I'd love to hear how she's doing now. She's just so cute.

Thank ypu very much! She is doing wonderful! 8.4 oz and getting bigger every day. Only trouble wasa bout with constipation which turned out ok because the vet de wormed her. Again,thanks for asking!!

Thank you both for your wishes. She's doing quiet well . I did have to take her to the vet for a very small enema. Since then she's been on GNC milk replacement. I'm going to ordered her KMR can't find it locally and right now it's a bit harder for me to go running to a store. She's getting so big and her eyes are open and super cute! We adore the heck out of her. And I LOVE the fact that she enjoys tummy time ! I hope she'll love that when she's a cat. As soon as you pet her she rolls on her back and wants you to devote all petting to her tummy!

Cuuuute! I have a foster mama and her three kittens right now. They're 5.5 weeks old and are just so fun. Are you guys going to keep her??

Oh heck yes good luck trying to pry her from mishy's hands!

Hahaha! I love it! Sounds like it was meant to be!

Absolutly shes special to both of us. She is incredible. Il have mish post resent pics. Her big 'ole eyes lol