Took in a stray kitten

nettybee

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I took in a stray kitten yesterday. She was found up the road a little bit from my house. I'm not sure how old she is, but she seems to be about six to eight weeks old. We definitely want to keep her. We are making an appointment with a vet to get her checked out in the next few days, as well. She's the sweetest little thing. She purrs a lot, rubs her head against my chin, meows at me, and just generally seems happy. Though, she is quite skittish. She runs and hides if you move too fast and also will wake up at every little sound when she's trying to sleep. She's also very very skinny. You can feel her ribs, backbone, her shoulders, etc. Though, we did get her belly full with some food and she was very content after that. Any tips on taking care of a stray kitten? I've never taken in a stray before and just want to give her the best care possible.
 

mrblanche

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She should be checked by a vet for the serious diseases, such as feline leukemia.  She probably needs to be wormed, and treated for fleas.

Bless you for taking her in!  Please ask any questions you want to.
 
 
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nettybee

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Definitely getting her into a vet as soon as possible. If not today, tomorrow. 

Thank you. =D

I do have a question. Is it alright that I'm feeding her canned cat food? She doesn't seem to be eating dry. But, will eat canned no problem.
 

StefanZ

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I do have a question. Is it alright that I'm feeding her canned cat food? She doesn't seem to be eating dry. But, will eat canned no problem.
 Yes, canned is defintietly OK.  It is easier to make a decent wet food than decent dry food.  Thus, prefer wet food if you can choose.  And dry food as extra, for example for night snacks or treats.

Also, wet food being of generally higher quality, higher in animalia proteins and fats, is in itself  in class with kitten food from many dry foods.

Otherwise?   She is very young as kitten. She would be too young if you wanted to buy her from a breeder.

So you must be her Ma and Pa.  I suspect many of your problems will be not because she was found, homeless? possibly born outside??  but simply, her being very young.

Do you have a resident cat or friendly dog?  dont let them be togehter before you get clean bill from the vet. But later on it is only good if she gets an friendly animal pal.

Tx for caring!

Good luck!
 

mrblanche

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When you consider how far kibble is in appearance, smell, taste, etc., from what a cat would normally eat, it's amazing any of them eat it.  Wet food is fine, but it's fairly low in fat and protein (it's about 75% water, after all).  If you have a kitten wet food, that would be great.  But anything is probably better than what she's been eating.
 
 
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nettybee

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She seems to be doing a bit better. She was having diarrhea every time she went to the bathroom, so I switched her to dry kitten food, and she doesn't seems to be having diarrhea so much anymore. Could it be from the original change in diet? She's using the litter box pretty well now. I'm actually surprised on how well she took to it. We do have two other cats and three other dogs besides the kitten. Our dogs love cats and our one cat is still a kitten so she might enjoy having a playmate. Also, we have an appointment at 9:30am tomorrow to get her into the vet. I wanted to get her in sooner. But, our vet won't be in until thursday and this place couldn't get us in until tomorrow.
 

feralvr

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Welcome and thanks for rescuing this little kitten. :hugs: I would advise keeping the kitten separate from your other cats until you get the testing done, has had shots, has been deworrmed. Don't let you other cats use the same litter box until the kitten stool check is negative. Most kittens have worms, roundworms. If you expose the other cats, then you will have to deworm them as well. Best to keep them separate until you get a clean bill of health from the vet. The diarrhea could very well be the change of diet, or intestinal parasites. Much, much luck at the vet tomorrow morning :vibes::vibes::vibes::vibes::vibes::vibes::vibes:
 
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nettybee

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Just got back from the vets with Schrodinger. Turns out she is a he. lol He has worms, so they gave us medication. No ear mites. He had fleas and since he's so tiny they put a little bit advantage on him. He also tested negative for feline aids and leukemia. So all is good with him!
 

feralvr

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Great news on the negative tests :woohoo: :clap::clap: Not surprised he has worms, most do... but easily treatable. :nod: What did they give you for the worms and the diarrhea? Just curious :D. AWW Shrodinger is a HE. Your not the first to think a she is a he, or a he is a she :lol3: Continued vibes for your new little one :vibes::vibes::vibes::vibes::vibes::vibes::vibes:
 
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shan841

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 Wet food is fine, but it's fairly low in fat and protein (it's about 75% water, after all). 
 
Making a blanket statement that wet food is low in fat in protein isn't really accurate advice....next to a raw diet, an all canned diet is much better than feeding dry. A mouse is 75% water, after all :)
 

feralvr

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Making a blanket statement that wet food is low in fat in protein isn't really accurate advice....next to a raw diet, an all canned diet is much better than feeding dry. A mouse is 75% water, after all :)
Exactly right. I think the issue is the cost of canned food versus the dry. But yes, any wet food, even the cheap stuff is better than dry food.
 
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nettybee

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Great news on the negative tests
Not surprised he has worms, most do... but easily treatable.
What did they give you for the worms and the diarrhea? Just curious
. AWW Shrodinger is a HE. Your not the first to think a she is a he, or a he is a she
Continued vibes for your new little one
 

feralvr

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That is good :) the drontal is a broad-spectrum dewormer and the Ponazuril is for a possible parasitic infection. He should be feeling better soon. Good news that your younger kitty has taken to the newbie! I would still keep them apart though - at least not sharing litter boxes yet. Sounds like all is going to work out very well :happy3: :clap::clap: :vibes::vibes:
 
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