8 day old miracle...HELP!!

I recently took in a stray and found out the hard way that she was pregnant...although extremely malnutritioned and full of fleas, she somehow carried and delivered 8 kittens. Turns out they were premature. Just how premature I am unsure, but they were very small, weak and some had no fur and bulging eyes. By the second night, all but one died. It broke my heart to watch them go but I know that the mortality rate is very high for preemies. And that is where my concern begins. The sole survivor started out suckling and eating normally on his own with no assistance...matter of fact, the mama would periodically make trips to her food bowl dragging a still suckling baby under her. He was strong! I was doing everything possible to ensure this little guy had the best odds possible...I separated the momma and baby from the rest of my animals, made a warm bed for them and checked on them every hour and made sure to keep the baby flea free. Although I was cautious, on the third day my male cat managed to get the bathroom door open and steal the baby from his bed and took him out to the living room. He quickly released the baby and I gave him a thorough once over to find that he had a small gash on his cheek and a cut on his lip but otherwise just fine. After I cleaned him up a bit, I set him with his momma and he instantly began to suckle. He appeared to be fine, however, on the fifth night I observed him and he seemed a bit lethargic and unwilling to suckle. He had been on a downward spiral ever since. I took him to the vet, but that was not much help. The vet seemed very uninterested and sent him home with some antibiotics and no encouraging words or advice. I have been managing to feed the little guy with an eyedropper full of warm Hartz kitten replacement milk and I have somhow managed to get his medicine in him, but he fights me tooth and nail. I figured there would be some resistence at first to the replacement milk as it is not the same as momma, but I would have thought that he would get used to it. He is still very small and cannot suckle, but he does seem to have a little more energy than before. He is not having any trouble peeing and pooing. Momma still cleans him when I put him in front of her, but she does not pay him any attention and if they were not locked in the same room together, she would be wandering about the house without another thought of her baby so I have had to pick up the slack feeding him every 2 hours. I still try to get him to latch on to the momma, but it's as though he cannot suck. He roots for the nipple but when he finds it he will bite at it a few times then just lay his head down. I am also concerned with the fact that he does not cry unless I try to feed him the formula. I usually have to wake him up to feed him then he "swims" for a comfortable spot on the bed and falls back asleep. Should I be concerned with the amount of sleep he is getting or is that normal for a kitten (especially premature)? Another thing I am conserned about is that every website I visited concerning the care of kittens says that a kitten should lose their umbilical cord at around 4 days old...my little one is going on 8 days now and still has his-should I be worried about this? I am unexperienced and full of questions. I just want what's best for the little guy. He has fought so hard so I will fight just as hard to keep him healthy. If anyone has any information that would be helpful to my situation, it would be greatly appreciated by not only myself, but the little guy who struggles to hang in there every hour for the last 8 days.

His cord isn't something I would worry about at present - the important things are keeping him warm, making sure he gets enough to eat of the right thing, and toiletting him before and after each feed.  Lots of information about hand-rearing here:

http://www.messybeast.com/handrear.htm

Do read the info in the three links it has very close to the top as well, one to here (TheCatSite), one to the FAB and one to TASC.

Also weigh him at about the same time each day - you need scales that will weigh to 1g or fractions of an ounce.  Grams are easier in my view as there are no decimal points involved.  In the UK cheap digital kitchen scales are ideal.

Did the vet check his mouth to be sure he has no injury there? That could be preventing him being comfortable suckling. You are doing a great thing with him - it can be heartbreaking sometimes. Is your male neutered? Entire toms will usually try to kill kittens so they can mate with t he mother, so you are doing the right thing keeping him away. Good luck.

I am keeping the baby warm and fed...I ended up oversleeping this morning, so the times between his meals was about 3 1/2 hours. I still had to wake him up, but he sucked down the formula for me without as much of a struggle. He fought for a second, but as soon as I got the dropper in his mouth and dropped a drop on his tongue, he went to town on it...he ate about .75 ml. After that he struggles with me to finish off the dropper. Does this mean that I was feeding him too often or too much and that is why he was fighting the formula? Since he is preemie and considerably smaller for his age, I am unsure how much to give him. The male cat I have is not spayed...haven't had the chance to do so since I found him abandoned too...my house is turning into a regular zoo...2 dogs, 2 cats and a baby kitten...I also noticed some odd behavior this morning from the momma cat. She is hissing and "growling" at the door where she is locked in with her baby. I am concerned that she may get agressive and take it out on the baby. I know that instinctively mothers often protect their young from other predators, but the momma has not done this before and both cats have been in the house the whole time. This morning was the first incident and I don' t want to create a stressful environment for any of the animals, especially the baby. Any advice?

Like I said before, the vet was terrible. He grabbed the kitten by the scruff of the neck, looked at him a second then put him back down and told me that he was really small. He did check the color of his gums but that was it. He made no mention of his injury. He then proceeded back into the building ( as we were not allowed with the kitten in the building) and told me that he would give him some antibiotic. Told me not in so many words that this little guy was not worth the effort and his chances of survival were 50/50. He mentioned tube feeding but told me that it would cost upwards of $400 and left it at that. I was dumbfounded by his manner and will certainly not take any of my animals there again. But I do agree that his injury could be the culprit as to why he is unable to suckle. He seems to be doing better day by day, but the area looks severely bruised.

The vet may well be right about his chances, though improve with every day he gets bigger.  However he was very insensitive about it...

I have no idea why he couldn't go in the building - the only reason I can think of is if they have cats shedding viruses there which could infect the little chap.  Or maybe he was worried about the other direction.  Either way he should have explained why he was seeing you outside.

Grabbig him by the scruff is how to tell if he's dehydrated, though maybe he was rough.  You punch up a fold of skin and see if it pings straight back down or is slow - it should go straight back.

Have you read any of the links I gave you?  They tell you how much to feed him, and have masses of other information you probably will find useful.

I would definitely not go there again! The vet gave my Dushka a 20% chance when I Found her as a tiny kitten with serious pneumonia, but we worked on her together and now she is 10 years old!

But it sounds as if your little one may be making some progress. I would not force him to eat more than he can comfortably take, but once you feel he has had a reasonable amount then offer it once more and stop if he has had enough Little and often is the best rule for kittens. And weigh him daily to be sure he is gaining weight - use a kitchen scale that measures in grams. Don't panic if he does not gain the same every day, as long as it is going up steadily. Good luck, you are doing well so far!

I would not go back to that vet again! I had a bad experience with a vet when i was in a situation similar to yours with failing kittens. He told me i needed to tube feed them if they were not suckling. I asked him if he would show me how. His response was to go to the hardware store buy a tube that was a certain thickness and put it down their throat and pour some formula in it. I could not get formula in their lungs if it was big enough. i was horrified and needless to I packed up my kittens and have never been back to that vet ever again. I did take my kittens to another vet and tell them about my other vet experience and they gave me a catheter to tube feed with, showed me how and stayed with me while I did it until I felt I comfortably knew what I was doing. I have no idea why your vet said it would cost $400 unless he wanted to surgically put one in and I would never do that with a kitten. If you want to tube feed him I would take him to a different vet, and make them show you how to put the tube in and take it back out safely.
 

here is another link for you to look at it is about raising premature kittens

http://www.kitten-rescue.com/premature_kittens.html

Well guys, I have a bit of good news...the momma's motherly instincts seem to have kicked in!!! This tells me that more than likely this is when she was suppose to have her kittens which would make my little guy 8 days early. He is eating well from the dropper now and is crying and trying to suckle again. I know it's still too early to tell if he will be fine, but he is well on his way!! I'm so excited! The only issue I am having now it that the momma is taking her kitten out of the bed and moving him to a high up open cabinet. Imagine my suprise when I go in to check on the litte guy and he's not where he should be. I was so afraid that my male cat had found him again. I had my kids look through the house while I searched the bathroom. I found him a few minutes later in the cabinet with the momma, but he was a little chilled as there are no blanket in that cabinet. I have since emptied the bottom cabinet and put his bed with the heating pad in it. This seems to be working but I need to monitor the situation closely as he gets cold very quickly. I can tell you now that this little bundle is gonna be a handful when he gets bigger. I just hope he continues to grow and thrive...he's definately on his way!! I have yet to get a scale as money is tight right now, but it seems as though he is doing okay for the time being until I can get one. I guess I should just keep doing what I am doing since it seems to be working. Thank you all for your helpful advice and kind words...it has been a tremendous help through this rough time. I will keep everyone posted on his progress!

He is so precious!!! I hope he will be fine

He is still very small, but I am hoping that now that he is on the road to recovery that he will catch up in size and weight. It's hard to tell being that he is preemie, but we take it one hour at a time around here!

This is really kind of you, we need more people like you.  How difficult to see the babies die.  Mom may have been disinterested due to only having 1 kitten, or perhaps the smell of the Tom stressed her, but that is good she is maternal again.  Encourage suckling if you can, but it is difficult once they have been hand fed. 

Please, if you can find KMR this would be a much better brand.  Reason being that Hartz is cow milk based and difficult for kittens to digest. 

Now would be the best time to neuter the male if you could.  Check into low cost spay neuter programs in your area, many cities have them.  This would give momma a break and he would come back more mellow.  Trouble is that tom cats can kill kittens to get the female to go into heat again. 

As you can tell by the photo above, he has little fur on his legs...poor thing.

Well, I bought a scale at Wal-mart tonight and weighed my little guy...if this scale is accurate, he weighs just over 1 oz. He is just SO tiny. Naturally I am concerned with this...I haven't seen much on the internet regarding a kitten so small. Feeding his poses a challenge too since the ratios according to weight are mainly for kittens of a healthy weight.

I apologize for the blurry photo...it was the best I could get with my camera.



Regarding your comment about the formula, I have been watering in down until his stomach can handle it. I investigated the Hartz brand of formula and was shocked at the number of negative comments. I am afraid to change the formula since switching brands may not be the best thing for his stomach either. I am not sure where to go to get another brand or just how much more expensive they are versus the Hartz brand...I am working with a limited budget. The Hartz brand is about $4.00 for a can of ready mixed at Wal-mart. The closest pet store is almost an hour from here...not exactly convenient. For now it does not seem to be posing a problem for him...he is able to pee and poo normally, he is not constipated nor does he have diarrhea. I am still encouraging the suckling when I wake him up for feedings, I give him the chance to get the milk from momma first. I give him about 15 minutes or so to try and if I see he is still not latching on, I feed him with the dropper full of formula which he has learned to happily accept. He is still trying to suckle his momma but just can't seem to latch on...I admire his persistence, but he still needs nutrition so sadly I have to intervene. I have solved the issue with momma taking him up to the higher opened cabinet by moving the nest to the bottom cabinet. Now I can rest knowing that he is safe (or at least as safe as I can make him!)

I will post frequently to keep you all informed of his progress...I am so proud that he is doing so well for having such a rough start in life. I think we will name him "Champ" as that is what he has been through this whole ordeal!

I can tell you that reading the weight on the scale is going to be a challenge....with such a little weight it is hard to tell just how much it goes up because the needle is so big on the scale...

You need a digital scale to get an accurate reading. It's quite important to track his weight correctly, singltetons often aren't enough to keep mum interested. She will like come into call again very soon, during which time she might loose interest in her little one. Especially with an intact male in the house.

Look on the Internet for KMR if you are in the US, rather than go on a 2-hour drive to see if the store has any.  And agree, you need digital kitchen scales that weigh in grams - a gram is a tiny bit of an ounce and you don't have to mess around with decimal points.

I didn't see one at Wal-mart and I don't know where else to look. Not to mention the cost...I'm sure that a digital scale could cost upwards of $40 which I cannot afford at the present. Right now he is about the same weight of his full formula bottle...1.8 oz or about 51 g. I will do my best to keep up with the weight using the scale I have and compare it to the bottles filled with milk. I will make it work somehow. So far so good!!

Look on the Internet.  I found quite a few on a well-known Internet retailier for almost half that, plus free delivery.  Remember you need a set with a large enough platform to pop a kitten on so the tiny ones for jewellry and herbs are not really suitable.  Ones for general kitchen use are probably fine.

I didn't see one at Wal-mart and I don't know where else to look. Not to mention the cost...I'm sure that a digital scale could cost upwards of $40 which I cannot afford at the present. Right now he is about the same weight of his full formula bottle...1.8 oz or about 51 g. I will do my best to keep up with the weight using the scale I have and compare it to the bottles filled with milk. I will make it work somehow. So far so good!!

Unfortunately my debit card will not work for shopping on the internet...I have tried...I found one on ebay for $11.99 free shipping and it has a bowl with it. I wish I could have gotten it, but I guess I will have to make due with what I purchased at Wal-mart.