Well, we did it again.

Well, we did it again. Now we have Carly and Simon, a couple of kittens that were found abandoned or orphaned on Midnight Oil's porch (that is the coffee house next door). Carly is an almost 1 pound ginger and white spitfire of a little girl while Simon is a tiny tuxedo kitten, barely half a pound. They are about 4 weeks old. We got them to the vet today as Simon was definitely not doing well last night. the vet reasurred us that Simon probably ate a bit too much yesterday and was getting used to the formula. He has a bit of problem with his eyelashes growing inward toward his eye, so we have eye drops, as well as antibiotics and anti vomiting meds for him. Carly is perfectly healthy. The best part, the vet only charged us 1/2 price for the visit. Carly is pretty much already spoken for, but as she is only 4 weeks old we will be keeping her for the next month.

Any tips for refeeding Simon? He is skin and bones, he feels a little better today but yesterday we could feel every individual vertebrae.

I should also add we have a 12 week old kitten and his mother. The kitten wants to make friends but his mother has hidden under the couch. We live in a one bedroom apartment with a tiny kitchen and very small bathroom, so the cats pretty much just live in the living room. We have a crate for the kittens to sleep in and get away from the others in. The vet said it was probably okay to let them mix.

Just to show how incredibly tiny Simon is, this is a standard sized coffee mug:


Our other two cats are starting to at least not hiss at them. Right now they are mutually ignoring each other, though our 12 week old kitten wants to play. Binky (our mama) is still nursing Cookie about once daily, so I'm hoping that we can get her and Simon introduced quickly enough that she does not dry up entirely (she was spayed five weeks ago but is still apparently producing milk for Cookie.) Even if all she can give is once daily, that will help 1/2 pound (that's about 227 grams... for a 4 week old kitten) Simon a lot. She is starting to let him cuddle but is definitely telling him the cantina is closed.

It would deff be ideal if you could get the mama cat to adopt both of them. It probably won't happen, but it's worth a shot. They need calories and mama's milk will be a nice supplement to whatever they are eating. That is assuming they are eating hard food. As far as puting weight on the small one, you need to mix some Kitten Milk Replacer with wet kit ten food. If he won't eat it try rubbing some on the roof of his mouth. If he likes the taste he'll eat it.

I would be very wary about mixing KMR powder with wet food.  If you want to give some bottles do so, but if you want to add KMR to the food make it up first.  Kittens getting bottle-fed get constipated if their milk powder is made up too strong.

HI !!! I just had to pop in and see the babies Carly and Simon! SO adorable and oh so tiny. Just precious!!! :heart3: Again, thank you for taking them in. Bless your heart. Mega vibes for the little ones to thrive! :cross:

I was referring to the ready-made liquid KMR in the can. I sure hope everything's going ok with the little one.

Simon has put on some weight, though he's still so small that he can crawl under our bedroom door. At the very least we are no longer able to feel every vertebrae in his spine. Neither of them seem to like formula, and we cannot find wet kitten food where we live. We would have to go to the pet store for that, but we cannot often get transportation.

Binky (our mama) grooms them occasionally but they are not really cuddling with her yet, and she doesn't want them anywhere near her belly. Simon and Cookie (our 12 week old) are fast friends. Carly doesn't seem to be friends with any of them except Simon. Binky sees her as a rival I think and she's scared of Cookie.

Carly has a pretty good home lined up though of course we're asking if things fall through for them to return her to us rather than take her to the shelter. This shelter has an abysmal kill rate, which is the reason we took them in to begin with. She is eating mostly raw food and a tiny bit of kibble. Simon is eating only kibble. He will not take formula at all. He doesn't seem to know what a nipple is for either, since Binky shoved him toward her and he just left. Right now we just want him to eat anything he will.

Anyway... anyone for a double stuffed purrito?


That's my husband holding them.

Binky is cuddling Simon but not really Carly now. She does groom both of them like she does with Cookie (who is 13 weeks now.) She has completely dried up. Simon doesn't like formula, but he got his first taste of the raw food we make yesterday and is eating that now, although we do leave kitten kibble out for them overnight while we sleep. We're able to leave them unattended (by us) now overnight, and the other cats are doing fine with them.

We live in a small, one room apartment and don't really have the option of keeping them separated. Our bathroom is too small to do this and the only other door in the house is in our bedroom. I DO have cat allergies. They are minimal if I keep them out of the bedroom however. I do tend to get used to the dander of individual cats but the first few days are terrible for me, and if I get scratched I get major welts. I have quite a few right now because Carly thought she'd take a trip across by belly and on my thigh. They've gone down but it's been about 16 hours since I was scratched. But having cats is worth minor discomfort.

you mentioned that you can't get wet food where you live here is a little trick i have. take a blender or coffee grinder [ clean of all coffee]  and grind up whatever kibble you have preferably high quality  kitten food like moms eating. then mix that with KMR to a wet food consistency as you need it. i have found with mine it help to transition to big cat food without the choking hazards. i had one kitten who got a piece of kibble caught in her throat and i thought she was going to die before i dislodged it. SCARY!

Thanks but they're all eating the raw food we make now.