3 week old stray

I found a kitten a few days ago which I think is about 3-4 weeks old. I have been looking after her for a few days, giving her baby formula milk and have just started giving her a medicine for worms. In the last couple of days her stomach has become really bloated and I am worried about the cause.

I have never had a cat before - I am more of a dog person and only took this one in because she was being eaten alive by ants and I knew that her mother was killed - so I am really in at the deep end here!

The other problem is that I am in Egypt, so a proper vet is impossible to find and completely unaffordable for me.

Her stomach has gotten worse very bad in the last day or so and I am wondering if that is a normal effect of the baby formula which is cow milk based, or the worms which have started coming out dead now, or if there is another problem. Any ideas?

AW thank you for taking in this little baby. I am thinking it is a combination of things, but not sure. If it is alright with you, I will ask that this thread be moved to the Pregnant Cats and Kitten Care Forum. For sure, in that forum you will be able to get more answers from experienced kitten care members. for the little one.

Thankyou, any help would be much appreciated

First of all, welcome here, and thank you for taking in this little one. I can relate to your problems because I used to live in Bosnia and rescued a number of street kittens, some of whom now live with me in France!

I used to feed goat milk to starving kittens - cows milk is high in lactose and will often cause severe digestive problems, especially in young cats. Yoghurt or fresh unsalted curd or cream cheese are also a possibility as the processing destroys some of the lactose, but goat milk is best. At three weeks or so you can also start trying some more solid food by making a soup of mashed up cat food with water and putting some on the kitten's paws and gums to encourage her to like it. It will take a few goes and be messy but she will get the idea in the end. Above all, in the heat, do not let her get dehydrated - test by taking a large pinch of skin at the scruff of the neck, letting go and seeing how long it takes to return to normal. If it falls back in place immediately the kitten is fine, if it takes longer than a second or two then the kitten needs fluids quickly. I use a 10ml syringe without a needle that you can get from any pharmacy, and slowly squirt the water into the side of the mouth so the kitten does not choke.

Wormers can be dangerous. We normally advise to only use wormers that are bought from a vet. If you cannot do that then at least get them from a pharmacy and not a petshop - some worming treatments casue more deaths than the worms. Flea treatments too can hurt kittens, but fleas can cause anaemia so must be tackled. To deflea her use a fine flea comb and a bowl of hot water with some liquid detergent. As you comb her drown the fleas in the water. I would do this every day as she is likely to have a lot of fleas and will pick up more.

Please keep posting updates on this thread so we can know how it goes. And if you can, it would be wonderful to have a picture - sometimes we can tell more about the age or condition of the kitten if we can see it. Good luck.

Goat milk as said above. A little later you can begin with mushed minced meat (NOT meat from pigs - btw pig meat is scarce in Egypt    ).

Milk products like youghurt and cheese also OK a little later, but avoid cow milk. As said.

These tips will also work for small dog puppies.

As I know, goat milk contains lactose too, yet is much easier for cats and others,  than cow milk.

How is "going to the bathroom"?  Peeing and poo-ing?  If it goesnt by itself you must stimulate her.

It not - it can by itself explaing this bloated tummy...

You will perhaps find some ideas from sites about helping  motherless kittens are

www.kitten-rescue.com

http://www.fabcats.org/owners/kittens/handrearing.html

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

Welcome to our Forums!

Good luck!

Thanks for the advice, she is managing to go to the toilet sometimes on her own and sometimes I have to help her, but at the moment I have given her a worming medicine which I bought from a pharmacy here and it has given her a very sore tummy, I am not sure if that is normal. She has diarrhea and is a very unhappy kitten. I will post a photo when I get home later. She was a happy kitten for the first 2 days - she liked being carried around and petted. I was taking her to work with me and she was more than happy. Now she is not sleeping as often and is always mewing unhappily. I am not sure if its just the worms, or anything else.

Also, I am thinking now that she is a he, but am not sure. :s Slightly confused by the whole situation.

I will try to buy goats cheese today. I tried yogurt already but she/he was not interested. I will try harder later. 

I think that there is a good chance that if you stop the cows milk her tummy will improve. Try goat milk rather than the cheese - she is more likely to take it.

jennyranson said:

I think that there is a good chance that if you stop the cows milk her tummy will improve. Try goat milk rather than the cheese - she is more likely to take it.

Click to expand...

Right. By mentioning goat cheese (or even cow cheese) I though it for a tip when she begins to eat  solid food.  For drinking milk is  goat milk best, if you dont have a high quality, kitten replacement milk.

Goat milk is known to be a mild milk.

Im sure it is much easier to get goat milk in Egypt than USA or Sweden.  Here in Sweden you can find it if you seek hard enough, but the price is almost killing you...

Good you will try again with yoghurt. Yougurt is an old remedy for stabilizing upset stomach after antibiotica cures.  It may work here too.

I suspect part of the diarrhea is this dewormer.  If so, it will go over by itself, especielly if she gets the mild goat milk instead of cow milk based  baby milk.

Good luck!

It turns out that goat milk is difficult to find so she continues on nido. Her tummy is normal and her diarrhea has stopped, thank goodness. I think this was the worms and dewormer and now, hopefully she will be OK. Today I left her on her own for some time and now she isn't eating. She has had only a few mils of milk and has fallen asleep on my lap. I am a bit worried, I will have to take her out with me tomorrow - partly because I want to make sure she is fed at regular intervals but also because I need to fumigate the house and am worried about her lungs! Nut I am worried that she will be too week to spend all day out of her nest. Being the cat's mother is very difficult. Although I realised that alot of her stress and miowing  was for her mother. When I cuddle her, she miows less generally. 

You are so right... Difficult, and yet, not so few doesnt makes it, even with good care... But if you succeed!  Very nice feeling.  

  But it seems you must take her with you, for both reasons you mentioned. Cant you take her with her nest?  Or make a smaller nest to carry her in? 

Some sort of baby-bag to bear at your chest would be nice.

She is too small and weak to make any real tries to run off... So secure with something, but it doesnt need to be anything elaborous.

Good luck!

Glad to hear she is doing better. HAve you tried to get the goat milk as processed, longlife? I managed to find that when fresh was not available. It really would be so much better for her.

I have the new problem that she is refusing to eat and now that her stomach isn't bloated by worms I have realised how skinny she is. Tomorrow my husband is going to help me to force feed her I really don't want to, but she refused to eat anything but a few mils today. Does anyone know how much she she be drinking, roughly? She also has a problem with one of her eyes. some dark liquid has dried under one of her eyes - I have no idea what it is and now I have washed it away.

This poor Kitty She is weak and she wants to sleep so much, I am worried that she will starve if I am not careful. Tomorrow will be very stressful for both me and the kitty I think.

Sorry I don't know what Nido is. Is that the baby formula you are feeding her?

I'm worried she is weak because she's not getting all the nutrients she needs to allow her to grow. If at all possible you need to get her some kitten milk replacement formula. Kittens need special nutrients (like Taurine) that won't be found in the formula made for human babies. As mentioned, you can also make your own "kitten glop" which may be cheaper. I looked on Amazon and they have a 12oz can of powdered KMR on sale for $18.02 (http://www.amazon.com/KMR&tag=&tag=thecatsite[emoji]174[/emoji]-Powder-Kittens-Cats-12oz/dp/B0002ASS0M/ref=pd_sim_petsupplies_2). I'm not sure if you are in the US or if Amazon ships internationally (I would assume the they do but the cost will obviously be different). I would think one of those could get you through the next few weeks until she can start on solids. I don't think it will matter if you force feed her if what she is receiving is not nutritionally sufficient. Another option: they do sell a nutri-cal paste (that has all the basic nutrients they need and gives a good calorie boost) that is specially formulated for kittens. It costs around $8 where I am but again, saw it on Amazon for $4.41 (). You could try mixing this in with a lactose free milk (like Jennyranson's suggestion of the processed goat's milk). 

Also, what kind of worming medication did you give her? Was it a type specially formulated for kittens and did you adjust the dose for her small size? I don't have experience with over the counter de-wormers but I would think in too large a dose they could be toxic. 

If she continues to decline I would do everything possible to get her into a vet. 

Good luck! 

Just a reminder that the OP is in Egypt and many things are not available there, including a vet! And even if Amazon would post there I would not trust international delivery on a box of white powder!!!

I think you can try to force feed her, using a needleless syringe. Don't think of it as force feeding, but assisted feeding and it will seem easier. Place the syringe at the side of her mouth and feed her in tiny squirts do she swallows but does not choke. And if you manage it with milk or water then try with home-made unsalted chicken broth or 'catfood soup', made as liquid as it needs to be to get through the nozzle of the syringe. You can make the hole bigger with a screwdriver if necessary. Keep her on her stomach to feed - cats can't swallow properly when on their backs and might choke. You are doing all you can - I feel for you.

Thankyou, I am still very worried for her, she has eaten some today, but it still week and she is weazing alot so I think she has a problem with her lungs maybe. 

She is breathing through her mouth.

It seems that today her teeth have started to come through.

I made her some chicken broth and she has had about 3mls so far. Will give her more in a few minutes so if I feed her on the broth it should build her strength up within a day or so. I am not sure if anything can help her breathing though. Is it normal for kittens to have the sniffles? And why would this affect her appetite. I guess it must be something serious and fairly horrible to make her stop eating. She was very greedy a few days ago. 

jennyranson said:

Just a reminder that the OP is in Egypt and many things are not available there, including a vet! And even if Amazon would post there I would not trust international delivery on a box of white powder!!!
 

Click to expand...

Ooohhhhhhh yes that is my mistake. I totally missed that part! I had read the original post several days ago and then only commented after seeing the most recent post. I checked to see if there was a location listed in the header and since there wasn't I assumed it was not listed at all. Thank you JennyRanson for correcting me, and I apologize CloudyDuck for my careless oversight.

I didn't mean to imply that you shouldn't try to get food into her, just that you may have more luck with a more nutrient dense formula (that it might boost her energy and get her to be more interested in eating on her own). If my post at all sounded like I was saying you weren't doing a good job I really am sorry- that was never my intent (although now that I have gone back and carefully re-read everything I am afraid that is how it came across). What I had deduced from the original post was that you had limited experience with kittens so I thought those tips might help by letting you know that there are products you could try. I clearly did not understand that you were in a situation where your access to those types of resources is very limited. I now fully understand why you are taking the route you have.  I love the chicken broth idea to get her some extra protein and water- hopefully she was able to drink a little bit more. 

I'm sorry I don't have more input on your latter questions- I have had kittens with the sniffles but usually treat with vet-perscribed medication so I am not sure of what some home remedies would be. I'll leave that to some of the more creative posters. 

I can't even begin to tell you how much respect I have for what you are doing for this little one. Taking in an orphaned kitten is extremely challenging (both physically and emotionally) when you do have access to resources. That is a true testament to your character and I am sending all my positive thoughts and vibes your way. I wish you both the best of luck! 

We all skim sometimes and it is easy to miss things! On the sniffles, it is very common for kittens to get respiratory infections, especially if they are already weak. Since cats eat by smell, if they have blocked noses they do not want to eat and we have to help them. I am glad you are getting some broth into her - I would try the catfood soup next. ANd do continue with yoghurt - the live kind as that will get good bacteria into her, almost like a natural anitbiotic and strengthen her immune and digestive systems. Put it on the end of your finger and get it into her mouth. Evenually she will decide she likes it. You are doing amazingly well - it is so difficult with these little ones.

I'm afraid that I wasn't doing as well as everyone thought I was, because she passed away earlier today. It was peaceful, in her sleep and I am sure that she wasn't in any pain.

Thank you for all of your help, your support was invaluable. I really did everything I could but the last day or two I have been watching the life drain out of her and I am afraid that I was almost relieved when I found her looking peaceful in her box, shortly after I put her down. She knew that I loved her and she felt safe with me. My Grandad told me that she wouldn't have lasted so long on her own and at least I made her last days comfortable and (I hope) happy.

I hope that I don't see any more orphan strays in the near future...

Thanks and best wishes...

Sorry to hear about your kitten. You gave her a home and love and that's more than a lot of strays get. You did everything you could and made her comfortable and I'm sure she appreciated that. Some kittens just weren't meant to last long

A couple years ago we found a newborn kitten abandoned in the neighbor's yard screaming and we took her in, cleaned her off (she was covered in yeast still) and she lasted 3 days before passing. I felt bad, but knew we tried and gave her love and a home (something she wouldn't have had without us) and we gave her a fighting chance.

Just don't let this keep you from helping other kittens in need. Things happen for a reason, maybe she came into your life so you could learn and help out other needy kittens.

ashyfulz said:

Sorry to hear about your kitten. You gave her a home and love and that's more than a lot of strays get. You did everything you could and made her comfortable and I'm sure she appreciated that.

Just don't let this keep you from helping other kittens in need. Things happen for a reason, maybe she came into your life so you could learn and help out other needy kittens.

Click to expand...

I agree wholeheartly with that!

Rescuing kittens is not easy. Not so few do pass away, however you try.  We knew all danger was not over. You DID your best, and gave her love and nice shelter.  That is what Mother Theresia did and get renown for, no?

She helped the dying. Unlike her, some - most! of your kitten protegées will survive, grown up, thrive.

For their joy, your joy, for the joy of their new owner...

Good luck, CloudyDuck!   Hugs and vibes!