Cleaning a feral and scared kitten

I rescued a kitten that was on a dual carriageway (a small freeway for US friends), cars and lorries were swerving to avoid her and driving over her, luckily for her not with wheels, just "over" her.  She was hard to catch, but I blocked the road so cars had to pass very slowly and one at a time.  Once I cornered her in the tunnel by an emergency entrance, I grabbed and instantly got bitten to pieces, not only was she scared, but terrified of both me and her surroundings.- 

She is totally feral, but I wouldn't put her older than 6 - 8 weeks old.  I've done the first stage of confining in a small room ( a bathroom ) where she had access to a hide place, food and water and a litter tray.

She had a bit of constipation to begin but now its runny and even though she would pee in the tray, she would poop in other areas of the bathroom.  My new kitten cage came today, I have moved her now into the cage with new litter, food and water and a comfy hide place in the living room to start integrating with the family and our other 3 cats.  She's obviously still scared and I can only handle her with leather gloves as she spits, scratches and bites.  She was in her hide place when she was writhing her bum area and straining.  She had soiled herself and just sitting in it as she was to scared to come out and use the litter.

All I could do was catch her with the gloves on and clean her with baby wipes which was all I had to hand at the time.  Being she is so hard to handle at the moment, can anyone give me any help on how I can best clean her if she does soil herself again as the way I'm doing it is obviously not good for the little mites confidence.

A tip worth trying when needing to use forcing, is to wrap them up in a thick towel. Wrapped up, they become submissive, and let you do what need to be done.

Similiar wrapping up you can use for fostering her. Wrap her comfortably up, held her at your chest, singing softly and talking friendly, making also a lot of concerned, friendly noises... Half an hour, a whole hour...  I think it was our forumite CatNamedPanda who gave and uses much that tip. Works wonderfully at these ages, when they still very young, but already a little too old for  easy socialization.

Another tip for forcing, is to grab her by the scruff, like their mother would do. They got submissive.

If she is longhaired, and becomes soiled because of it, you can shorten the hairs  there areund. clip them down.

Washing the behind?  Some forumites working with small kittens, simply put them rear ends under running, warm water.  This do also the work of stimulating.  Afterwards they must be dried off, of course.

I suppose you can use this for cleaning too.

What food are you giving her?

Tx a lot for helping this little sis of ours!

Welcome to our Forums!

Good luck!

ps. As you got scratched and bitten, I hope you got medical attention?  dont tell them you do have the cat at home...  But you must have the wounds thoruoughly done with.

Thanks for the reply and advice.

I am giving her some kitten wet food and dry food.  The wet food twice a day and the dry food gets refilled as needed.  She also has a bowl of water.  Initially she had normal cat food as that is all I had until payday, it was for about 3 days, then she had proper kitten food.

I have wondered whether I should get her some kitty milk.

She's definitely put on weight since coming here, she was such a waif when I brought her home.

She's thrown up just now, bless her, I think the cleaning was just too much for her, but I will be doing the towel coaxing.

I haven't had the bites checked over, but I was on my way to a hospital appointment when I found her in the tunnel, they gave me alcohol wipes to clean them, and they are healing up just fine.

She should be wormed and treated for fleas.  Ring your vet and explain the situation.

Rosslyn Rose said:

I have wondered whether I should get her some kitty milk.

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No, that is not necessary.

Deworming, as Oriental suggest, is next tip, yes. She needs it almost surely.

Worms may in itself  be the main cause for this diarrhea.

Good luck!

Thank you.  I have had a good day today with her, wrapped up in a towel she started to feel more relaxed as we cuddled, she slept a little, but I think it was more of a doze than a sleep, any noise would open her eyes.  We had a few hours of cuddling which she was able to stay relaxed even with loose holding not trying to make a run for it.  I was able to hold her without a towel at all which I wanted to do as I placed her back in the pen.  

I will take her to the vet in the next couple of days and have her wormed by them as I don't want to manhandle her myself as to not take backsteps in the trust bond we are building.  

I have had a lot of kittens over the years, but never a feral one that has had quite a bit of trauma as she did on that day in the tunnel.  

Since our cuddle, she's been more relaxed in the pen, even to go as far as washing which she's not done before in our presence.  She feels that she doesn't have to keep watching us.  As this is the first time I have ever had to do this, I am very pleased.  She's not soiled herself since, so have not had to wash her back end in running water which I was anxious in having to do being that all my fingers in the right hand have puncture wounds in the fingers, I've  never been bitten so hard by a cat, let alone a kitten, so I didn't want it having again which I'm sure you can appreciate

Rosslyn Rose said:

I will take her to the vet in the next couple of days and have her wormed by them as I don't want to manhandle her myself as to not take backsteps in the trust bond we are building.  

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Please take her ASAP, as the diarrhea from the worms causes her to strain to poop, and this can cause a partially prolapsed rectum! Ouch! We're currently dealing with this in our own kitten and it's been stupidly hard to fix.

Worming takes several doses over several days, at least with the kind they use here in the US, so you'll likely have to do it yourself anyway. So don't hesitate is what I'm saying

Noted, thank you, will take her to a vet tomorrow.

Thanks for the advice

Rosslyn Rose said:

Noted, thank you, will take her to a vet tomorrow.

Thanks for the advice

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Very welcome! Keep us updated.

I thought I would give an update on the kitten that we have now named Bramble.

We stopped wet food for her, this did the trick, we kept her on dry food and water for 3 weeks, then we tried her back on wet food and she is now fine on both.

Our male 18month old Cat, Mr Bojangles, has befriended her.  They are real buddies and play all the time.  We no longer have to have her in a kitten cage as she does not run an hide anymore.  She is a lovely kitten, but still jumpy and scared of noises.  She will not come too close to us, but is integrated into the family room and will sit close to us but away from touching distance.  When we do manage to hold her when she allows, she enjoys it with very loud purrs.  

It's just a matter of time until she will be totally domesticated and hand friendly.

She is cross domestic shorthair and Bengal in my belief, she has a cross between a tabby and bengal markings and she has the typical long lean body and legs of a Bengal.  Her colouring is Brown and Cream/Beige.  She has a spotted belly and now her adult fur is coming though she has more spots than stripes on her body.

This photo is of Bramble when we first had her, she had injuries to her upper lip which happened when she was tumbled by the traffic.  I still get upset on what I saw that day when I put my life on the line to save her.  I hate the way that Cats still seem to be classed as "disposable".  I still have bad dreams about that day, the cars that were just driving over her, others just swerving without slowing down.  It was obvious that it was a kitten, it was daylight and a lovely bright day. I know I could have been injured myself, but it was a decision that was based on the moment rather than thinking.  I did wonder whether to stop the car where I wasn't supposed to on the carriageway, it was a split second thought to where I thought "sod it".  I could catch her before any police turned up.  She was well worth it, even if I had managed just to drive her back into the scrubland away from the road.

Her top lip has now healed completely without any scarring, and as I had 3 cats already, there are plenty of climbing frames and tunnels to keep her amused for hours.  There is a cat toy box that is emptied daily, it's like having toddlers around again with picking  up all the toys at the end of the day

One more kitten saved from an almost definite death situation, which was no more than another minute in Bramble's case.  She is now insured as are all my cats which means she is here to stay.

Geez, I want a bed like that!! Lucky girl