7 week old kitten.... runt

eb24

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Apr 14, 2012
Messages
1,417
Purraise
128
Location
USA
Yay I love the progress on using the box! Once they get the hang of it they tend to be pretty consistent, it's just grasping the initial concept. 

You have to be really consistent teaching her hands are not toys. If she bites during play push your hand back into her mouth. DONT just pull it away- she will think that's part of the game. Also, when she bite make a loud cry- it will signal to her that is too rough. 

Toys are your new best friend. She needs a variety: toys to chase, toys to chew, ect. A few wand toys are perfect because you can interact with her without her being able to get to your hands. Always have a toy nearby so If she's laying with you and starts trying to chew your hand you can replace it and praise her. If she keeps doing it just keep setting her on the floor. If, and only if you are consistent she will learn playing with hands=no snuggle time. 

There are tons of links on making your own toys- just google it. Cut up toilet paper rolls make perfect teethers- just throw them out when they get pretty chewed so she doesnt break off and swallow any cardboard. 
 

catwoman707

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Dec 16, 2011
Messages
7,689
Purraise
2,263
Location
Vallejo, CA
Great advice so far and I want to add some important info.

You can determine the age of kitten by their eyes somewhat. Are they still blue? If not then she is likely at least 7-8 weeks old.

8 week olds are not clumsy anymore, and are actually quite agile.

They should be able to crunch on dry food very well.

They play a bit rough and with your comments on her chewing your fingers, etc tells me she is a good 8 weeks.

You mentioned temptation treats, please rethink giving her these, especially such a young kitten, you want her to be a healthy and strong adult someday, and those treats are crap.

If money is not an issue, the very, very best dry food you can buy and feed her at her young age is Babycat, by Royal Canin. I have seen countless kittens absolutely thrive on this high protein, great food.

It is truly the best. Cost at Petco is $21.99 for 3 1/2 pounds.

If you do feed her Babycat, she doesn't need canned unless it's going to be a high quality canned, grain free.

Always fresh water of course.

I don't trust anyone who would put a flea collar on a kitten!!! Unfortunately you can't risk retreating her with flea med. So you will need to wait at least another 2 weeks to treat her. Meanwhile a bath, keeping her soapy and thoroughly wet for at least 10 minutes, which cause the fleas to finally let go of their bite and will wash down the drain. You won't get them all 100% but use a good fleacomb for the rest, or you are gonna be dealing with an infested home soon.

My choice in my rescue group is Advantage 11. NEVER ADVANTIX!! It will kill a cat, I hate that they are both made by the same company but are so damn close in name that people mistake one for the other. It is deadly to cats. You can't even treat your dog if you also have a cat, it's that serious.

Advantage 11 is the newest formula and it kills fleas in all life stages! This is a big deal since killing only adult fleas is only 1/3 of the battle. There are eggs and larvae galore!

There are a couple of important facts about litterbox training. I assume you know to use only non clumping litter. The sniffing around gets the granules stuck on their nose/mouth and they ingest it, making them very sick, it can be deadly.

Low sided box is a must, if they can't get in and out they won't use it :)

The biggest issue is the very short memory and lack of holding it in when they have to go, meaning that unless the box is right under their nose at the time the alarm goes off saying pee time! or poop time! then they will not make it. It might happen to be that they are near it at the alarm time so you think they are learning, but a free roaming kitten is in a huge world, and they will only make it some of the time. They will NOT go to the opposite end of the house, or even 3 rooms over to go poddy, it's too far away. This will gradually be fixed with a few more weeks of age, but by then you will have spots all over your house they will smell and think this is a good spot. And nobody wants a cat that goes anywhere BUT the box!

There should be a record of her first vaccination, if not then I would assume there wasn't one. She needs 3 in a row, 3 weeks apart, then again at 1 year old.

She has worms no doubt, so she needs professional dewormer such as pyrantel or drontal.

When she weighs at least 2 pounds she can be spayed.
 

orientalslave

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jan 23, 2012
Messages
3,425
Purraise
114
Location
Scotland
Fleas don't live on the cat, they live in the environment (carpets, bedding, tiny gaps, down the back of the settee and so on) and jump on to feed, then they jump off again.  Capstar when you got her would have been best to avoid introducing fleas into your household...  They lay eggs which also fall off unlike lice eggs which are glued to the hair shaft and called nits in the UK when found on humans.

Treats are OK but only occasionally.  Sometimes it's very useful to have a cat that will come running when it hears the treat bag rustling, and I had a cat I could pill (so long as it was a small pill) simply by giving a treat and the pill at the same time.  Occasionally - once a week or so.

Try her with a variety of foods - raw mince and raw chicken wings are good, and if she takes to the wings they will keep her teeth lovely and clean.  She needs to be allowed to eat as much as she wants for the next 6 months or so, and her appetite will probably decrease over time.

If you are still having flea problems then you need to be treating the house and the kitten, bearing in mind the gap you should leave between spot-on treatments.  This is a UK page but it tells you what you need to know:

http://www.fabcats.org/owners/fleas/info.html
 
Last edited:
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #24

bella f

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Sep 29, 2012
Messages
35
Purraise
0
OK! So took Bella to vet to get those 8wk old shots, and guess what. they said she only about 5weeks old. she weighs 1.9 lbs NO WONDER she so tiny!!! but they said she is looking healthy!. She got a deworming treatment today. since lady said she already had one.  thank you @Catwoman707. and no we were using kitten attract. we will start using the tidy cats non clumping. I thank everyone for all the assistance and help. Money is tight around here which is why we were feeding her meow mix since it was the stuff they had her on. we were gonna switch to blue Buffalo is that a good brand?
 

catwoman707

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Dec 16, 2011
Messages
7,689
Purraise
2,263
Location
Vallejo, CA
Glad to hear!

Blue Buffalo is a great brand, but you mentioned money is tight, so can I suggest a much more affordable food?

On our rescue's website we have a rating system for cat foods, rated by ingredients, price.

A more affordable food you can feed is Natural Balance kitten.

It's inexpensive but still a good quality.

There are others that are better like BB, Taste of the Wild, etc. but it is a good one, and MUCH better than ANY of the store bought regulars like Meow Mix, Friskies, Purina, etc.

And very affordable! We all know about tight funds :)

So glad you had a vet visit!
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #26

bella f

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Sep 29, 2012
Messages
35
Purraise
0
Ok thank you!!! Does that brand have wet food for kittens?
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #28

bella f

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Sep 29, 2012
Messages
35
Purraise
0
Just picked some up! And some Kmr as well. But can says to discard after 72hours? Bought it at petco.
 

catwoman707

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Dec 16, 2011
Messages
7,689
Purraise
2,263
Location
Vallejo, CA
Great!

You must have bought the premixed can, thats the only problem with that, it is only good for 3 days after opening.

I wish I could mail you some of my KMR powder, I have so much and it will expire in about 2 months...

However, the premixed cans can be frozen! DO NOT freeze it in the can!

What you can do is shake the can well, open immediately and pour out some for the day and the next couple of days (which is stored in the fridge)

Pour the remaining in an ice cube tray, allow it to freeze, as soon as it's solid put one cube in each plastic baggie and take the air out. This will avoid any spoiling. It's too expensive to waste :D
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #30

bella f

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Sep 29, 2012
Messages
35
Purraise
0
ok ty! Yes I gave her some before her wet food and ill give her some tomorrow in the morning too. TY I will freeze some of it! 

OH and she loved the natural balance(or was it natural choice) lol one of those wet foods. and she ate every last bite!
 
Last edited:

glamourkitten

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
Oct 19, 2012
Messages
41
Purraise
1
Location
NYC
You mentioned temptation treats, please rethink giving her these, especially such a young kitten, you want her to be a healthy and strong adult someday, and those treats are crap.

If money is not an issue, the very, very best dry food you can buy and feed her at her young age is Babycat, by Royal Canin. I have seen countless kittens absolutely thrive on this high protein, great food.  It is truly the best. Cost at Petco is $21.99 for 3 1/2 pounds.  If you do feed her Babycat, she doesn't need canned unless it's going to be a high quality canned, grain free.  Always fresh water of course.
My kittens had never had hard food before they came to us at seven weeks. I got them the kind of wet food the people said they were eating, and they barely touched it.  I left dry food out for them as well, just so they could try it if they wanted it.  (I got them Royal Canin babycat.)   They ended up eating the hard food right away and I have no problems getting them to eat; I never had to wet the food or mix the soft & hard food together.  Maybe I'm lucky, maybe these girls are a little bit more adventurous, or maybe that food really is that good to them?  If you can afford it, I would definitely try it out for your baby.  If you get it online from PetCo it is much cheaper than buying it in the store (at least here in NY) & if you buy a few bags at a time you can qualify for the free shipping.  

Also, for treat feeding, I tried the Blue Buffalo chicken treats & they want nothing to do with it, so if you find something that yours will actually eat, let me know! 
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #32

bella f

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Sep 29, 2012
Messages
35
Purraise
0
For dry food she is loving the blue buffalo healthy growth kitten stuff and or wet food she loves nutro natural balance. She was younger then I posted we found out later. That she is 8 1/2 weeks right now and she loves her temptations treats!!!
 

glamourkitten

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
Oct 19, 2012
Messages
41
Purraise
1
Location
NYC
There are a couple of important facts about litterbox training. I assume you know to use only non clumping litter. The sniffing around gets the granules stuck on their nose/mouth and they ingest it, making them very sick, it can be deadly.
Hi, I have a question about this.  I have little kittens also, and I didn't know about the non-clumping litter.  I was using Tidy Cat pine naturals litter, but am now switching them to the Kitten Attract litter.  Is that bad?  
  Is it okay to use the kitten attract layered over the pine litter, or what is best? 
 

jlc20m

TCS Member
Adult Cat
Joined
Sep 28, 2012
Messages
241
Purraise
20
Location
vancouver, british columbia, canada
i use wellness kitten wet and occasionally wellness kitten health dry. royal canin babycat has brewers yeast, powdered cellulose, and wheat  gluten which are unhealthy to feed a kitten. i've seen royal canin sell for much more than wellness kitten although the latter is the better product imho.

jlc20m
 
Top