Found a stray Albino Kitten, would like any advice i can get!

xlizziebee

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This is Marshmallow! Apparently the mom and dad cats are both strays and had a litter of kittens. Marshmallow was one of them. Either something happened to them and they all got split up or the mom was trying to push Marshmallow away i am not sure which one. apparently a few people i know have seen them all before. I only saw the mom cat on the day Marshmallow was found. Which someone said it looked like she was sort of going after Marshmallow before she ended up getting stuck in a bush and started crying. I don't know if that means the mother turned hostile or what. But either way Marshmallow has a safe home with a very loving family. My husband, son, and I are absolutely head of heels for her already.

She has been amazing ever since she's come into our house. She has been eating wet food, and drinking milk replacer. She has been going in the litter box PERFECTLY, and she has even purred when we've been petting her to sleep. and she is very playful. She has started using her teeth and when she plays is there any good way to break that habit now or is it just because she is so young, will she grow out of that phase?

The only thing she wants to seem to do sometimes is hide under things in dark places. and i know that's probably a normal cat thing, but until her fleas are under control I don't really want her under or couch or anything. My husband and I have been giving her dawn baths which i read kills fleas. It has really seemed to work well and I'd say she is 90% flea free. there are a couple stubborn ones around her face that are almost impossible for my husband and i to get since she wont really keep her head still long enough for us to get them with a tweezer. Anyone know how to get rid of those last few pesky fleas on her face? Also, Is it normal for kittens to wants to go under the couch blankets and pillows alot or is it just because she was born outside and is probably used to hiding alot? There are coyotes around here, so it really scares me to think of her outside for as long as she was, and the rest of the kittens in her litter :(.  
We took her to the vet on Sunday (mommies day!) and the vet told us she is an Albino. She has blue eyes with the pinkish hue. She said she's never seen a kitty like her before and that we have a special kitty and are very lucky. which of course we already knew :). Aside from the fleas she looks completely healthy and doesnt seem extremely malnourished. The vet said she is only about a month old.

This is my first time raising a stray and a kitten that is so young so if anyone has any advice i would greatly appreciate it! thank you!!! 
 
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bigperm20

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Did the vet suggest anything for the fleas? How old did he say your kitten is? If I'm not mistaken, Revolution can be used on kittens as young as 8 weeks. It's expensive but works well. Ask your vet if Revolution is ok.

Beautiful kitten btw.
 
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xlizziebee

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thank you! she is 4 - 5 weeks old i'd say closer to 5 now. so she is too young for any flea medicines yet from what i understand. but we have been giving her dawn baths and it seems to work really well i just cant get the last few that are hanging out around her face :( 
 

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Usually kittens stay longer with their mother to learn 'social' manners, and with their siblings to learn how to play (and how NOT to play so rough) She will not chew and bite as much when she gets older but for now DON'T let her bite in 'play', and if she does, offer her a wand or a toy to distract her or stand up, turn your back and walk away, she'll learn she does not get attention when she bites. Cats do not learn from punishment, they just learn to be afraid.All cats love to hide under blankets or in small dark places, that's their nature, they feel hidden and safe. They all love heat, buy them a heated bed and you've got a friend forever. Someone else will have to help you with the flea question, I have no idea on one that young. She's beautiful! You may want to check her hearing though, almost every pure white cat I've had has been deaf, they carry a gene for deafness.You won't know, they cover well! My deaf cats came to me when I flipped the light on and off, They always sat with thier backs against something for protection, and they lived perfectly normal lives! Good luck, love her well!
 
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xlizziebee

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thank you for your response! i will try doing that with her from now on about the biting during play. guess she will learn sooner or later haha. the tic thing i think we mostly have handled. my husband is better at getting them off of her than i am. im just afraid to hurt her :( lol. as for her hearing. i honestly do not think she is deaf, at least yet. she got lost behind our kitchen cabinets on saturday for 2 hours. she seemed to like it back there but when we called her name she deff meowed. and she seems to respond to noises. my son is 5 and makes some loud noises. gun sounds so on so forth... and she seems to not like them so much so i told him to knock it off haha. we will see! We told the vet that and she said it doesnt seem like she is deaf then. i know we ran the vaccuum and she was terrified of that but that just could have been from the vibrations as well. i guess we will know in more time. we have only had her for about a week. 
 

StefanZ

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Marvelous!  Her being so small, she is essentially as any kitten, you dont need to think she is ex-stray.

Save the fleas and deworming of course.

Otherwise, the only "behavior "problems is she is so little, much younger than the usual buyed kitten.

You must make sure you do replace her mommy for her, and siblings.  (and apparently also the daddy, as they did seemed to live in a family group - not common but not unique).

Good luck!
 
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xlizziebee

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yeah we are getting the fleas handled and the vet gave her worm meds when we were there on sunday for her first visit :)
 

bigperm20

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She will need 1 or 2 more worm treatments most likely. The best way to teach little kittens not to bite, is to only play with them with a toy as a buffer. A small kittens inclination is to bite everything, b/c just like a baby they put everything in their mouths. Get some stuffed toys and let her chew on them.

I will reiterate that if she bites you, give her a firm NO (don't yell) and turn your back from her and ignore her for a few minutes. She's really young so it will take a while for her to get it.

Another thing to consider to help her with her manners, is adopting a playmate for her. I'd check with your local shelters to see about adopting a brother or sister for her.
 
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xlizziebee

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yeah she will be getting another worm treatment or 3. we have to wait till she does back to the vet in a month :) 

i do tell her no when she bites but i did keep playing with her LOL so i will stop doing that. i told my husband to do that too cuz he just let her as well. but not anymore! shes got some small mice but thats about it. i think my son has some stuffed animals he isnt using anymore maybe i will give them to her. 

unfortunately we arent able to get a playmate for her at this time. we technically arent supposed to have her right now but there is no way we are getting rid of her. we will be moving sometime during the winter so after that we will hopefully get her a playmate. 
 

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I agree with the others advice on curbing her biting. Kittens have to be taught that hands and feet are not toys. As mentioned, using a toy as a buffer and walking away when she gets too rough works best. But, you need to make sure every member of the family is following through on not allowing her to play with hands. Otherwise she's just getting mixed messages and will keep doing it. It's not a big deal when she's so teeny tiny but it's a big problem when she's a 10 pound cat! 

The other thing I do is if a kitten does bite on my hand I push my hand back into their mouth and give a loud cry. When you pull the hand away quickly it looks like prey and she wants to attack it. Pushing back into the mouth is a very uncomfortable feeling and will force her to release. And, making the cry is what her litter mates would do to indicate that she is playing too hard. If you are consistent she will learn that hands are just no fun!

As far as her being albino- only time will tell. All kittens are born with blue eyes so at this age it's very hard to know if she is truly without pigment or if she is just color blocked. If in the next few weeks her eyes start to change color then you know she is just color blocked and will not be deaf. If they stay blue then there is a 90% chance that she is deaf. As mentioned cats hide it well and are very sensitive to vibrations so she very well could be responding to those and not to the sound. The best test I have come up with is to wait until she is sleeping and the room is quiet, stand behind her and ring a bell or shake a toy with a ball in it. If she responds then she likely heard it. If she doesn't then she is likely deaf. It's not a big deal and deaf cats adjust just fine, you will just want to be more cautious about sneaking up on her. I know a lot of people with deaf cats will flip the light in the room on and off to announce their presence. 

My last litter had five pure white cats in it and all of them were color blocked. So, you just never know! Regardless, she is stunning and is so lucky to have found such a loving family. From now until she is 16 weeks are the most critical for her development so keep exposing her to all sorts of new people and situations so that she remains well rounded and sociable. Liking to hide out is definitely a cat thing and isn't really a problem so long as she isn't just doing it out of fear. Some fear based responses are normal (such as being terrified of the vacuum) but keep exposing her in the hopes that she will learn it's not so scary. The more exposure she gets to different stimuli the better! 

Congrats on the new addition! 
 
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xlizziebee

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thank you for all the advice i really appreciate it! I will try that test with the bell  to see if she is deaf i think that is a really good idea. my husband snapped by her ears when she was sleeping one time but she didnt respond the first time. she probably responded around the 3rd snap. dont know if that is normal or not. and she does seem to respond to trucks and  things passing by our window but not in a freak out kinda way she more or less looks at me with her eyes wide open and then when it passes she keeps playing. as for her eyes yes they are a blue a color but they have a reddish hue to them like glazed over with red. they are quite beautiful. the vet said she was Albino. so I will take her word for it either way. Hopefully she isnt deaf but if she is we will still love her and cherish her no matter what :)
 
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