Preemie orphans

When can I expect his eyes to open? Around day 14?

FosterEmily said:

When can I expect his eyes to open? Around day 14?

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Its partly individual. They mostly open a little earlier, say day 10-12.

He is a preemie, so he again may open some day later.  Yes, day 14 is reasonable, but I wont gamble on it.

Good luck!

He looks great : ) counting from how many days old he is and being a preemie I wouldn't expect them to open before 12 days but it may take as long as 16. I haven't had many preemies that took longer than that unless they came to me with eye infections.

His eyes are open as of today! He had a vet visit to get a shot and dewormer suspension. His left eye was partially opened so the vet went ahead and opened them to ensure he wouldn't have any issues from them staying shut too long. He is gaining weight rapidly. He is now over 5 ounces and is free to eat much much more. His stools are huge and solid.
He gets more dewormer in ten days, and more shots and dewormer ten days after that. The vet is giving me all if his medical care for free!!
I have at least 5 people everyday at work asking to see the miracle kitten.
Also one of the barn cats has taken over a motherly role for him. She bathes him, and lets him snuggle and sleep next to her when I am too busy with the other animals to carry him around. She has been trying to carry him by the scruff of his neck so I have to monitor that behavior.

He has moved from a syringe to a bottle. Needless to say he is now my surrogate son. I had to take my daughter for a check up and shots today. He came along ad after her appointment I took him for his check up and shots.
My daughter giving Kit a kiss

That's great about the barn kitty acting as a surrogate. Is she UTD with her shots? Her helping will end up helping him a lot in the end : )

Oh yea, ALL of our animals, including our 6 barn cats, have regular vet visits and are up to date on everything. They are on heartworm meds, frontline etc.

 This made me happy;  I was wondering how Kit Kit was doing.     It sounds like all is great in Kit's world.  he has a wonderful human surrogate mom and sister ,  a nurturing barn cat who wants to be his cat foster mom -- (or at east  Auntie ) -- which is super for him to have that;  she can help him learn about being a cat --  and a vet paying all for his vet care.    AND adoring fans.  

 Your daughter is beautiful and that is such a sweet picture of her with Kit.

 and I love the other Kit picture!   makes him look like a lil wedgie head! 

Great : ) I figured they were but just wanted to be sure. Didn't want anything to go wrong since the little guy is doing so well now! Look forward to updates and hopefully everything will be pretty smooth sailing from here on! Seems like everything has worked out great so far : )

Random question.
I am so sick today. Fever. Chills. Body aches. Head aches. No energy.
I have been having minimal contact with Kit. I feed him (after scrubbing my hands and using a clean receiving blanket to handle him) I help him use the bathroom then back in his little area he goes.
Am I being overly cautious or is it okay for him to go a day or so without a lot of attention?
I'm not sure if he can get sick from my germs but I don't dare risk it.

Strep throat and some type of Terrible flu/stomach virus that has been dubbed the plague is going around work. I'm not sure of those will affect him but I'm not allowin anyone near him for a few days.

 Oh,  I'm sorry you are feeling so awful.    

The good news is that at least  cats don't catch human colds / flu virus.   Cats have their own viruses  that cause upper respiratory illness or gastrointestinal illness    and humans and cats can't get each others viruses. 

The bad news is that  cats could potentially get sick from  infection with Group A Streptococcus bacteria  which is what causes Strep Throat..      they apparently are not thought to get the same symptoms like sore throat.   but they could get a cough , stiff joints,   fever, even pneumonia.   Strep can also cause abscesses .  

   I think it's extremely uncommon for cats to get  a strep A infection  caught from a human with  Strep Throat.   but Kit is exactly the sort of cat who would be at the highest risk.  ,so  maybe he could get sick if  you coughed up some mucus with bacteria either coughed it right onto him or his bedding,  or got that on your hands , did not wash your hands and then touched him.   

So I think you are right to be even more vigilant about hygiene.   It's OK for him to go a day or so without  a lot of attention , since you're normally giving him so much and I'm sure you will be able to be back to that soon.   

Maybe you could ask the vet what he thinks about the chance of him getting sick from the same kind  Strep A  that would be causing the Strep Throat  in the humans.  

Wow,i have been reading this lil guys story and omg i am so happy he is doing so good.  P.S i hope you feel better too =)

OOps forgot something,any shots of kit with the carrot? 

hope your feeling better   I to have ben following your thread and am just rooting for kit !   u are truly an angel I no how hard it is to bottle feed a kitten and raise a small child

Thank you guys! Kit is doing so good! He is eating at least 4 tablespoons of formula a day, the vet said I can start transitioning him slowly to a formula and dry food mixture. His teeth are coming in and he is sleeping through the night! I weighed him 2 days ago and he was 12 ounces!! He also has a Facebook page for all of his fans at work its Kit the Cat

Sleeping

What a precious baby . I'm so glad he's doing well.

Thanks for the update on the little miracle Kit.     It is great to hear and see he is doing so well .     It is thanks to your dedication and care for him ( not least of all the love) that he has made it so far after such a traumatic start to life.  

Love his carrot!   My kittens have the same kind! 

I  start kittens with wet food since  It is easier for them to eat at first.    and with bottle babies  it's easy to mix  a paté style cat food with  formula.  

Actually all cats  ideally should be getting mostly wet food since they don't tend to drink enough if they don't get the moisture IN the food.    Cats just seem to not have  a very strong thirst drive. They developed to get their water from their food (prey;    for example a mouse is about 70% water ) .   There have been studies that found cats on dry food only got up to half as much water as cats on wet food,  The cats on dry food of course did drink more water ( they would have to)   but they just did not drink enough to make up for the lack of water in the food. 

When you feed dry, it is very important that it be kitten food,  or an "all life stages" food.      Most adult dry food is too low in animal protein for a growing kitten.    ( which means it's really not ideal for adult cats either.  but it is more crucial with kittens) .    In wet food there is usually not much difference between kitten and adult formulas.   but in any case,  I feed  "all life stages" foods that are for cats or kittens.   just like their natural diet would be.  ( there aren't mice with  "kitten" labels on them,  LOL )      Usually poultry or rabbit are easiest to digest .  

There's a vet who has a great site about cat nutrition  http://www.catinfo.org  that you might find helpful.  

Agreed with everything maewkaew said in depth above. Would definitely start with wet and ideally keep him on an all wet diet. Not all do it this way but I personally will offer milk with a bottle until the kitten no longer wants it along with feeding them wet food. You can give him some wet food mixed with formula in between bottle fed meals and if he is not interested you can put some on your finger and hand feed him with a spoon or by holding the plate up to him for a feeding instead of one bottle feeding each day. Then slowly increase the feedings of wet. Usually my kittens will be eating wet primarily by six weeks and will get a bottle a day up until eight weeks. If they were with their real mother they would nurse until that point and I feel I should do everything possible to make things as natural as possible. I also see much less mouthiness and wool sucking this way, and i believe it benefits preemies or single kittens who are sometimes slower learners and have an especially hard time giving up that one on one time with you. Obviously you have a way to go with bottle feeding still and It is up to you how long you offer the bottle but just make sure no matter what you do you do it slowly and make sure he is gaining weight and getting enough food in him during the transition.
Hope you feel better and its great you are taking precautions handling kit just incase : )