8 week-ish feral kitten

Hi all! I'm apparently collecting cats now.  I saw a kitten before the 4th of July roaming the streets half-starved.  At first I thought she was a big rat!  I brought her food but couldn't catch her.  I got a trap from Humane Society's feral cat program and spent until now looking for her.  She slinks under parked cars at night so despite going out nearly every night, I only just finally caught her again this weekend.  I was sure I'd never see her again, as a few years ago I saw an abandoned skittish kitten at the same time of year and she disappeared after the 4th. Back then I didn't know about the Humane Society's feral trap program.  I'm glad I was able to help this one =)

I took her into the clinic and they spayed her (apparently she was just exactly 2 lbs, their requirement... I think a pound of it was all the food she downed when we brought her in) and immunized her for free (as part of the feral cat program, despite their knowledge that she would likely be adopted out instead of returned - they're supposed to charge regular rates for that).  We paid for her to get flea treatment and the FIV/FELV test.

Question on FIV/FELV: her test came back negative. The clinic said although it's not as effective on young kittens, a negative result is pretty reliable, and that she didn't have any symptoms of any sickness made them more confident in the test as well.  Does this sound right? We're concerned about her exposure to our cat and foster kitten, but we obviously can't keep her locked in the bathroom until she's 6 months old, which is the age they recommend testing at.

Question on fleas: the clinic said she had fleas and they gave her topical flea meds.  We didn't see a grease spot on her when we got her home.  I'm thinking they did it Saturday night. We did see one flea.  She was spayed Sunday, and during the spay they "de-grossed" her for us, so could it have been absorbed and wiped clear by the time we brought her home Sunday afternoon?  A friend gave us his extra internal flea medicine (something Star I think?) which is what our vet recommended when we called.  We've been keeping her locked in the bathroom with a towel under the door, but the curious cats have gotten their noses in a time or two each.  They also were treated with topical flea treatment this weekend.  Do we need to worry about an infestation?

Question on worms: the clinic gave her a dewormer.  Her little poops look solid and I don't see anything stringy/wormy in them.  Does she need a second dose before she's exposed to the other cats?

She's going to be adoptable - she hisses when we come up to her, but lets us pick her up and then stays laying in our lap, purring, letting us pet her, and sleeping.  Once we've picked her up and she's in our lap/arms, she isn't frightened by our hand approaching her.  We've each been spending several hours a day with her and when she starts greeting us, our at least stops hiding in the corner/in her box, we'd like to let her loose to get used to guests and the other cats (depending on the health and flea situation).  We only give her a bit of food at a time so she'll quickly associate us with bringing her food (since we do it frequently).  She won't play yet, but today she was very interested while sitting in my lap when I ran my pencil around the floor in front of her.  She also periodically looks up at me, which is really adorable.  She'll stay on our laps for quite a while, but then when she gets up to use the bathroom (which she'll do in our presence... very different from Saturday when we were trying to bring her to the clinic and she peed she was so frightened) or get food, she'll go lay in a hidden corner (we actually think this might be because she's too warm, since she chooses to lay on the tiles instead of in her box, which is shielded from our view, but can't be sure).

I'd also appreciate any other tips you all have for us to get her more socialized, or anything else you want to suggest!


(Post-spay and still drugged.)


(Also drugged.)

And here is a deceptive photo.  Once she gets into our laps she's wonderful (doesn't nuzzle or anything, but purrs like a little lawn mower and stays put), but she looks pathetic and frightened the rest of the time:


More representative of her tiny patheticness:

Sounds good!   

The "star" flea med is surely the Capstar.  A good instant killer of adult fleas.

Are your residents used to be outside?  If not, it may be wise to have her in some quarantine another week or so, till you are sure all the worms had died out.

Her allowing to be kept in your lap etc.  Im not sure it is because she is a love bug, I suspect she is mostly trying to copy with the situation, ie a pure survival strategy...  But of course, better so than if she is struck with panic and she hides at all costs.

So do proceed with what you do. It is much easier to foster her now, when she is still young, than later on.  Talk much, crooning soft noises, singing softly is effective.

A trick which our forumite CatWoman707 learned me, is to wrap her up in a soft towel, like a burrito. All paws up to the neck.  And carry at your chests, where she hears your heart beat.  Talking softly, making friendly noises, singing softly if you can and want... half one hour, a whole hour.  A couple three of such sessions...  Done.   

Lets others fill in!

Tx for helping this little sis of ours!

 Good luck!

 Welcome to our Forums!

ps. Another tip, by our forumite Spiff, is to use a toothbrush, and pretend it is you licking & washing... A wonderful little gimmick in all its simplicity!

Hi, she is a very cute kittie

StefanZ, the cat burrito thing - do you think that would make a difference compared to just letting her sit in my lap?  I know you said she might just be scared and tolerating it instead of fight-or-flight, but she does purr and seem to like it when we scratch under her chin.  And after a few sessions of the cat burrito, you think she'd come right up to me? Or what do you mean when you say "Done" if not that? I notice she's more shy once she's been left alone a few hours.

I just gave her the Capstar a half hour ago (simple! stuck it in her raw food, which she swallows in huge chunks).  It's supposed to start working in a half hour and kill 90% by six hours, so in a while I'm going to try the kitty burrito method and have her sit with me while I'm doing work.  Will use some piece of clothing to hold her against me.  And while I'm waiting for it to get effective, I'll try the toothbrush method.  She does purr when we pet her, and she seems to enjoy it when we scratch under her chin, but it makes sense to me that the brush would be nicer for her since my cats both seem to like getting licked by the other cat better than being pet by us (or at least, will generally hold still longer for it).

Our rescue, Cocoa, was quite timid when we got her. She would not come to us on her own accord, and hissed if we went to get her but, once in our arms did like yours is doing, seemed to like it, purred, etc. I believe now in retrospect, that it was not so much that she was literally enjoying it (now that we know her much better), but, that she was submitting to the situation in the best way she knew how since she isn't an aggressive cat to lash out. Purring, is not always meant to be a sound of happiness - they do this to comfort themselves emotionally at times. So your little rescue probably is doing the same.However, that she allows this will work in your favor. The more you handle her and make her realize you mean no harm, the quicker she'll begin to trust you since she's beginning to know your touch and smell. Giving her treats when she is calm in your lap, if she will take them (ours had issues with hand feeding for a long time) is a good idea too. If not, just lay them on your lap and allow her to find it that way.Sounds like things are going pretty well overall. The photo of her stretching out is priceless Thank you for rescuing her!

1iora said:

StefanZ, the cat burrito thing - do you think that would make a difference compared to just letting her sit in my lap?  I know you said she might just be scared and tolerating it instead of fight-or-flight, but she does purr and seem to like it when we scratch under her chin.  And after a few sessions of the cat burrito, you think she'd come right up to me? Or what do you mean when you say "Done" if not that? I notice she's more shy once she's been left alone a few hours.

I just gave her the Capstar a half hour ago (simple! stuck it in her raw food, which she swallows in huge chunks).  It's supposed to start working in a half hour and kill 90% by six hours, so in a while I'm going to try the kitty burrito method and have her sit with me while I'm doing work.  Will use some piece of clothing to hold her against me.  And while I'm waiting for it to get effective, I'll try the toothbrush method.  She does purr when we pet her, and she seems to enjoy it when we scratch under her chin, but it makes sense to me that the brush would be nicer for her since my cats both seem to like getting licked by the other cat better than being pet by us (or at least, will generally hold still longer for it).

Click to expand...

not capstar and the burrito simultaneously!

When the fleas dies, they fleas often has convulsions, and it isnt pleasant for the cat!  If the cat heavy infested, it gives many convulsing fleas, and the cats "gots nuts"!

If she sits so nicely on your knee, the burrito perhaps not necessary. But the beuty with this method, is it doesnt harm, as it is essentially a nice procedure for all involved.

But as said, I dont think it is so good while the capstar is killing the fleas. Afterwards!

Good luck!

Ah, right, jumping fleas in a burrito wouldn't be so good =)

Look what I caught on video. First time!!!!!
She laid down in the litter box so I pulled her out and set her down in front of me.

Has she been tested for Bartonella?Normally, I wouldn't even mention this but since you brought up swollen lymph nodes it jumped out at me. Otherwise commonly known as cat scratch fever when humans develop it.A lot of vets don't test for it routinely as it is expensive, and if the cat carries the bacteria, most of the time they do NOT develop symptoms themselves. It is transmitted via ticks and flea feces which the cat ingests while grooming itself. Kittens are more prone to it than grown cats.In fact I've read that there is a high percentage of cats which do carry it, however, since it rarely is actually transmitted to humans (it would have to be a rather bad bite or scratch) many vets do not treat the cat - treatment is expensive also and long - weeks of antibiotics and who really wants to pill a cat for 6 weeks if they don't have to, right?So, the CDC only recommends treating the cat IF someone in your home has a compromised immune system or is very young or elderly. Typically it is not a serious illness for humans unless those conditions are met and it is treatable and non-life threatening to humans.However, some cats, do themselves come down with the infection and do need to be treated. Last - a lot of times the testing is not 100% accurate - so the margin of error puts it into one of those categories of "do I really need to treat what appears to be a healthy cat if I don't need to as a precautionary measure with a lot of costly antibiotics on the off chance it might bite me?"For us the answer was no. Our rescue, is a carrier of the bacteria. We elected not to have her treated since she is healthy, and very gentle. Never once has she used her claws or teeth on us. She does, however, play somewhat rough at times with our other cat so we are cautious to be alert to her health. If she were to develop a cold, or some other type of illness we would at that time reassess if she needed to be treated. Until then, it seems overkill.Anyway - the reason I mention this is that having done research, I remember that swollen lymph nodes in a cat is a symptom. So, you may want to run that by your vet if they wind up not being able to attribute it to anything else more common.

I'm still waiting for a call back from the vet. And I accidentally dropped my phone in a sink full of water when I was wiping it with a damp cloth just in case it had cat-germs on it, so now the home button doesn't work...

Thank you for bringing up another possible cause - it makes me feel better that is isn't just definitely FIV/FELV.  I don't live with anyone with a compromised immune system, so cat scratch fever doesn't sound too bad!  Well, at first it sounded bad - my neighbor was hospitalized with rat bite fever when she was around 8 - but I googled, and it turns out that's a lot more serious than cat scratch fever.

And look how how cute she is? She doesn't want to be a community cat! She wants to be a lap cat!

You write they immunized her for free. Do you mean vaccinated?  I suppose this could also cause a defensive reaction of swollen lymf nodes.

*vibes*

My mind just got blown - did not realize those were different things.   Yes.  FVRCP and rabies (despite her infancy. she's 2lbs and skin and bones so she could very well be older, though.  they told us to bring her back in a few weeks for another dose of that and of the dewormer).

Maybe that did it!

The vet called me and it was hard to hear, but one of the things he said was she could have an ear infection (partly because she was spayed? he said something about it in relation to spaying).  So we're going to see if the lumps go away and plan to make her an appointment at the vet as well if it doesn't so they can test for other things - he said there were a variety of things it could be.  He said the snap test was pretty state of the art and a more in depth test wouldn't help.

My mom suggested if we're really concerned to get our cat the shots for FELV/FIV - since they do exist.

By the way, this is the program: http://support.washhumane.org/site/PageServer?pagename=programs_communitycatresources_catnipp

Ear infection and spaying  has no connection in itself as far as I know. But spaying and healing afterwards lowers her guard somewhat, and it makes it easier to get infections.  I presume he saw there was some vague beginning of an ear infections, so he guessed it could get worse, in connection with the spaying...

How is it about the Felv/Fiv vaccines  Im not so sure about.  I have a vague memory some experienced forumites dont recommend it, not so effective, and afterwards she will always show on tests antibodies = "is infected".

Dont rely on my weak memory, but look it up at our forums more closely before you jump this train.

Good luck!

the FIV vaccine is the one usually not recommended. doesn't seem to work that wonderfully and they will always show up as infected if tested.

FeLV is not a "Core Vaccine" like FVRCP and Rabies but is basically the next most common one, and is recommended by the American Association of Feline Practitioners for kittens.
Especially if she would be going outside, hanging out in an area around other cats whose status is not known , it would be a good idea.

Re the FIV and FeLV tests and kittens. False positives are more common than false negatives. usually the false positives are if the mom cat is positive, then while the kitten is sharing her antibodies it appears the kitten is positive. but a later test may show they are really negative.
If the test was already negative that is a good sign.

if she has an ear infection, that could certainly explain the swollen lymph node. and that would not be caused by spaying. but as Stefan said, any surgery will put some stress on them and could temporarily affect immune system so if exposed to another infection it may be harder to fight it off by herself.

The kitten is such a cutie!  Six years ago we rescued a feral female at about 10 weeks.  When we first saw her eating on our front porch, we thought she had some sort of deformation in her mouth or jaw because she couldn't close her mouth completely, had trouble eating and drooled constantly.  It turned out that she had a  piece of chicken bone stuck in her mouth.  Apparently she'd been scavenging the neighborhood trash cans to eat and got into trouble.  After we had her for about a week we took her to the vet to be checked out and we discovered a lump under her jaw...most likely an infection from that bone.  A round of antibiotics cleared her right up.