Abandoned kitten approximately 10-14 days old says vet. Need advice!

ok so I had heard this poor little kitten outside my window crying nonstop for 5 days straight and getting weaker and weaker.  Finally after the rain had let up I talked my husband into helping me find the baby because he was under a very large bush.  A couple friends also helped us and we finally get him out of there.  The kitten was soaking wet, freezing cold, and covered in mud with mud in his mouth and starving.  I brought him in and gave him a warm water bath (no soap because i wasn't sure if it would hurt him).  Then I wrapped him in a towel and dried him off the best I could.  Then I took him out of the towel put him in my cleveage where my tank top makes a comfortable pouch for him and then wrapped myself with a fleece jacket.  At this time the vet had just closed for lunch which would be the only place to get food for the baby (we checked the grocery store with no luck).  Once the vet opened I called and asked what I should do and they said to come in and get a bottle and then they would give me a recipe for kitten milk replacer.  They said to combine 2/3 cup whole milk, 3 large egg yolks, and 1 tablespoon corn oil.  They also gave us a couple of droppers just in case the baby wouldn't take to the bottle right away.  The first day we had to feed him with the droppers because as they thought he wouldn't suck from the bottle.  And I took a warm wash clothe and wiped his butt to get him to go potty.  He pooped a lot like he had been holding it in those whole 5 days...poor guy.  and he peed plenty as well.  His poop was a clay consistency and a medium brown.....not sure what it is supossed to look like.  He ate very little and slept a lot.  I kept him on a blanket on a heating pad so that he would stay warm.  The next day he woke up crying and finally ate from the bottle.  He has been eating about 35 ml a day in about 4-7 feedings a day and he walks around a little each day and interacts with my 7 month old kitten who cleans him and licks his bottom.....though I still use the wash clothe to make sure he is pottying.  For the first few days he spend all of his time in the pouch sleeping and eating.  We have slowly been getting him to walk more and more and sleep in a homemade crib during the day and his bed at night.  He still sleeps every night about 8-12 hours.  I also make sure to burp him because he gets pretty gassy.  But yesterday and today he has barely eaten anything and has just wanted to suck on my lip and cuddle and be loved on.  It took a couple of days before he pooped again after the first day but then he had a muddy poop followed by a a whitish yellow creamy poop that is similar to a newborn human baby.  And he tends to poop in his sleep and when I am burping him but won't go when I use the clothe.  I guess what I want to know is is this normal?  could he just be going through a growth spurt and be sleeping more and eating less?  I mean he seems healthy other than the eating and pooping.  He is strong and has a powerful meow and purr but he does seem to get the shivers more than my cat's last litter did.  He just likes to stay bundled up and warm rather than out shivering.  What should I do?  I want him to be as healthy as possible and live a long great life even though his mother abandoned him.  He is very attached to me as I am to him.  Any advice is helpful.  Thank you.

I shall ask a mod to move you to the Preg and Kitten forum...

There you will find both articles and threads on abandoned or orphaned kittens.

A good link is also www.kitten-rescue.com

So far you seem to have done it very nicely!   I will take a more close look at your post in a few hours.

Please continue to report and ask!

Good luck!

You (and your 7 month kitten) had apparently were doing a Herculeanic job!  Marvellous!  Abandoned kittens do die from less, than what he had survived.  I suppose his mom was there and gave him something now and then, but still...   I suspect also, he is older than 10-14 days.  He was it perhaps when you found him, but now he is older.

He ates also quite a lot, which adds to my suspiction he isnt so very little any longer.

OK, he got now this whitish creamy poo...  not the usual for healthy kittens!   And eats less, sleeps more, shivers a lot when he tries to go out.   Im not too happy with that. May be problems I fear.

A good guidance is to weigh them every day, and see if they gain practically every day.  This is a superbt controll of their overall health! I suspect you havent done so. 

Do you have a feeling he is gaining in weigh?  Its about 10 grammes a day, or even more, so you will prob notice it.

Your vet had a working emergency recipe. Interesting it was OK with cow milk and the kitten managed although weakish.  Goat milk is safer if you can get it.

Although now I suppose you use normal KMR??

Is your vet experienced with helping kittens?  many vets arent really, some dont really have a clue, which is no wonder, small kittens arent easy....  If he is experienced, contact him now and ask.

I hope others will fill up.

Good luck!

You are correct he was 10-14 days old when I found him on friday the 13th of this month.  The vet here is very good with kittens and has plenty of experience.  The vet did I say i didn't need to buy the KMR that the recipe would be plenty until he was on soft food.  I contacted them again today and they said that since he is about 3 weeks old and his teeth are coming in and he is chewing on everything and not wanting to eat his bottle just chew on it that I could try him on soft food. It seems a bit early to me.  Also  he was gaining significant weight each day until yesterday and today he seemed to have lost some belly weight.  And the vet also said the whitish yellow creamy poop  was fine because of his diet.  I don't know what to think.

Well I tried giving him soft food  and he didn't want anything to do with it.  So I put a bit of it in his bottle and tried to feed it to him.  He got a tony bit down but not much maybe a couple of ml.  And now he is just sleeping.  I called the vet again and they said since he is teething that that might be the reason he isn't wanting to eat.  But that if he is worse tomorrow to bring him in by 8am.  That is going to be even more expensive than seeing him today.

Just to be sure, I want to remind.

He has to be warm, he cant either proceed the food correctly if not warm enough.

And if he has problems, he may have difficult to keep his body temp. Sick humans are always freezing and need extra bed clothes, no?

IF he would seem to go downhill, (weak, uninterested, barely moves, etc) it may be because he got low blood sugar.  The trick is to smear some glucose sugar ("dextrose") on their gum.  If you dont have it home, use honey or white caro sirup.  Glucose sugar transfers directly from the mouth into blood.

This tends to perk them up, gives some quick energy.

Be ready for everything, But lets hope it is this with tooths coming forth, and the problem dissolves soon itself.

Good luck!

StefanZ has contacted me about this thread, and your kitten.

I apologize if I am upfront and blunt, but it's of dire importance in your case for you to understand some things.

In all the vets I work or have worked with in the past, I have yet to find one who is truly as knowledgable as those of us in rescue, I have personally saved countless newborns.

When you said the vet thought kitten wasn't eating possibly because of teething I knew then, he can't be relied on like you need.

This is untrue. Period.

You MUST get this kitten on KMR, or at least goat's milk asap. You have a fairly good chance of losing him otherwise. Poop should not be that color/consistency, it is from cow's milk.

Whiteish color in any way means his system is not able to process it correctly.

I truly believe that homemade formula is for emergencies/temporary situations, until you can get formula.

Oh boy, where to begin here.

3 week olds are not going to eat food, only formula. He chews because he is hungry, and getting discouraged. If he hasn't already, he is headed downhill, and at his age, it is extremely hard to turn that around.

When you feed him, always hold him in an upright position, on all fours like he would nursing from momma. Otherwise you are risking pneummonia, it only takes a tiny drop and that's that.

I said this because it's time to go back to syringe feeding until he starts back eating on his own, so you will need to be syringing a very tiny amount into his cheek area, not down his throat. It's not easy because if he lost the will to eat, he is on his way down, so you are basically forcing him to turn around and feel better, which will make him take over eating on his own again.

Also time consuming since you can only give a small bit for him to swallow.

This baby should gain weight every single day. At 3 weeks it is often a turning point, and you don't want to lose the battle.

StefanZ is correct about the glucose, if he seems to start fading out you can take some karo syrup (clear) and rub on his gums and tongue. This revives him temporarily. Careful not to overdue either, too much will hurt him as well.

It always amazes me how feisty they can seem, but are so fragile at the same time.

I hope this little one has some fight in there. They are the ones who make it through despite the odds.

For pottying, I found the simplest, cleanest way is hold in your left hand and put his little butt under warm water and tap with your finger. This avoids how sore their butts get from rubbing. Just tap with your finger under running warm water and it's so fast, then dry well.

I will stay with you through this.

Well,  thank you for being blunt.  I was already scared to death but am now even more so.  I cannot get KMR until the 1st of the month, do you have any suggestions?  He is waking up about every hour or so and eating a ml or so each time so some food is finally getting into his system.  Not enough I know but he is starting to suckle a tiny bit.  Now the idea of looking into goats milk I might be able to do right away....but since I live in such a small town I may not be able to get it from a store.  However this is one of the good things about living in a farm area,,,,people raise goats.  I might be able to find a nursing mother and get some fresh goats milk.  Now should I mix the formula the same way as I was but with the goat's milk instead of the cow's or should something be added or subtracted to better suite his needs?  I will definitely get some kairo's syrup and try that to help get him awake and motivated.  He is a fighter I know and he CAN pull through this.  He just needs me to help in anyway I can.    BTW the pooping thing isn't exactly hard to get him to potty.  He wakes up and poops and then I have to help with the pee but usually I let my 7 month old kitten lick his bottom to start that.  They do really well together.  I will definitely try the syringe again until he is back to eating like his normal self.  Thank you for all the advice so far and to come.

Goat milk you can use as it is. Some say raw goat milk is even better.

If you find it too strong (some kitten may get constipation) you can dilute with a little water. Same trick as with KMR.

If you believe in glop recipes, you can always have goat milk there instead of cow milk - will be better and safer.

Goat milk + raw egg yolk in is very nourishing... if you dont have problems with salomonella in eggs at your place...

I would suggest, goat milk as it is = natural full fat, + egg yolk, one or two. 

Good he begins to turn around, and eats, even if it is little at a time.

Good luck!

ok then I will definitely try the goats milk with 2 egg yolks because he probably needs are the nutrition he can get right now and we don't have problems with salmonella out here.  Thank you so much for the tip and the hope for my little guy.  I am gonna be awake until he is either one of two things he makes a full recovery and is running around like a true kitten or the other thing that I can't say because I am afraid it will make it true.  And btw even though I keep saying he I think he may actually be a she and I have decided to name her Hope because my hope begins and/or ends with this little guy.  I am done rescuing animals that are probably not able to be saved........even though I have only had 1 death out of the 5 I have rescued (cat's and dog's and kittens) .  I can't afford the lengthy vet costs anymore and really need to let nature take it's course I guess no matter how much I do hate nature's course sometimes.  Hopefully this little guy will make a full recovery and be a happy little fella because I already have a wonderful home for him to go to and he really likes the guy and I can trust him because he is a good friend and takes care of his dog beautifully (which also loves the kitten).  This is my last baby that will ever enter my home until I have grandkids which better be at least 10-15 years away.  I will keep you all posted.

p.s. I put a tiny bit of honey (I looked up on the internet if there were any substitutes for kairo syrup (just for tonight until the grocery store opens in the morning) ) on his gums and tongues (not even a whole drop) and he woke up and  I was able to get him to eat 3ml by syringe and he burped very well and then put him back in my shirt and covered him and he fell asleep (after cleaning his paws as always) purring and happy. 

Well just an update.  I have stayed up all night with my little guy and have had to use a syringe and kinda force feed him a tiny bit at a time every couple of hours and he got another good 16ml in over night.  I have contacted the vet this morning (even though he isn't open) and he is going to let me post date a check for the beginning of the month for real KMR so I can start feeding him the real nutrition he needs.  My baby even started suckling the bottle a couple of times toward the end of the night so I have a little more hope.  I believe he is a strong guy that knows his mama (me) can't stand to lose him and needs him just as much if not more than he needs me.  His poop has also started to firm up to a soft clay texture that is yellowish-brown......not sure what that means but the brown in it has to be good right?  He has also started purring again which makes me think he is feeling a bit better since he wasn't purring all day yesterday and he usually has a huge purr.  I am at least happy to say he made it through the night coming out swingin' and we are gonna take one day at a time until he has made a full recovery and is eating hard food and drinking water and has no need for formula anymore.  Thank you to you guys who kept hope in your heart for my little guy.  We are gonna need tons of it until he is out of the woods.  Hope all your babies are doing well as well.

That is some good news, sucking means he has not given up.

The kmr is excellent news as well! I would get it asap for sure.

I'm sure you must be overly tired from staying up with him all night, great job and will show well worth it!

Keep us up to date on progress

Oh, poop color isn't bad.

Oh also, to be clear on what I mean by tapping to potty, while holding baby's bottom under warm water, if you tap with your fingertip on the genital/anus area rather than rub it stimulates them quite well to go potty, rubbing with a cloth or tissue/cotton is commonly the procedure but causes raw/sore butt, nearly always.

Tapping eliminates this completely and is very effective

StefanZ, tapping is just like setting your hand on a table and raising your first finger up and down to make a small little thumping sound.

I can't offer any advice, but lots of positive thoughts and are heading Hope's way. :cross: that (s)he makes it!

OMG!!!! I got so scared because all of a sudden over the period of an hour her lips and gums changed pale and cool to the touch which isn't normal.  I had to wait for my husband to get home from work though to get the KMR.  I made 30ml of kmr and tried to let her bottle feed but she wasn't interested so I used the dropper to get in 3ml which is 1ml more than any other feeding over the past 2 days.......THEN she was flipping out and digging her claws into my chest and biting me so I offered her the bottle and wouldn't you know it she ate ANOTHER 3ml by herself.  And by the time she was done her lips were back to pink and warming up.  AND her skin is bouncing back almost immediately.  That was like a miracle drug for her.  I know this sounds too good to be true but I am telling nothing but what I saw with my own eyes.  At first she didn't want it but once she got a good taste man she couldn't get enough of it........She got all happy and cleaned all her limbs and chest up (even though I had wiped it up) and then layed down purring like crazy and slowly fell asleep.  She is still slightly purring in her sleep which I haven't seen for a few days.  I am soooo happy.  I understand that we are not out of the woods yet, BUT it is a wonderful start.  Thank you everyone for the thoughts and advice.  I will keep you updated but since she has a VERY full belly, I think I am gonna lay her in her bed and let her nap while I take a two hour nap as well.  Hopefully she keeps this up.  I would like to know about how much she should be eating per day at 3 weeks old and how often once she is healthy?  I will be feeding her every 2 hours until she is out of the woods and when she is running around like a normal kitten her age I will start to feed her less often and when she is hungry but making sure she still gets enough.

Update again.  She has been eating about 3-5ml either forced or bottle (on and off but ONLY when she is digging into my chest and biting me showing she is hungry) hour to hour and a half but she seems to dehydrate by the next feeding a bit.  She has about 3ml or so left out of the 30ml that I made.  and she has eaten that over the last 8 hours.  Does anyone have any advice on how to hydrate her without IV fluids?  She has pooped twice since starting the formula.  The first was runny and white (I am assuming as before mentioned by others that it may be a reaction to the cow's milk) and then her other one was a soft clay texture once again and back to the yellowish brown color.  It still looks the same but maybe the formula hasn't passed yet. 

Also I was wondering if there is such a thing as holding the kitten too much (like is it harmful for her health) as long as she is content to be held and is eating and pottying and getting exercise.  I have worried about my kitten losing body tempurature and tend to keep him in my tank top between my boobs to tote her around so I am there for her every need and so that she stays warm, but I do make sure she walks around the livingroom whenever she feels like it with my supervision of course.  I just really want to know if me pouch training her was too much for one week (2-3 weeks old) while she was battling malnutrition?  She also sleeps in her bed at night by herself or with my 7 month old kitten every once in a while and is bundled up to stay warm.  She is very good at getting out of the warmth when she is uncomfortable, but not as good at going back in when she is cool.  So I have to keep close track.  So if there is any advice on this as well I would greatly appreciate it.  Though she does seem to sleep fine and purrs a lot and finds her own comfy spot as she sees fit.

Also off the line of her.....um weird question if the kitten scratches up your chest and the bottle milk gets into it can humans be allergic to it because I kinda breaking out and I am not sure if it is just from her scratching and biting which further irritates it or the milk?  Any ideas?  It may just be heat rash from keeping the baby warm on my chest covered with a jacket when it is already warm to me (76 in my house but I hot blood lately).  I care more that she is keeping her body temperature up than me over heating.  She is very good at climbing out of the covering when she is warm or just wants to stretch her legs or go potty.  I wash up with antibacterial soap after every feeding but it is kinda painful.....nothing I can't handle, but weird nonetheless.  I have managed to get about an hour and a half of sleep over like 5-6 naps today and will be pulling another all-nighter to watch over her closely.  I still think she has a lot of fight in her and I am not giving up. 

If you need extra water-intake, an excellent home made pedialyte is:

1,5 soupspoon (15-18 g) dextrose. If you dont have dextrose (=glucose sugar), honey is OK.

1 tea-spoon (3g) salt.  The so called minerale salt is best containing K, Na, Mg +Cl, , but common kitchen salt with just NaCl is entirely OK.

A trifle bikarbonate (baking soda) if you have it, but not necessary.

1 litre water.

Stir up by boiling, cool down to body temp, use.

Works nicely for cats and humans.

The IV fluid vet does inject is essentially this, although industry made, pH balanced and absolutely sterile.

I didnt commenced much, but your helding her at your chest is of course very good.  A life saving trick used for human babies in poor countries, where their hospitals dont have much gears to save premature born babies.

Works nicely for weak kittens too, of course.

I dont know of any drawback for the cat with it.  She will of course see you as her Mommy, but she will do it anyway...   

Her scratching your bosom is really natural, they do tread on their moms teats area when hungry, to get the milk flowing.   You can carefully  cut her nails somewhat, if you wish.

I havent heart of human allergy to KMR.  So unless you are really sensitive, I would guess on heat rash.

OR she has some bacterias on the nails...  Adult cats certainly do have bacterias on their nails...

You can perhaps  have some alco-gel on her nails?  otherwise wash off with some mild soap.

I hope it was all your questions for now, as far as I saw them. If I missed some please remind me....

You are doing just beautifully.   Your intuition is also working nicely - you did after all  wrote your post not when you found this poor kitten, but firstly when you in your gut feeling noticed a crisis was sailing up, didnt you?

So you see for yourself, lotsa experience and knowledge is nice and good, but the most important part is a big heart, love, intuition, determination - and hard work.

This way even an amateur can do rescue almost as nicely as an experienced rescuer.

*continuing vibes!*

StefanZ,

        OMG I swear you are the first person that I have encountered on this site that has made me actually cry real tears of pure happiness because I am FINALLY doing something right.  I mean I love getting the advice because it is always helpful, but A LOT of it is common sense that just makes me wonder why I didn't think of that or this or whatever.  But sometimes I feel so stupid for trying to take care/rescue/try to better a poor animal's life when I really can't afford it and am not always prepared completely, but I care for animal's (all kinds) probably more than I care about human's in general (except children/babies/the innocent).  I guess this is because I have been hurt by SO MANY people in so many ways (known and trusted/complete strangers)  But animal's simply run on instinct and what human's teach them to be.  Human's just hurt everything in this world for stupid reasons and I feel animal's are more deserving of love and compassion and I can't bare to even imagine a poor innocent animal in pain or dying when I can help them.  I know I sound crazy or cold hearted but I feel way more close and comfortable with animal's.  I am sorry to rant because I know this isn't the site for personal matters, but I just needed those that think I have no place helping any animal because I am poor or untrained to know I do it because my heart is all in it and I still believe love and caring and doing the best you can is good enough to cure almost anything.  I have had many rescues of tons of different types with tons of different issues/illnesses/fears/or whatever and although they have not all lived, Almost all of then did and lived or are living VERY happy, safe, comfortable lives because I cared too much to let my short comings stop me from helping them the best I could possibly do.  Ok I am done ranting and I hope this all didn't offend anyone.  That was not my intention.  I just needed people to understand WHY I am doing the things I am doing.

Well Here is another update.  Hope is still alive and well.  She is actually mainly eating from a bottle on her own now at about 6-10ml per feeding (every 2 hours).  Last night on the other hand I was too exhausted to wake up every 2 hours so she only ate every 4 cuz my husband couldn't handle her because all she wanted was me and wouldn't eat for him at all.  but she didn't seem to mind only every 4 hours and she is learning to sleep in a homemade crib right next to me most of the time rather than on me now which I am excited about because she is feeling safe and keeping her body temperature pretty well regulated.  I just hope my husband can take care of her tomorrow while I am gone because I can't take her with me to me and my son's dr appointments.  He says he will take good care of her.  I hope he can.

Now when the worst crisis is over, and she also eats more at each time, it isnt any longer necessary to give strict at least every second hour.  You can have 4 hours pauses now too.

One tip when bottlefeeding.   If you have one hand over, held the free hand over the kitten, like an warm cozy umbrella.

Good luck tomorrow!