Very Sick Young Kitten - Need Advice Please

Let me start by saying that I have quite a bit of experience with animals in general. I've worked with them in many settings, including as a vet assistant for a couple of years. I have fostered and homed hundreds of bottle kittens, and have only ever lost one, because she was too far gone by the time she was brought to me.
I'm afraid I might have to add another soul to the losses after tonight
I received an email earlier today asking if I had room to take in a young bottle kitten that was found in some bushes a couple of days ago. Long story short, I now have the baby and he is in BAD shape.
He was fed cow milk with raw egg mixed in since he was found, which was two days ago, so he has terrible diarrhea and is very dehydrated. He also has a bad upper respiratory infection and can't breathe out of his nose, so he gasps for air whenever he takes a breath. Both eyes are terribly infected, worse than i have EVER seen. I managed to get one eye pried open and cleaned out pretty well, but the other is extremely swollen and covered in thick white puss. At least, I think it is puss, but it might actually be his eye. I tried to examine it carefully, but the kitty tried to bite me when i touched it, and I don't want to stress him any more than he already is.
I have cleaned the feces off of him which was covering his back end and legs when I picked him up - his whole back end is raw. I got a little bit of warm formula into him, but I don't want to push too much since he is having a hard time breathing. He smells terrible from the respiratory infection.
He is a fighter, and even though he can't see, he tries to walk around and explore a little. That alone is what makes me think he might have a chance. He hasn't given up, and that gives me hope.
I have some Terramycin which I was thinking of mixing in with his formula, just to get some antibiotics started. I will pick up some ophthalmic cream for his eyes tomorrow. I have bought the premixed kitten formula, not the powder. He is on a heating pad set on low, with a couple layers of towels in between and room to move away if he wants to.
Is there anything that I can do to ease his discomfort? I will take him to the vet, but they won't open again until Friday and I can't afford the emergency vet, which is an automatic $200 just for the office visit.
Any ideas about how to make him feel a little better? Anything that I haven't thought of that I can do for him? Any advice would be very appreciated. He looks to be around 3-4 weeks old.

Thank you for trying to help this little guy.

First, I would actually try to make it so that he doesn't have room to move away from the heating pad even if he wants to.  You probably know this since you  have lots of experience but kittens can't regulate their own warmth till around 4 weeks old, and since he is sick and you do not know his exact age I wouldn't take any chances. Can you place him in a box with the heating pad and towels or something similar to that?Unless you are able to watch him constantly, to me it would not be worth the risk that he might wander off and not be able to get warm.

Is he receptive to eating? If so i would not worry too much about 'pushing it', but would keep feeding him a little at a time, as often as he will take it, and as much as he can take.  Since he is in the shape he is in I'd try to feed him at least every 4 hours even overnight for now, more if it is at all possible.  When/if he improves it will be okay for you to take a longer period of sleep but you probably already know that too. While this seems a little simplistic given the larger issues, I'd weigh him and keep weighing him daily and making sure he is gaining weight.

I do think it is a good sign that he is 'active' and not giving up.  Some of the issues like his being covered in feces will be fixed now that he has you looking out for him in general.    as you probably also know he may still be at an age where you will have to help him to eliminate. If you need more info ask and we can help you.

Regarding cleaning the eyes what have you tried? It sounds like you may have already tried to gently clean the eye off with a warm washcloth? If not that would be what I would do.

Overall it sounds like you are doing as well as you can considering the circumstances.  If he shows signs of lethargy or fading, rub some glucose on his gums.  That should help perk him up. In a total pinch plain white sugar can also be used but as it takes much longer to absorb it is less effective.

Good luck with all of this.  I am going to ask the mods to move this to pregnant cat and kitten care so that those more knowledgeable about this will be able to help and post.

Hi tulosai, thank you for the reply and kind advice.
He is already in a box with a heating pad that is covered with hand towels. He has room to move away from the hottest part of the heating pad, but will still stay warm even if he isn't directly on the pad.

He isn't very receptive to eating, which is why I haven't forced too much at him at once. He does get about 4 ml down per feeding, which I'm doing every two hrs right now because I am trying to rehydrate him and get as much nutrition into him as possible. It's tough, because he can't breathe through his nose at all, so I have to trickle the food into his mouth between him taking breaths through his mouth. I don't want him to breathe the milk in and end up with it in his lungs.

I hadn't considered that he would still need stimulation to eliminate. He was so covered in diarrhea that I assumed that he was doing it on his own, but that might just be because he couldn't control it. I will start gently wiping him after meals from now on.

For his eyes, I took a warm wet cloth and laid it on his eye for a few minutes, them gently wiped until I removed enough gunk to open his eye and clean it out. There was a lot of white liquid pus inside his eye. The other eye is already open, but completely covered in white gunk. That's they eye that I'm not sure how to clean - like I said in my original post, I'm not even sure that the white stuff isn't his actual eyeball. It's very swollen and is very painful to him. For now, I am going to leave it. I will continue to put warm compresses on it, and hopefully it will start to clear up a bit with the medication and I'll be able to figure out what to do. The vet can take a better look at it on Friday too.
Thank you for moving my post - I'll give an update in the morning.

To ease his congestion - run the shower with hot water. Sit in the bathroom with the kitten so he has some nice steamy moist air that will help break up the gunk that's clogging his nose. Another option - tea kettle with towel over you and kitten. Or, best of all, humidifier.

Good thoughts coming to you and this little kitten that the new year will mean new beginnings for him.

Hi Catapault - That is a great idea, I will hook up the humidifier right away. That will help keep it warmer in his room as well.

A small update - The kitten is still hanging on. I truly expected to find him no longer with us this morning, but he is still fighting. He hasn't gotten any better or any worse, he is still gasping for air through his mouth but moving around a bit and accepting small quantities of milk.
I'll let you guys know if anything changes. I still feel pretty hopeless about him. I have never seen a kitty quite this sick before, and I'm just not sure that he will pull out of it Have any of you seen babies that are this sick pull out of it before? Does anyone have any advice about his white eye? I think it is just heavily coated in gunk, so I want to try to clean it, but the kitten fights so hard when I touch it that it makes me think maybe it is a VERY swollen eyeball? I just don't know.

Had you tried with saline water to wash off?  This way you dont need to touch anything, it is cleansing, somewhat antibacterial,  hospitals use it too.   Make sure the saline is rahter warm.

3 gram kitchen salt in one litre water`, stir and boild up, cool down into luke warm.  Use profusely.

will continue - computer slow

somewhat similiar tip  if he needs help with elimiantion, as his rear end is raw.

Hold in your left hand under warm running water with your other forefinger you tap on the anus and genitals

Make jst sure there is no draught , is warm there, and dry thoroughly afterwards.

continue soon

Homemade pedialyte is good for keeping watered up, but here it is prob better you proceed with this kitten milk, perhaps just water id down a little.  Possibly ads some electrolytes - easiest with the so called minerale kitchen salt.

Adding a raw egg yolk is good,  goat milk is OK, but you do already have a good kmr which is working just fine.

Good luck!  *vibes!*

You are doing all the right things, so let us hope he hangs on till you can get him to the vet. For now I would say food and warmth are the most important things, so I would not distress him more by trying to clean his eye, especially if you are not sure what it is you are dealing with.
I have had very sick kittens pull through against all the odds, but I have also had ones whom I thought were were recovering suddenly lose the will to live and fade away. You can only do what you can. It is hard when you want to fight for them. But he sounds a feisty little boy and may have a chance. Good luck at the vet's.

I don't see if this link has been posted for you to look over BUT it may be of some great help to you at this very moment. -- > www.kitten-rescue.com

I am so very sorry about this baby and you are doing THE best you can and my heart goes out to you. I agree with Jenny above that you would be surprised how many kittens seemingly pull through against all odds. I know you have a long night ahead of you and I will pray that he makes it through so you can get this little one to the vet tomorrow. :cross:

Thank you for the link Feralvr. I've saved it so that I can give it out to others that might need that info too.

Sad news tonight :'( the little guy didn't make it. I have worked quite a bit with sick animals, and I can honestly say that he was one of the very sickest cats that I have ever seen. I knew as soon as I saw him that the odds were heavily stacked against him. I just hope that I made him a bit more comfortable. I feel like I should have done more - I am second guessing myself about every little thing and wondering if I had done this or that differently, would he still be here?

I want to thank everyone who gave me advice and support. Even though I have cared for kitties many times before, it was good to know that I could have others to talk to about my situation.

I'm going to bed with a heavy heart tonight. It is never easy to lose a pet, no matter how short their time with you has been.

That is very sad, but you really did all you could. It is terrible to lose a fight, but each time you can ga9in strength and experience to help another one. I am sure you did make him more comfortable and he did not die alone and in pain.

I'm sorry too. You did everything you could. And he knew lots of love, and that's what he remembered when he passed on.

I am truly sorry, hun. Please know that second guessing yourself is completely NORMAL. We all do it in times such as these. You were that little one's angel and he was loved and tenderly cared for till the end. That was a gift to him, hun, and please know that. I know it is hard right now but try to see it that way.

I shall close this thread now. If you feel like opening a tribute thread in the Crossing the Bridge forum you can do so at any time. Sometimes it helps to get things off your chest there, and others can be very supportive.