Hi everyone : )
I was hoping to get some advice about a kitten that came into my care last night.
A little back story about how he came to me since it's kind of interesting: My mom called me last night to see if I could help her with a kitten that her neighbor's niece had brought over. Apparently she had found the kitten, along with one of it's litter mates, in a box that was taped shut and thrown into a nearby stream. One had already passed when she found them, but the one she managed to save was alright considering the circumstances. My mom told me that the kitten would be taken out to a farm if they couldn't find somewhere else for it to go, so I made the two hour trip down to get it and brought it back last night.
Anyways, on to what I need help with...
First and foremost, I could use some input as to his age. I'll attach some pictures at the end, but he is about 5 inches head-to-behind, has his eyes and ears entirely open and a full set of teeth, is walking but is still pretty uncoordinated, and is able to eat canned food and dry food that's been wet down. He may be able to eat normal dry food, but I haven't tried it as it seems like the pieces are just too big for him. So far I've been giving him canned food mixed with some KMR. My guess would be that he is about 4 weeks, but I'm usually pretty bad at estimating age, so I definitely want a second opinion.
Next, he has a bit of an URI (as you can probably tell from the pictures). His left eye was fairly gunked shut and very swollen when I got him last night. I've been keeping it clean with a warm/wet paper towel although he fusses a lot as it seems pretty painful for him especially compared to the other eye which he will let me clean without issue. I started him on antibiotic/steroidal eye drops (neomycin/polymyxin B sulfate and dexamethasone) which seems to have helped. The swelling has gone down a lot and the eye has opened up a little more. There's still a little discharge, but not enough to seal his eye back shut. His other eye has a little bit of discharge coming from it also, but is by no means as bad as the left.
Other than his eye, he is sneezing a little and did have some dried mucus around his nose last night. I cleaned that too and it hasn't built back up. I was hoping to get some Clavamox for him today so he has an oral antibiotic on top of the drops, but didn't have any luck. I have some Clindamycin left over from another cat and was thinking about trying that, but after some research found that it's not particularly useful in treating URIs. Does anyone have any experience with this and know if it's even worth trying to give to him in the mean time while I try to get Clavamox instead?
I was also thinking of starting him on some l-lysine and lactoferrin seeing as his infection is likely viral anyways and if it's not I'm sure it still couldn't hurt him to try. Could anyone tell me if they think this would be a good idea and if so what dosage should I be giving him and how often? I'm sure it's different than that of a fully grown cat, so I figured I should check before I start.
Also, he seems to get bloated fairly easily after he eats and stays somewhat bloated even after he poops. I feel like this is probably a normal thing for kittens his age, but as I haven't had one in so long I'm having trouble remembering. Should I be concerned about it?
So, is what I'm doing so far okay? More, less, ect? Any help is greatly appreciated especially since I wasn't at all prepared for taking care of a little one on such short notice. Thanks!
(Pictures are from yesterday evening while he was still with my mom.)
I was hoping to get some advice about a kitten that came into my care last night.
A little back story about how he came to me since it's kind of interesting: My mom called me last night to see if I could help her with a kitten that her neighbor's niece had brought over. Apparently she had found the kitten, along with one of it's litter mates, in a box that was taped shut and thrown into a nearby stream. One had already passed when she found them, but the one she managed to save was alright considering the circumstances. My mom told me that the kitten would be taken out to a farm if they couldn't find somewhere else for it to go, so I made the two hour trip down to get it and brought it back last night.
Anyways, on to what I need help with...
First and foremost, I could use some input as to his age. I'll attach some pictures at the end, but he is about 5 inches head-to-behind, has his eyes and ears entirely open and a full set of teeth, is walking but is still pretty uncoordinated, and is able to eat canned food and dry food that's been wet down. He may be able to eat normal dry food, but I haven't tried it as it seems like the pieces are just too big for him. So far I've been giving him canned food mixed with some KMR. My guess would be that he is about 4 weeks, but I'm usually pretty bad at estimating age, so I definitely want a second opinion.
Next, he has a bit of an URI (as you can probably tell from the pictures). His left eye was fairly gunked shut and very swollen when I got him last night. I've been keeping it clean with a warm/wet paper towel although he fusses a lot as it seems pretty painful for him especially compared to the other eye which he will let me clean without issue. I started him on antibiotic/steroidal eye drops (neomycin/polymyxin B sulfate and dexamethasone) which seems to have helped. The swelling has gone down a lot and the eye has opened up a little more. There's still a little discharge, but not enough to seal his eye back shut. His other eye has a little bit of discharge coming from it also, but is by no means as bad as the left.
Other than his eye, he is sneezing a little and did have some dried mucus around his nose last night. I cleaned that too and it hasn't built back up. I was hoping to get some Clavamox for him today so he has an oral antibiotic on top of the drops, but didn't have any luck. I have some Clindamycin left over from another cat and was thinking about trying that, but after some research found that it's not particularly useful in treating URIs. Does anyone have any experience with this and know if it's even worth trying to give to him in the mean time while I try to get Clavamox instead?
I was also thinking of starting him on some l-lysine and lactoferrin seeing as his infection is likely viral anyways and if it's not I'm sure it still couldn't hurt him to try. Could anyone tell me if they think this would be a good idea and if so what dosage should I be giving him and how often? I'm sure it's different than that of a fully grown cat, so I figured I should check before I start.
Also, he seems to get bloated fairly easily after he eats and stays somewhat bloated even after he poops. I feel like this is probably a normal thing for kittens his age, but as I haven't had one in so long I'm having trouble remembering. Should I be concerned about it?
So, is what I'm doing so far okay? More, less, ect? Any help is greatly appreciated especially since I wasn't at all prepared for taking care of a little one on such short notice. Thanks!
(Pictures are from yesterday evening while he was still with my mom.)
