Adopted Orphaned Cat - Have Questions

Last week my kid's High School experienced a kitten invasion. We (the grownups) think a feral colony that was pushed out when they built a Whole Foods near us moved near the school because that didn't happen last year. The kids have been finding kittens all over and taking them home and passing them around until they find homes. One of them "stuck" at our place!

I've been Googling about kittens because I don't really have experience with them as I prefer older cats. I still have questions though.

This cat is about the size of a 3 week old but has the characteristics of a 4 week old (has teeth, walks without wobbling, plays with toys and explores, will lap KMR from a finger or even a saucer, does some self grooming and used the litter box at least once, pees without stimulation, regulates her temperature on her own, etc.). 

Purr$ace (rhymes with Versace) is 10.5 ounces and drinks about 7-8 ounces of KMR a day. Every 2-4 hours during the day but goes all night without a feeding (7 hours) and is fine (doesn't cry for food like she does during the day). Should I start weaning it to regular food or is KMR better since it's undersized? [Um, as I typed this, she found our other cat's food and started eating it like crazy. I think I've answered my own question.]

I tried to find canned kitten food at the store but it was scarce and not from companies I like. Can I feed the same food as our other cats? (Merrick Grammy's Pot Pie, Merrick Thanksgiving Dinner, Fancy Feast Chicken varieties, Fancy Feast Seafood Classics, Soulistic Double Happiness)

What age do they get their first shots?

Her claws are sharp and long. Am I supposed to clip them or do I have to wait until she's older and they aren't so thin?

When we feed from the bottle, she drinks some but then she suckles without consuming for ages after. Should this behavior be encouraged or discouraged. She also tries to suckle on my husband and has looked for teats on one of our other cats.

Speaking of our other cats, they are both 1 year, came from different litters, but get along well with each other. They are both fascinated with Purr$ace. One is fascinated in a motherly way and I'd like to encourage that so that the little one has someone to teach her how to be a cat. However, the older one, Salem, doesn't quite get how to act towards the little one and today was kind of swatting at her like she was a play toy. So I want to make sure Salem doesn't hurt the kitten.

Our other cat, Tabitha, is less social and more cautious in general, and has hissed at Purr$ace so I also could use some advice to make sure they get along. She seems willing to accept the kitten but also somewhat afraid. So far I've just been handling Purr$ace while talking to Tabitha in a soothing voice and letting Tabitha smell the kitten on me and giving Tabitha the same amount and type of attention as before. Tabitha is very much *my* cat so I figure if she sees I'm not afraid of the kitten and also that I still love her (Tabitha), that we'll be okay in the end but I don't want to inadvertently do anything to mess up their relationship.

Finally, I was told to get non-clumping litter since the kittens eat it but this pine stuff I bought is horrible. Purr$ace hates it and won't use it when she used the little box before. I ended up putting it through the blender to make more the consistency of the clay litter. Does that mean it will be bad if she eats it and I've defeated the purpose of getting non-clumping littler?

I don't have any answers to your questions, but I love your new baby's name!

I just realized I should have added pictures!

Also, with talking with my husband, we really have no idea how much she's eating. It's probably more like 4-6 tbsp of formula yesterday and today it's a combo of kitten food and cat food and formula so we've completely lost track.

MacMadame said:

 
I just realized I should have added pictures!

Also, with talking with my husband, we really have no idea how much she's eating. It's probably more like 4-6 tbsp of formula yesterday and today it's a combo of kitten food and cat food and formula so we've completely lost track.

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The best way to know is to weigh every day.  Preferably in grammes, as its easier to follow the development.   If they gain 10+ grammes a day, good, if less, not good.  Easy to folllow even for me, a foreigner.      @MacMadame

Re your residents.  If you think she is healthy, you can go on and introduce.  I understand you had began.

Many cats are a little afraid of small kittens, they dont really know what they are...

The swattings you tell about.  As long its with a  soft paw, its not so bad.  They are teaching their friends and family members this way.  So swatting with a soft paw is in a way = accepting the new one...

Re Tabitha - she seems willing, but uncertain? - its perhaps time to proceed to introduce them.  When she knows the kitten better, she will dont need to be uncertain - the uncertainity will turn into certainity.

Your  way seems good and pedagogic - the resident must be assured she is still in your high estime, then new be is no threat to her postition nor your love.

Its perhaps your background as teacher showing here?   

Re the food.  I dont know these american brands.  Although I know they do have many good brands in the USA, often better than the european brands.

If you must give dry food, the variation for kitten is the usual recommendation.  But if the adult variation is good enough, you CAN use the adult variation.

So for example, Orijen is one such.   If these adult brands contain enough of animal proteins and fat, they should be good enough.

A tip.  If you can get hold on goat milk, you can always use it, if you so wish....     Have it with a egg yolk in, to make it even more nourishing.

Last.   Im happy to hear of the practical solution children and adults at your school helped these kittens.    An orderly chaos with happy end in most cases.

What about if your school would stand behind a TNR programme for this colony?   As your school commitment to your neigbhorhood. Your schools official way to make your city a little better place to live in, to be proud of??

Good luck!

I'm trying to avoid dry food as I've read kittens can't really eat it until 8 weeks. The canned food we feed the adult cats ranges from premium brand to cheaper brands (to keep down the costs and also because they will always eat those), but all have no grains. The premium brands do have veggies for some reason and the cheap brands have meat-by-products but other questionable ingredients are limited.

I'm just wondering about the nutrition. The ingredients in the kitten food doesn't seem much different and it's not like they use special chickens that have more calories! I am wondering how canned kitten food differs from canned adult food. Are there different vitamins in there?

For the TNR, I realized that I don't even know if there is a colony out there. That was just our speculation based on what we saw. I need to check it out first. Then I'm going to talk to the rescue we got our cats from and see if they know anything about it.

MacMadame said:

 
I'm trying to avoid dry food as I've read kittens can't really eat it until 8 weeks. The canned food we feed the adult cats ...

I'm just wondering about the nutrition. The ingredients in the kitten food doesn't seem much different and it's not like they use special chickens that have more calories! I am wondering how canned kitten food differs from canned adult food. Are there different vitamins in there?

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Ah, so it was canned you talked about?  See, I´am quite ignorant about the american brands, precisely as I wrote.  

Yes, canned should be OK also for kittens, as they typically are very high in animal protein and fats.

Kitten food has usually added taurine (its an amino-acid, ie a sort of proteine).   I myself believe its not because you must add extra taurine to all kitten food per definition, but because there is quite little animal proteines in most dry foods...   So of course, they must add.

In a food with a natural high content of anmial meats, additions arent necessary, as taurine is a natural part of meat...  This is why the high quality adult dry food Orijen is OK for kittens too, with its high content of anmial proteines and fats.   And most canned wet foods.

Similar with fat.  Most dry foods are  too low in fats.   (a tip.  If you by any reason want to give a low fat diet, be sure there are more proteins added instead, NOT more carbohydrates, as is common in dry foods.   This may be OK with humans, but not with cats)

Good luck!

We adopted a kitten, Orion, a few days ago and he is only 3 weeks, but since he can walk, use the litter and has his little teeth, the vet recommended us to buy Fancy Feast Kitten (which is made with Milk) and Orion has done AMAZINGLY on it! It has good ingredients and he perked way up when he had a belly full of it!

Orion and my son

 
This is what we feed him, along with the Turkey Flavor.

http://www.fancyfeast.com/gourmet-cat-products/wet-cat-food/classic/ocean-whitefish-tuna-feast

We have some of that (Fancy Feast ocean whitefish tuna) in the cupboard!

We feed the adult cats Evo when they get kibble and it is similar to Orijen but with even less carbs and it's very high in calories so it would work with a kitten but she has to be much older before she can eat it. Or we'd have to cut the kibbles down in size for her. And add water.

MacMadame said:

 
We have some of that (Fancy Feast ocean whitefish tuna) in the cupboard!

We feed the adult cats Evo when they get kibble and it is similar to Orijen but with even less carbs and it's very high in calories so it would work with a kitten but she has to be much older before she can eat it. Or we'd have to cut the kibbles down in size for her. And add water.

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Make sure its the Kitten version! It's made with milk and that will help alot!

So we've had some setbacks.

One is that it's been pointed out to me that since she hasn't been to the vet, she probably has worms and stuff and could give them to our other cats. She seems healthy and has no visible evidence of worms but she could still have them or something that isn't visible. She has her own litter box and her own room but she does come out into the main part of the house when we need to keep an eye on her and my daughter isn't around (she's in my daughter's bedroom).

So we're keeping the other cats out of her room and limiting contact and I'm now washing my hands after handling her but I'm pretty sure no one else does. My husband has been particularly sarcastic about my worry on this issue and I'm quite annoyed with him.

Also Danger Kitty (what my son and I call Purr$ace because She Lives for Danger) lost weight today. I think it's because we stopped giving her formula since she didn't seem to like it very much and loved the soft food. But this is another area where I think my husband is being annoying, because he's the one who said she doesn't like to drink from the bottle and I took his word for it, but today I bought more KMR and she drank 3x from it just fine. Yes sometimes she gets excited and loses her grip on the nipple and has trouble getting settle back on it but that doesn't mean it's time to stop using it entirely. Also, he opened up a can of regular cat food because he claimed he couldn't find the kitten food (which was right where I showed him it was) and it wasn't the pate but the roasted and I think the chunks were too big for her because she basically didn't eat it at all and she was chowing down on the kitten stuff like it was kitty caviar before.

So I've put all her food on the counter so he can't screw up again. And we're going to feed her formula 3x a day until she catches up on her weight and solid food in between as a snack but not her main nutrition.

At least she's decided to use the litter box even though the non-clumping litter is weird. And even when she doesn't use it, she doesn't go in her sleeping box. She goes against a leg of my daughter's vanity near the litter box. (Which husband is now tasked with cleaning up. I *will* have my revenge. Bwahaha.)

She also cleans her paws after eating. But no other part of her body. We've been wiping her down with a washcloth but it only does so much so today I gave her a mini-bath because her whiskers were full of crude and she had a few spot the washcloth wouldn't get out here and there. Poor baby looked like drowned rat! But she's much fluffier now that she's dry. I was able to clip her nails a bit while she drank her formula too. So now she doesn't stab me as much when she climbs all over me.

She's very adventurous. Climbing all over. Including up my daughter's curtains. And across great divides. And off tall surfaces. That's why my son started calling her Danger Kitty. 

I think she has a great will to live too as she sucked down the new formula 3 servings one after the other once I went out and bought it. I think my daughter is too much the preoccupied teenager to be a good guardian of her so it's a good thing she's off to school again tomorrow and husband is in charge again during the day. In spite of my annoyance with him, he did a good job during the week. It was only on the weekend when daughter was home and supervising that Purr$ace/Danger Kitty started not getting enough to eat.

It is possible to buy your own wormer, if you know exactly what you use.  You must KNOW, because some OTC preparates are dangerous...

If her mother was undewormed / was allowed to be out, she has almost surely round worms.  (they can get it with moms milk).

Tape worms they get from prey or from fleas, so tape worms arent so common with kittens.

Pyrantel (poamate) is known to work against round worms, and also to be mild for kittens.   Make sure there are no other active ingrediences...

(look at the label).

The british all round dewormer Milbomax can be used for small kittens too.

Phone and ask your vet if you can. Or go to the pharmacy / well equipped pet shop, look at the labels (write down them) and google...

There is also the question of dosage, but it is usually on the bottle or reference sheet following.   @MacMadame

Okay, now I think I'm going crazy.

Today Purr$ace weighed as much as if she hadn't lost weight yesterday. I'd wonder about the accuracy of my scale but I weighed her twice yesterday to be sure and I could feel her ribs when I fed her. Today I can't really and she's bigger on my hand when I feed her. She's 352 grams. Yesterday she was 322 after being 330 the day before. Is that possible?

30 plus in one day isnt unheard of.  Heatlhy kitten add this quite often.

The most probable is you happened to mix up the weightings...   This could be an explanation...   We had several forumites with similiar riddles - but presuming there WAS some mix up, the gaining was exactly on the spot, taken day for day...

We have an appointment in 35 minutes with our vet. I'd rather not do the deworming myself. I'm not good with that stuff and I don't want to mess it up. Plus we have a lot of questions and I trust my vet. He has cats himself and is good with them.

Okay, back from the vet.

He said I was right about kitty's age and sex. I'm feeling smug. Maybe I should get my own show like Jackson Gallaxy! Except he's better with people than I am. LOL

He said our kitty is smart and healthy and pretty tame. He doesn't think her mom was feral. He said kittens born to ferals aren't friendly like her. They spit and hiss. It's in their genes. So she has domestic in her somewhere even just a little. Maybe her mom was abandoned and is living in the wild but not a true feral. Or maybe just the kittens were dumped at the school from an indoor mom. But 15 is a lot for one person to dump. It really has to be multiple momma cats and they really must be living nearby somehow. Maybe several someones all dumped their pregnant cats at once? It's all very mystifying.

Nearby to the school is a park, a field, some businesses and some condos/apartments. All could be homes to wild/outdoor cats.

Anyway, she is going back for her first round of shots in 3 weeks. We have a flea/ringworm/something else treatment for later in the week (she's too little now). Also the techs assured us that cats don't pass worms to each other. Tapeworms can be passed through flea bites but not ringworms. We'll continue to keep separate litter boxes though due to the non-clumping vs. clumping litter though. Our vet thought FELV and FIV+ was not going to be an issue given how healthy Purr$ace is and how domesticated. We'll have her tested when she gets her first vaccines. The other cats have been vaccinated for it already.

So we've been given the go-ahead for them to interact with each other.

Also, our vet thinks KMR is crap food compared to solid food. I went home and read the ingredients and agreed with him.It's got stuff in it like canola oil! He likes cats on a high protein diet and recommends brands like Evo and Young Again and Wellese for kibble for adult cats. For the kittens, the tech tried a jar of baby food and Purr$ace went crazy for it. We went home with the rest of the jar and with two cans of some Science Diet a/d stuff which I'm sure I'll be meh about when I read the ingredients list. LOL (Not a fan of Science Diet.)

He said our adult canned food is fine too if it's the right consistency. We have several types that are the right consistency and put them in the kitten pile for Mr. Mac to use once we run out of the kitten specific stuff. The other stuff we can use once her teeth are stronger but right now it's too chunky.

One last follow up:

Everything is going pretty well. Purr$ace is totally weaned and eating well. She tends to gain erratically now -- like two days in a row of 6g weight gain or no weight gain then the 3rd it's something like 30grams! But her average has been about 15g a day since we got her. it's getting harder and harder to weigh her though. She won't stay in the bowl on the scale. I have to put food in there with her now.

And she's fearless. As this picture shows:


(I was weighing her and she decided to run up the screen when I wasn't looking.)

Adorable! When we were weighing our little guys last year we ended up putting them in a really big mixing bowl. One of them fell in love with it... he would come running and jump in the bowl every time we took it out. Eventually we just left it out and it became his favorite napping spot until he out grew it. Now that they are much bigger we use a luggage scale and a tote bag to weigh them.