Feral kitten...please help

queenof3

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So I was walking home today from the train station and my wandering g eyes spotted a fearful creature. He was walking on the sidewalk of a very busy avenue. It's damn scary to walk around there even for humans....large trucks are always zooming by and the traffic is really scary. Many accidents have taken place around here...many. Anyway, the kitten looked really really scared. I could tell from his body language, and maybe wanted to hide . I didnt have the heart to leave him there so i brought him home.

I have three cats of my own, and one of them is a kitten of three months old. His name is Iggy. He was also feral, rescued at age 3 weeks. He just showed up in my front yard one night crying up a storm so I took him home. The feral kitten i brought home today looks EXACTLY like him. They could be brothers, methinks. They are from the same neighborhood, same color (black with patch of white on the neck), same length, same eye color, even with same voices. I don't know, call me crazy, but they're also the same length. So I've brought him home, cleaned him up, and have already arranged for his adoption--my sister's boyfriend's employee, whom the boyfriend knows for a long time, has agreed to adopt him. He likes cats and had one in the past. He'll be dropped off to his forever home tomorrow. In the meantime, he's with me. I'm keeping him in a carrier, away from my other cats. I don't want to take any chances as I've already had two FIP scares in the past and my cat Odie is already sick with toxo.

The problem, I guess, is that the kitten is not eating :( He's been in my house for several hours now and I've tried to make him as comfortable as I possibly can. I know he's scared. What am I supposed to do? He looks underweight for sure. He's pretty active. When I first brought him home, he was running around chasing flies in my backyard. He doesn't seem to have any injuries, scars, or wound, which I'm grateful for. But he looks underweight and malnourished :( So far I've offered him wet food, which he ate a little bit of when he was in the backyard; some gerber chicken in gravy baby food, which he rejected. I then went to the supermarket and bought the kmr powder, step 2, mixed it in a bowl and offered it to him. That was also rejected. What should i do? He's just sleeping now.
 

ondine

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He may be overwhelmed. I would offer him food and water and see what happens. If you can get him to the vet soon, that will help. Keep him away from you other cats until he sees the vet. No sense in taking a chance until you know for user he's healthy.

Thank you for tending to him, poor little mite. You probably saved his life!
 
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queenof3

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Good news! He started eating :) Around midnight my sister offered him some wet food and he lapped it up. We've been feeding him small meals of wet food every few hours.

@Ondine, thanks for your reply! Im keeping him seperate from the others. Ive made a seperate litter box for him, which he has used. I put him in there once and had him dig it. He knew what to do next time and went on his own.

I honestly dont know if i saved his life but i know it was the right thing taking him off the street. It was a heartbreaking scene and i could not leave him there.

Im just very ecstatic he's coming around and he's not dehydrated.
 

mani

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It just took a while for the poor little guy to come around.

It's wonderful that you're given this boy a second chance.


Have you given him a name?
 
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queenof3

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It just took a while for the poor little guy to come around.
It's wonderful that you're given this boy a second chance. :heart4:
Have you given him a name?
Hi, Mani. Thanks for replying. He's really getting comfortable. I didnt expect this to happen so quickly! He's eating every few hours and he's using the litter box fine. He 's even playing-my sister is entertaining him at the moment.

I haven't given him a name yet. Do you have any suggestions? I'd love to hear them!
Thanks in advance!
 
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queenof3

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The person that was supposed to adopt this little fella has backed out--some landlord issue. For the moment, he's my baby. I'm going to try to make him gain some weight. Let's see what happens.
 

mani

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The person that was supposed to adopt this little fella has backed out--some landlord issue. For the moment, he's my baby. I'm going to try to make him gain some weight. Let's see what happens.
Well I'm glad he didn't end up there and then find himself homeless!!  Things tend to turn out as they should.


As for names.. if you go over to the cat lounge and post asking for name suggestions, with a description or a picture of him, you will be inundated with suggestions!  There's nothing like a 'naming' to get TCS members going.
 
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queenof3

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@mani, im very glad for that too. Im feeling so bad for him because he's only bones. He barely has any meat on him. This evening i noticed he walks funny with his hind legs...not always though. It's like his bones didnt form properly.

And thanks for the link. I'm going to check it out now :)
 

angelinacat

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@mani, im very glad for that too. Im feeling so bad for him because he's only bones. He barely has any meat on him. This evening i noticed he walks funny with his hind legs...not always though. It's like his bones didnt form properly.

And thanks for the link. I'm going to check it out now
If your boy is a very young kitten--and skinny as well--he might just need to grow a bit and put on a little weight.  When I adopted my two boys at three months of age, the black one--the runt of the litter--was very much smaller than his brother.  And he walked around with a bandy-legged gait.  Now at ten months of age, he is as large as his brother and looks and acts like a sleek black panther
 

fellmethsfoster

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If you can pick up some Nutrical for Kittens at the pet store, that will go a long ways to getting him back on his feet. It's like a shot of energy for these little ones.

Thanks for saving his life!
 
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queenof3

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@mani, will do. Thanks for yr wisdom and suggestion.

@angelinacat, yea, i do think he needs to put on quite a bit of weight. Poor soul. I don't know what kind of life he had on the street. It doesn't look like he's been eating much. I give him food ever few hours. He gets excited to see the food but doesn't eat a lot. My sister thinks he's malnourished and it's going to take time for him to improve his eating habits. He's going to the vet tomorrow.

@fellmethsfoster, I believe I saw it at petco. I'll get it later today. Hope he'll like it. My other three cats pretty much reject everything including malt. My cats are so stubborn and picky, and this is the kind of lot i seem to be attracting :/ beginning to think the problem is me :/
 
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