Need Advice Please!

Hi All - I'm new here, and have a question. 

Background:  An outdoor cat that hung around my sister's house became pregnant.  Sister let her in, and she had 6 kittens.  She abandoned the kittens, never to return,  all but one died - sister's husband hand nursed it.  It is now on solid foods & a social, spunky kitten.  It has not yet been vetted. 

Now my other sister wants it, but lives 6 hrs away from first sister.  I live in between both, and am willing to pick it up for Sister2.  It would have to stay at my house for 4 days.  I am mom to two young indoor cats.  Is there any threat to their health by me bringing in this kitten for a few days since it hasn't been de-wormed or vetted?  Will I have to keep them apart?  (that will be tricky).  I want to help rehome this kitten, but not at the risk of harming my boys.

I welcome all responses.

Hi and welcome!

Since it has already been in your sister's care for several weeks, unless it is showing signs of an upper respiratory illness (uri/cold symptoms) the only real issue is worms. So a GOOD deworming is needed, then repeated after a couple weeks, but the first deworming should be sufficient in protecting your boys since it's only for 4 days.

Other than this, I see no real reason to keep separated. Fleas too of course, but that's an easy fix, or ear mites. But those can be detected easily, looks like dirt/coffee grounds in ears. Shaking head or scratching them.

Thx for your reply.  This is a queasy subject for me, but, how would the kitten have worms?  Are they all born with them?  

Yes, deworming is standard for kittens, they all have them. When dewormed young like this, you won't see anything at all.

But given time to grow, the worms take over their intestines and it's a much bigger issue later, as they grow/multiply.

So, does the kitten need to be de-wormed BEFORE having contact with my cats?  

Yes.

Kittens get them from their mother's milk, so surely the mom who gave birth to them has worms which makes the kittens get the larvae and produce them.

They are contagious to other cats so you want her to be dewormed prior to having her there.

Thank you.