Found Abandoned Kitten!

My parents were leaving the house yesterday and found an abandoned kitten. 

At first, they thought it was dead because it was unmoving, covered in dirt and blood out in the middle of the road. It was to be expected, seeing that it was probably born 20-30 minutes before hand. They had left only to turn around because my dad left his wallet home and it had started to rain. At that time my mom decided to check on the kitten. 

Much to everyone's surprise the kitten was barely hanging in there. Mom freaked, as per usual, and called me on the phone--only to come running and screaming into the house like a madwoman. They left to get the necessary supplies for raising a kitten.

To say the least, after I cleaned it, I spent the next 3 1/2 hours warming up an ice cold kitten. Which, funny enough the little one refused to sleep unless on my chest or in my hands--and LOVES getting tangled in my hair.  I got it to feed a half hour later--but only a little, and boy was that little one loud, demanding food. I'm pleased to say that the little guy/gal is doing fine so far. Even though it eats little very small amounts, it eats every 2 hours. It still hasn't grasped the concept of feeding from the bottle, so I have to use a dropper. But it's all good because I have a lot of free time. I've been getting it to urinate after every feeding since I've had it, but I haven't witnessed it defecate yet. 

I was wondering if there was anything more I need to do for this little one--anything else I can do? I would very much like to keep it. It's only 2 days old and there is no nursing mothers around, sadly. 

NikkyKay said:

 
My parents were leaving the house yesterday and found an abandoned kitten. 

At first, they thought it was dead because it was unmoving, covered in dirt and blood out in the middle of the road. It was to be expected, seeing that it was probably born 20-30 minutes before hand. They had left only to turn around because my dad left his wallet home and it had started to rain. At that time my mom decided to check on the kitten. 

Much to everyone's surprise the kitten was barely hanging in there. Mom freaked, as per usual, and called me on the phone--only to come running and screaming into the house like a madwoman. They left to get the necessary supplies for raising a kitten.

To say the least, after I cleaned it, I spent the next 3 1/2 hours warming up an ice cold kitten. Which, funny enough the little one refused to sleep unless on my chest or in my hands--and LOVES getting tangled in my hair.  I got it to feed a half hour later--but only a little, and boy was that little one loud, demanding food. I'm pleased to say that the little guy/gal is doing fine so far. Even though it eats little very small amounts, it eats every 2 hours. It still hasn't grasped the concept of feeding from the bottle, so I have to use a dropper. But it's all good because I have a lot of free time. I've been getting it to urinate after every feeding since I've had it, but I haven't witnessed it defecate yet. 

I was wondering if there was anything more I need to do for this little one--anything else I can do? I would very much like to keep it. It's only 2 days old and there is no nursing mothers around, sadly. 

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What kmr do you use?  Are you able to get  raw goat milk?  - What country do you live in?

Yes, carrying at chest or in hands gives nice and comfy warmth...

A bedding of fleece, with a HEATING pad on low warmth is good.   A stuffed animal for companion is useful.  You can perhaps make one yourself, from some fleece and a warming pad inside?

Yes, a needleless syringe or a dropper are often easier than a bottle...  Syringe is best of these two, as it gives you better controll.  1 or 1,5 ml   Tummy down, head up, in the corner of te mouth, cautiously so it manages to swallow.  Burp and stimulate afterwards.

You seems to have done very nicely so far - you either do have quite some knowledge, OR are a natural!

In our Preg and Kitten care forum there are some useful articles, and lotsa of treads.  ( I will ask a mod to move your tread in there, you dont need to do anythying)

http://www.kittenrescue.org/index.php/cat-care/kitten-care-handbook/

and www.kitten-rescue.com about orphan care are tow other useful sites to get ideas from.

Please continue to report, answer questions, and ask questions!

Tx for helping this little Bro of ours!

Good luck!

Oh you are SO mama kitty now!  That is remarkable that you could revive that little newborn. So far I think you are doing great. Yes kittens, especially when so tiny and new, need to be kept warm. That also means his tummy will be warm so he can eat/nurse. Cold tummy, formula means kitten won't make it. When you can't hold kitten all the time for your body warmth, microwave a tube sock for 5 minutes until it steams. Wrap in bath towel, and it should hold heat about 4 hours. I fear heating pads because they can get too hot (although have seen kitten ones people have purchased) Go over to the Pregnant Cats and Kitten Care thread on this site. There are so many members on that thread with years of experience, links to more information!  Just be sure you are feeding kitten laying on its' tummy, like it is feeding from mama. The syringe to be fed on the side of mouth, and very slowly. Kittens can easily get formula down wrong pipe into lungs -fatal! Hope your mom got the KMR brand formula, and do you have a small little electronic kitchen type scale? Very important to weigh daily! You will then know kitten is taking in enough food by weight gain daily. Well good luck - it must have been Karma to have this kitten find you!  And head on over to that other thread!   Oh I see one of the kitten gurus (stefanZ) has already answered! You are in good hands!

I didn't get a chance to weigh it yesterday, due to finding it so late and having to warm and feed the little cutie, but when I did today it was at 2.6 oz. 

NikkyKay said:

 
I didn't get a chance to weigh it yesterday, due to finding it so late and having to warm and feed the little cutie, but when I did today it was at 2.6 oz. 

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This is an normal weight, although in the lowest segment of the normal...  Next step is to see if she gains, or not.  She shall gain at least 6grammes every day, ie 0,2 Oz as minimum...

Weight every 12 hours, till you are sure she is stabilized.

Is she fully haired, and decently rounded?    If so, she is prob fully done, although smallish. 

   If not, she is prob premature...   May be saved anyways, but puts greater demands and the fight will be uphill.

The kitten is actually the photo on my profile. But here is a set of pictures of her/him. The top middle is how the kitten was when we found it, top left was an hour later, the large one at the bottom is 3 hrs later--before the first feeding, and the top right is after the first feeding.



Speaking of feedings, I'm having a bit of trouble with that. S/he wants to eat, and I get the dropper in the mouth, but it keeps slipping out. I'm trying the bottle, but then s/he does want to suck on it. 



 

This is the hardest part! trying to get that kitten sucking on the bottle. I was an almost fail, as I was not getting  Stewart to suckle enough to get much nutrition. They formula was pooling in  between my thumb and index finger, he would get some, but not enough! I don't know he survived the first 4 days! When I could see that he was going down, I had to rush to the ER vet. Without going through my trauma story there, they revived him, and a very kind young girl showed me the proper technique. After that, that crazy kitten went wild! He would polish off that bottle in no time, be burped (light tapping on his back) potty stimulation wipe, and back to bed again! It is sometimes very hard to get one that young to latch correctly and start feeding.  It is so rewarding once you catch your stride. I hope one of the expert members will be able to lend any tricks to getting started. I was lucky that the girl who helped me at the ER had knowledge feeding kittens.

 It is so rewarding once you catch your stride. 

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Funny how you said that, and I got the little one to drink from the bottle! I was super excited! S/he (still can't tell the gender--I think it's a boy: so he) wouldn't drink from the dropper, so I got him to take it in his mouth and he started sucking on it. I took, like, four pictures. It's only been almost a full day that I've had him and he already has a folder of pics on my phone. Haha. 

Now, I don't know if it'll happen again the next time I feed--seeing that this is my first time taking care of a kitten so young--but I'll push through with the bottle. He doesn't like to be interrupted during his meal time. This is all a bunch of trial and error of me. So far I know that he absolutely HATES to be cleaned, he grumbles in his sleep when you move him by accident, he LOVES to eat, and he likes when he's being petted. He scrunches his little face in. It's too cute. 

So far so good.

Little baby weighs 2.8 oz now, made his first poop, and is eating every 2 hrs from a syringe/bottle. I had to improvise. He couldn't suck much from the bottle, and didn't know how to feed from the syringe. Since he seemed to like the bottle nipple, I put that on the syringe--he ate then fell right asleep. He still gets mad when I have to wake him up to burp and stimulate, but  he'll have to deal. 

@StefanZ  

I think, possibly, that the kitten is premature. Is it normal for the kitten to have no fur on its tummy? He also as a few patches of fur missing under his chin--and all four paws have very little fur. I know he's only 3 days old--but I want to make sure I'm doing this right. My main priority is warmth and food, though I do give him little back rubs from time to time. 

NikkyKay said:

 
So far so good.

Little baby weighs 2.8 oz now, made his first poop, and is eating every 2 hrs from a syringe/bottle. I had to improvise. He couldn't suck much from the bottle, and didn't know how to feed from the syringe. Since he seemed to like the bottle nipple, I put that on the syringe--he ate then fell right asleep. He still gets mad when I have to wake him up to burp and stimulate, but  he'll have to deal. 

@StefanZ  

I think, possibly, that the kitten is premature. Is it normal for the kitten to have no fur on its tummy? He also as a few patches of fur missing under his chin--and all four paws have very little fur. I know he's only 3 days old--but I want to make sure I'm doing this right. My main priority is warmth and food, though I do give him little back rubs from time to time. 

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He seems fairly haired on the pics, so I didnt commented this, it was selfevident, I though.  But if he HAS some bare or thin places, he is probably a little premature, But just barely, a little,  He is done enough he should make it if you fight on as you are doing now.  The chances are good.

Yes, soem rubbing and giving friendly human warmth is just good.  Also, such a rubbing reminds surely of moms washing, which in itself is a sort of massage.  So please, continue with such.

   The addition of .2  is really a minumum, but its still the necessary minumum foru such a smalls...  Lets be happy even for the small gifts, as long as they lead us forward.

All toghether, what you write sounds good, you are working nicely with him, and he responses nicely.

For his small size, he's fairly strong and active. He likes to move a lot. And  has a pretty strong grip when he latches on to the bottle--now syringe.

I think he is gaining weight slowly because he eats so little within the 2 hrs span. He'll eat 0.5 tsp or 2.5 mL with each feeding. He goes right to sleep after that amount. I also noticed that he gets hungry within less than a 2 hr span. That just started today, though.   Every 1 1/2 hours he starts crying and suckling on his arms, the blanket, and my fingers. I give him the formula when he wants it--is that okay? I want him to get the necessary amount of food in his little body, but I don't want to overfeed him or hurt him in any way. 

NikkyKay said:

 
For his small size, he's fairly strong and active. He likes to move a lot. And  has a pretty strong grip when he latches on to the bottle--now syringe.

I think he is gaining weight slowly because he eats so little within the 2 hrs span. He'll eat 0.5 tsp or 2.5 mL with each feeding. He goes right to sleep after that amount. I also noticed that he gets hungry within less than a 2 hr span. That just started today, though.   Every 1 1/2 hours he starts crying and suckling on his arms, the blanket, and my fingers. I give him the formula when he wants it--is that okay? I want him to get the necessary amount of food in his little body, but I don't want to overfeed him or hurt him in any way. 

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Yes, you can give more often, esp if he himself wants it.  It would be more difficult if he didnt wanted, and you got to almost force into him.

Overfeeding as such is barely possible, as long as he swallows nicely.   Its if they dont manage to swallow properly, or get refluxes, when it becomes tricky,

Cute little kitten, so far seems to be holding well. Keeping him warm and well fed is vital for them especially this young, looks like a newborn. Also if he ever does end up with milk coming out of his nose or sneezing milk, immediately stop feeding and turn kitten upside down to drain any milk from nose and gently tap his back to be sure it's all out. I've had fairly good luck with that, Sneezing milk happens when the bottle hole opening is too big or he is not fast enough to swallow the milk. Just wanted you to know what to do if you ever need it, hopefully you won't. Because if he was ever to breathe in the milk, he would probably get pneumonia. Best of luck with the little guy. You've done great with him so far. I am too surprised you were able to revive him. Usually when they're chilled, they're gone, there's not much that can be done. Glad he is really doing well. Please keep us posted.

N nansiludie
I had a little problem with that, though it was because he was suckling too fast. He pulled some air bubbles out and it bubbled from his mouth. I felt really bad. ;( but he's okay. The day isn't over yet and he's already eaten 14 times. I think he's been going through a growths spurt. He's been demanding roughly around 2.5 mL every hour and 20 mins.I wonder how much he'll weigh tomorrow.

After his feeding, being burped, went potty, and had a tummy rub, he chooses to sleep like this. He's too cute!

I need some advice!! Anyone's will help! 

My kitten is feeding, burping, using the bathroom--but he tends to cry when I try to stimulate him. He has no fur on his tummy and lower legs, could that be a reason why he's crying? Because it's irritated? Is there any other way I can help him to eliminate? 

Could be repeated rubbing is irritating. I have read some where on this site that some people have run warm water over kitten  (of course dry quickly)  S/He sort of sounds like a little character to me from what you have been describing !  How old is S/He  now?  Has baby taken a regular bottle yet? or still on the syringe/nipple. How's the weight gain?

Anne with Cats said:

 
Could be repeated rubbing is irritating. I have read some where on this site that some people have run warm water over kitten  (of course dry quickly)  S/He sort of sounds like a little character to me from what you have been describing !  How old is S/He  now?  Has baby taken a regular bottle yet? or still on the syringe/nipple. How's the weight gain?

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He is 3 days old today. He was born in the middle of the street on the 15th. I have a syringe with a nipple on the end that he demands me to feed him with every 1 1/2 or so. Right now, he weighs 3.0 oz. He's gained .4 oz already.

He certainly is a character. He's already grown on me so much. He's a little fighter--literally. When I'm feeding him he swings his little paws around. Let me tell you, they hurt for being so tiny. He has a good swing.

I thought  5/15/15 was his birth day. I really wonder if he was born in the middle of the street, or the mom was disturbed or frightened away and was trying to move him? You haven't seen any mama cats around? She may be in hiding. Just wondering if there are more kittens around somewhere. It will be so much easier when you can just use the bottle only set up. Your little guy sounds like my Stewart. At about 3-4 weeks, he would suck on the Pet Ag ( bottles, which are rather hard) until the bottle would concave!  Sounds like things are going well!

@Anne with Cats

There are too many cats in our neighborhood to determine which one is his mother. Most of them are outside cats, while the rest are strays that get food from the neighborhood. Not only that, but the kitten was really cold, barely responsive, in the middle of traffic way on the street, and still have all the gunk it was born with on it. The umbilical cord was cut down, so I know it was with the mom for a little while. Along with that stuff on the poor kitten he had gravel and blood on him, as well. There were four cats near the kitten when my parents found him. My dad tried to see if any of the cats were his mom, but none of them paid the kitten any mind. It was like they were waiting for him to die so they could eat him. We also had to get him inside quickly because it was raining and, like I said, he was cold. He was so quiet I had to check every five minutes to see if he was breathing. 

I have no clue if there are other kittens around. I looked around the area and wasn't able to find any. I'm sure, if there are more kittens, they are with mommy somewhere. 

I tried the bottle and I wasn't sure if he was getting any milk from it, though he was sucking on it. I'm just using the nipple and syringe for now so I know he's getting food so he can gain weight. Once he opens his eyes and weighs the correct weight, I'll move him to the bottle. As of now, when he smells the milk on the syringe, he pretty much dives for the thing with loud little cries. He's really wobbly and misses so I have to work a little to get it into his mouth; but when it's in he doesn't let it go. I have to wiggle it out of his mouth when he falls asleep.