I found a new born kitten and i have so many concerns

So on the 4th of july i found a baby kitten. i think it make have been 2 days old at least

it was late so i wasnt able to get it kmr kitten formula but i bought some goats milk

the next mornign i went to the store and got the formula and shes been eating that instead.

she eats like a regular hungry little kitten. and the pees and poops

but her eyes are water and one of them is really goopy

and she sneezes and im not sure if shes breathing ok. it sounds like if she were to have a lot of snot or something

like snoring but shes awake.  i took her to the vet but

he didnt really give me anything for either. he just told me as long as she eats and sleps and is somewhat active theres not a lot to do.

then wait untill shes 2 weeks and get her some antibiotics. 

is there anything i can do before then?

should i get a second opinion

its the 12ths today so shes a week old

shes very furry so the goopyness sticks on her eyes

and i tried gettign a warm cotton ball and gently whipping it off but i dont think its helping maybe im doing it wrong

I am not sure.  But others will know.

@StefanZ

@sarthur2

I copied this from a post by @catwoman707

Not clear about what you are seeing, but if it has anything to do with crusty, goopy, runny, or stuck shut it is very common and nothing to worry that will threaten lives, but needs antibiotic eye ointment.

Terramycin is available online without a prescription if you live anywhere outside of CA.

Cheaper to get it this way too.

Please call your vet to make sure it's okay for such a young kitten.

have you read this thread?  Found Abandoned Kitten by nikkykay

@Red Top Rescue   can you help?

I'm not sure why your vet didn't just prescribe Clavamox along with some eye ointment NOW instead of waiting another week, but the important thing is to keep her warm (kittens that age cannot control their body temperature, and if they are not warm enough, they can't digest their food.  Normal for a kitten is 101.5 to 102.5.  Too little to take her temp the 'normal' way but you can stick a thermometer in her armpit and that will be about 1 degree less than her internal temperature.  She will need a source of warmth, like a hot water bottle, that she can snuggle up to, but also can move away from, when you are not holding her.  You can rinse the eyes out with sterile saline for eyes which you can get at any drug store.  The goat's milk is actually excellent and I would continue using it, along with the formula. That gives her two sources of good things.  If you can get RAW goat's milk from a goat dairy or a health food store, that's even better.  With a kitten that young, you are fighting to save their lives one day at a time.  If she seems snotty an congested, you can use a vaporizer in whatever room she is in because in summer many of us use A/C ad that dries out the air, and in winter using heat does the same thing.  Humidity will loosen the secretions and make it easier for her to breathe, and a WARM air humidifier will also keep her room warm.

I just realized that @catwoman707wrote a great long post in another thread, instructions on caring for an orphaned baby kitten, so I am copying it in here for you.

"For starters, kittens must be kept warm, not with blankets, they are unable to hold their body temps and soon will be room temp, they must have an actual heating source, and need to be kept between 97-99 degrees, which is a heating pad on low, with a lightweight towel covering it, not put directly on the pad.

If you don't have a heating pad, fill a couple socks up with rice, knot the top and heat well in microwave, also cover that so it's not directly on them.

They will easily die from hypothermia, getting too cooled down. Also when their temp drops below 95 their organs become dormant, and are unable to digest any formula they take in, it grows bacteria and will die. So be SURE they are not cool before feeding. If their little arms/paws feel cool or cold, they are not warm enough. How you can easily tell if they are warm enough is, they should not feel cool or hot when touched or held against you, as our temps and theirs are so close. Should feel like touching your own skin.

When fed, they must not be held as a human baby would be, they need to be only on their tummies, tilt the head up slightly, and very carefully put 2 drops in to their cheek area, wait for them to swallow and breathe, it takes time and patience but these babies are extremely fragile.

NOT something the kids should be doing by no means.

One tiny drop inhaled and they get pneumonia and die within a day or so. Period. It's a very big deal, and why fed babies die so often except with either experienced feeders or advice given from an experienced feeder as I am giving now. ...

Warmth, feeding, pottying, these are the 3 things they need to be cared for."

buttery cat

I suggest you call another vet and ask for clavamox and terramycin when you take her in. Some vets have very little experience with newborn kittens and do not like to treat them. As Red Top said, your vet should have given her medicine.

thank you very much i do have a humidifier and ill use it in the meantime untill i can get ahold of a vet. 

so if she had pneumonia it would have already showed right?

Most likely, yes. Pneumonia can kill a kitten in about 24 hours.

I want to ask you, have you ever had experience with caring for a newborn kitten before?

We all started at some time, so nothing to be shy about, but I want to know if you really know how to care for the baby correctly or if you need advising.

How do you hold the baby when you feed? What are you using to feed her?

Are you weighing daily so you know the correct amt she needs to thrive?

Yes, I full agree with red top rescue, she should have been given liquid clavamox and terramycin eye ointment right then and there.

What's the point of waiting? For her to get worse or die? Most vets are so inexperienced with babies like this, frustrating.......

To save the money for another vet's office visit, call the same vet and request clavamox and terramycin over the phone, say that you will pick it up.

This should not be a problem, and if it is, then you are left with no choice but to see yet another.

When you get the eye ointment, you will not be applying it from the tube, but squirting a ribbon on your wrist and put the cap back on. This saves you from contaminating the tube as well as stops the tube from oozing out and wasting med, which it will do!

To soften and remove the glue like stuff, smear a bit of the med over the stuck part of the eye and wait a couple minutes for it to soften, once it does it wipes off easily.

Then you will apply it in her eye, sort of a gentle swipe over her eye itself, so it gets right in there on the eyeball and inner lids. Terramycin is amazingly fast and will fix this problem soon.

Until you get her on clavamox, run straight hot water in the shower, bathroom door shut. Steam it up really well, go in and turn the water off, and sit her in there for 10 minutes at a time. This helps break up the mucous in her throat.

If she has congestion from her lungs then she may have pneumonia, and there is nothing you can do for a baby this young, I'm sad to say.

It WILL sound like her wheezing is from her lungs by you listening, but you can't tell, only a stethescope knows the diff. Congested throat or lungs will sound exactly the same to us. So don't panic when you hear it.

Signs of pneumonia are not interested in eating anymore, resisting it.

Constantly sleeping and feel limp and rather lifeless when picked up instead of feisty and squirmy.

i feed her on her tummy 

i dont have a scale. they are very expensive but she does eat

i help her go pee and poo after every feeding. she poos once sometimes twice a day

i have a box with shredded newspaper a blanket and i make her a warmish bottle to help her stay warm

shes very active and like to crawl on th eblankets now. i clean her blankies every other day i have extra cleans ones to switch them since she sometimes

stimulates her self while crawling and pees

so maybe its osmethign else

because she is extreamly excited to eat when its feeding time.

she does take breaks i figure thqats normal but once shes done she crawls a little and then falls asleep next to the wam bottle

ive been trying to find a moma cat that could nurse her but i havnt had any luck

i use kmr formula  newborn to 6 weeks  and i use a nursing bottle

ill rub her back all over when ever she sneezes al ot or coughs  idk how to tell the difference 

but other then her goopy eyes and her sneezy coughy ness

she eats a lot and she sleeps and she crawls around and she loves to fall asleep in people arms 

she lieks the bottle but i think she likes the body warmth more

i do use socks with rice in them. i lay them under her bedding i just feel they stay really warm for to long so i layer it up so she doesn tget to hot. and she does have room to crawl away

when i took her to the vet they put  those little cotton swab sticks up her but  was that okay for them to do? sicne shes so little      and they got a thermomiter and started to insert it in and out  to try andget her to poo.  

ive never been there before.

Buttery Cat said:

 
So on the 4th of july i found a baby kitten. i think it make have been 2 days old at least

it was late so i wasnt able to get it kmr kitten formula but i bought some goats milk

the next mornign i went to the store and got the formula and shes been eating that instead.

she eats like a regular hungry little kitten. and the pees and poops

but her eyes are water and one of them is really goopy

and she sneezes and im not sure if shes breathing ok. it sounds like if she were to have a lot of snot or something

like snoring but shes awake.  i took her to the vet but

he didnt really give me anything for either. he just told me as long as she eats and sleps and is somewhat active theres not a lot to do.

then wait untill shes 2 weeks and get her some antibiotics. 

is there anything i can do before then?

should i get a second opinion

its the 12ths today so shes a week old

Click to expand...

You had got excellent advices by the others.

Some small comments.

Good you took goats milk, when you couldnt get a good kmr.  Goats milk is entirely OK to use.   Im not saying its better than a good kmr brand, but its surely better than a bad kmr brand!

Raw, ie unpasterized goat milk is even better,  than the usual bottled / cartooned goat milk. It contains some useful enzymes and antibodies, which usually gets destroyed during the pasteurizing...

Which, exactly, brand of  kmr do you use, what company?

Re the scale.  These scales we talk about doenst need to be costly.  You dont need any fancy.  Althought its comfortable if its electronic and measures in grammes.  Or at least, in 1/10 of oz.   You can perhaps borrow one from some neighbour?

Tx for caring!

I'm not sure I would take the kitten back to that vet.  You can call local rescues and shelters and ask for the name of a vet that is good with tiny kittens in case you need to see one again.  You are doing a terrific job taking care of the little guy.  Ask questions as they come up.

Well, she sounds good other than possibly needing clavamox for an upper respiratory infection and terramycin for an eye infection.

What are your plans to get her proper treatment?

If you can even get a weight at a local vet, so we know where to start with feeding her the correct amts that would be very helpful.

The thing is, all of your efforts can easily go down the drain in another week or two if she is not gaining the appropriate amt of weight every single day, it will always catch up and cause her to turn and head downhill, which is often times too late to change once it happens.

Babies are growing at an incredible speed at this age, the fastest they will ever grow, along with the growth is development, her organs are strengthening, her brain functions, all her muscles are maturing, etc. 

So for example, if she is only gaining 3 grams a day, it's not going to be enough, it will take maybe a week, or 2 or more weeks, but it WILL catch up to her at some point, so it's critical to work on getting a scale somehow.

I'm almost tempted to say take her with you to a grocery store to the produce section! Anyplace where you can tell us her weight as of right now, so you can be instructed on the right amt she must be fed a day for proper development.

For every ounce she weighs, she needs 8 mls of formula per day.

So if she weighs 5 ounces now, then she needs 40 mls fed per day. Every day she must gain weight, best is more than 8-10 grams per day, the bare minimum is 6 grams every single day, then you will know she is feeding the right amt.

On tummy is correct, the nipple hole should be no bigger than when filled with milk, turned upside down you will see a drop form right away but it will not drip out unless shook.

Just a side note here.  Have been reading everyone's posts here and just wanted to say, to all of you, thank you for helping Buttery Cat out.  Such good advice from such good people.