2 week old kittens! general health advise please

Morning/afternoon guys, I have recently taken on a cat who had 5 kittens two weeks ago. As beautiful as they are I have a couple of concerns. One of the kittens' eye is stuck together (the outer corner).. another has crust by its nose, also it's tummy looks bloated. I think I may of also seen the odd sneaky flea! I know it sounds alot like a trip to the vets but I just wondered of any home remedies or any signs that distinguish it's severity not sure my bank balance could survive a bash from a 5 kitty trip to the vets. Thanks in advance!

The kittens do need to go to a vet. It sounds as though they have upper respiratory infections and likely worms. For the eyes, use a warm, damp cloth to remove the gunk as often as needed. This will help to keep the eye open until you can get ointment from the vet. Never try to force the eye open, but hold the damp cloth over the eye until the gunk loosens, then wipe.

Do you think they are having trouble breathing because they are congested? If so, you can hold them in a steamy bathroom.

For fleas, mom can be treated which should help the kittens. You can also comb them daily with a flea comb, dipping the comb into water and dish soap, and clean their linens daily. Fleas can be catastrophic for young kittens.

As mentioned, a steamy bathroom for congestion, and a warm, damp cloth to gently loosen the crud from the eyes.

Mom can be treated with a tube of Advantage over the counter. The vet should not charge you for each 2-week-old kitten, but does need to give you meds for all of them, including antibiotics for the URI's and worm meds for mom and kittens. My vet treats a litter of small kittens as one cat. It should be an office visit and meds - nothing more right now. They do need a vet though. None of this will go away otherwise.

Let us know how it goes. Thank you for caring for this cat and her kittens! [emoji]128522[/emoji]

Great advise thankyou guys to one kitten opens its mouth and sort of pants making a rough kind of sound when it's mouth is closed there's no noise. I have a flea comb so I'll get to work on that and see about booking them into the vets. Would you suggest keeping the mom around or separating them while I do the combing and steam room? Thankyou again

The kitten who is panting with his mouth open needs a vet right away. That's probably a URI. The vet's office may be able to give you a payment plan, but you need to go right away with this one.

They do not need to be separated to be flea combed. At this point I'm more concerned about the URI's than the fleas.

Get the kitten to the vet as soon as you can.  Put a heating source in the carrier so he can stay warm.  Kittens cannot regulate their body temp until they're 3 weeks old.

The longer you wait, the worse he will get and the more it will cost in vet bills.

So I rang the vets first thing - 10 minute consultation at a charge of £30 per kitten before any treatment costs etc not willing to set me up a payment plan! Even though I have my other cats registered with them already [emoji]128546[/emoji] thankfully a vet friend is free this evening and is going to pop round and check them over for us and advise us from there the last thing I want is for them to suffer but money currently isn't my saving grace! Will keep you updated

They really need medication. I hope you can figure something out.

Yes, I hope your vet friend can provide meds. I'm shocked at that per kitten charge. I think that vet is taking you for a ride! Perhaps you should call another vet just to compare prices. Even with shots, my vet (US) only charges for the shots - no per kitten office fee.

Please let us know what your vet friend says.

Hello again luckily the kitten with the stuck eye is now doing a lot better eyes wide open (thinks it was caused by possibly another kittens nail while feeding) the kitty with the "bloated" tummy just happens to be a little fatty (THANK GOD) all received flea treatment suitable for their age/weight. Will be attending a different vet office the beginning of next month [emoji]128522[/emoji]

This is good news! So no one has a URI?

My friend thinks not..she thinks the mom's chose a small dusty place to nest (so when they were being checked over I had the vac on and under there the best I could! Lol) that may be causing the odd sneeze but otherwise all putting weigh on, all feeding and in the last couple of days all up and about following their mom around [emoji]128522[/emoji]

Well, that's good news indeed! I'm so glad you got to the bottom of it, and your vet friend checked them out. [emoji]128522[/emoji]

what a cutie

Thought I'd share these pictures with you all to let you know all the kittens and doing great [emoji]128515[/emoji] x