3 orphan kittens need help with feeding.

halfamill

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My neighbor's cat passed away and left three 4 day old kittens. Now it has been 60 hours that they have been with me. During the first 30 hours I was feeding them 1ml of nido every 3 hours. I am currently abroad and there are virtually no vets on this island in central america. Kitten replacement milk is very tough to find in this country. Now I'm feeding them 3ml of a kitten glop formula that I found on the web that consists of evaporated milk, mayonnaise, plain yogurt, and water every 3 hours. The original ingredient also included knox gelatin but that won't be found on this island. I also saw other ingredients online that had goat milk and karo syrup both those can't be found here either. I'm wondering if those 4 ingredients are good enough for survival until I can get them a kitten replacement formula on Monday night?

Also only one of them has pooped yesterday but hasn't pooped since. Their stomachs are a bit hard. Should I keep feeding them or should I try to keep stimulating them before i feed them? I tried the 3 finger method but it hasn't worked.

Other things to note are that the temperature here is in the 90s as we are approaching the hottest month of the year here in central america. I've been leaving a warm bottle wrapped with a towel at night.
 

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The glop should be good enough until the KMR arrives.    You can add some olive oil and/ or water down the glop to help them poop.  The glop should also be warmed before feeding the kittens.  the kittens cannot digest cold food.

Others should be along soon with more/better advice.

Have you read this article?
[article="0"]Hand Rearing Kittens  [/article]
Thank you for taking care of these kittens.  Keep using this thread for any questions.
 

StefanZ

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My neighbor's cat passed away and left three 4 day old kittens. Now it has been 60 hours that they have been with me. During the first 30 hours I was feeding them 1ml of nido every 3 hours. I am currently abroad and there are virtually no vets on this island in central america. Kitten replacement milk is very tough to find in this country. Now I'm feeding them 3ml of a kitten glop formula that I found on the web that consists of evaporated milk, mayonnaise, plain yogurt, and water every 3 hours. The original ingredient also included knox gelatin but that won't be found on this island. I also saw other ingredients online that had goat milk and karo syrup both those can't be found here either. I'm wondering if those 4 ingredients are good enough for survival until I can get them a kitten replacement formula on Monday night?

Also only one of them has pooped yesterday but hasn't pooped since. Their stomachs are a bit hard. Should I keep feeding them or should I try to keep stimulating them before i feed them? I tried the 3 finger method but it hasn't worked.

Other things to note are that the temperature here is in the 90s as we are approaching the hottest month of the year here in central america. I've been leaving a warm bottle wrapped with a towel at night.
No goat milk at all? not even powdered or canned?  If you manage to get goat milk, you can go for it the whole way "all thirteen yards", not bothering about the glop.  Instead of Caro syrup you can use anything containing glucose sugar.  If you cant get glucose sugar proper you can also have a water solution of honey.   Better to have normal honey than fluid honey.   fluid honey contains more of fructose, which isnt as good.

A little of that honey is enough.  That gelatin ingredient is really not necessary, its just for giving better consistence.

But as said, they will prob survive a few day on the glop as its now.  Instead of majonnais you can add raw egg yolk - if you dont have problems with salomonella in eggs there, that is.

There is a parallell thread with somewaht similiar situation, including constipation problems.  And there are lotsa of advices on constipation.

Im back in a minute. with the link.

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/316267/...-i-need-a-lot-of-help-with-5-orphaned-kittens

Please come back with reports, and further questions.  We are several different people here whom are eager to help.  Its almost always someone around.
 
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halfamill

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Thanks for the information guys. So here's a timeline of the events so far. No goat milk here of any kind.

Sunday the 12th - Kittens are born.

Thursday the 17th - Mother is found dead in the morning, kittens were taken under my care before noon.

                                    Last  solid poop occurred for 1 of them, water poop for 2 of them. Was fed 1ml of Nito every 3 hours.

Friday the 18th - The glop recipe was made at around 9pm was fed 1ml.

Saturday the 19th - Became more informed on feeding quantity and started being fed 3ml every 3 hours since 3pm.

So far they urinate with no problems. Perhaps they haven't passed bowels yet because they haven't been fed enough until recently?
 

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It's quite possible. With a few drops of olive or vegetable oil added, and stimulation, they should go soon. You can hold the kittens' bottoms under warm running water and tap gently on the rear to stimulate. This sometimes helps. They may also have gas since they've switched from mom's milk to glop. You can also add an egg yolk to your glop. Tiny kittens will not poop at every single meal.

Also, do you have a heat source, such as a hot water bottle or sock filled with raw rice and microwaved for 5 minutes? Or a heating pad set on low under the blanket?

Do they appear to have grown at all? Are any of their eyes beginning to open?

Do you have a scale to weigh them daily? Each kitten needs 8 mL's of formula for every ounce of weight in a 24-hour period. So if it weighs 5 ounces, for instance, the kitten will need 40 mL's of formula, divided by say 8 feedings 3 hours apart (3x8=24 hours), which means 5 mL's of glop each every 3 hours. This amount is adjusted upwards as they grow. More is always better. You want the kittens to gain 6-10 grams daily each, or about 1/2 ounce minimum.

It sounds as though you are doing a great job!
 
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haleyds

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When I had my baby rescue a while back, I used a soft warm rag, and gently rubbed her bum to get her to go. I hope everything turns out okay!
 

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It's quite possible. With a few drops of olive or vegetable oil added, and stimulation, they should go soon. You can hold the kittens' bottoms under warm running water and tap gently on the rear to stimulate. This sometimes helps. They may also have gas since they've switched from mom's milk to glop. You can also add an egg yolk to your glop. Tiny kittens will not poop at every single meal.

Also, do you have a heat source, such as a hot water bottle or sock filled with raw rice and microwaved for 5 minutes? Or a heating pad set on low under the blanket?

Do they appear to have grown at all? Are any of their eyes beginning to open?

Do you have a scale to weigh them daily? Each kitten needs 8 mL's of formula for every ounce of weight in a 24-hour period. So if it weighs 5 ounces, for instance, the kitten will need 40 mL's of formula, divided by say 8 feedings 3 hours apart (3x8=24 hours), which means 5 mL's of glop each every 3 hours. This amount is adjusted upwards as they grow. More is always better. You want the kittens to gain 6-10 grams daily each, or about 1/2 ounce minimum.

It sounds as though you are doing a great job!
This is an effective trick.   also, no risk of skin irritation because of this eager rubbing.  The drawback?  You must be very careful they dont get chilled out. Ie no draught, , dry them off.  nice good temp both during and afterwards.  But you ARE in a warm place, so there is no real danger of being chilled out. Just awoid draught and have a warming source if the want extra warmth..

If you dont have access to running warm water, you can submerge their rear end including tummy, in warm water...  It makes them  relax - and pooing follows soon enough.
 
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halfamill

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It's quite possible. With a few drops of olive or vegetable oil added, and stimulation, they should go soon. You can hold the kittens' bottoms under warm running water and tap gently on the rear to stimulate. This sometimes helps. They may also have gas since they've switched from mom's milk to glop. You can also add an egg yolk to your glop. Tiny kittens will not poop at every single meal.

Also, do you have a heat source, such as a hot water bottle or sock filled with raw rice and microwaved for 5 minutes? Or a heating pad set on low under the blanket?

Do they appear to have grown at all? Are any of their eyes beginning to open?

Do you have a scale to weigh them daily? Each kitten needs 8 mL's of formula for every ounce of weight in a 24-hour period. So if it weighs 5 ounces, for instance, the kitten will need 40 mL's of formula, divided by say 8 feedings 3 hours apart (3x8=24 hours), which means 5 mL's of glop each every 3 hours. This amount is adjusted upwards as they grow. More is always better. You want the kittens to gain 6-10 grams daily each, or about 1/2 ounce minimum.

It sounds as though you are doing a great job!
Thanks tried the olive oil and it worked for 2 of them. The other still hasn't pooped since it was adopted on thursday. I tried the warm water and it hasn't worked yet.  Yes I replace a warm bottle about 3 times a day. One of them opened their eyes yesterday. 2 of them weight 5 ounces and the other 4 ounces.
 
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halfamill

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Alright so here is an update so far.

* I gave the 3 kittens olive oil 2 days ago and two of them were able to poop. The other hasn't pooped since Thursday. Tried olive oil about 3 times, the   3 finger method, and warm warm once and nothing works. Perhaps I wasn't feeding it enough?

* Woke up yesterday at 3am to take a 15 hour round trip which consisted of 2 buses and a ferry back and forth to the only place I found that sold the      KMR. Only purchased 2 of them since they were all I could afford at $30 each right now. Also purchased the feeding bottle from the same brand.

* One of them opened their eyes yesteday. Poop was mushy not very solid.

* Used a flea comb to remove 2-3 fleas from each one two days ago. Plan to use it a second time.

* Switched their feeding amount last night from 3ml to 5ml.

* Finally weighed them today. Cat #1 that hasn't pooped yet weighs 5 ounces 

                                                      Cat #2 which opened his eyes weighs 5 ounces

                                                      Cat #3 weighs 4 ounces
 

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Fleas are bad.  they can kill these tiny kittens if they take too much blood.  You really need to stay on top of this. 

Can you gradually switch them from the glop to the KMR.  Be prepared for some diarrhea due to the food change.  KMR can also cause constipation.  You can water it down, add pedialyte or olive oil to it if that happens.
 

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I would not dilute the KMR. Just add a few drops of olive oil to it instead. As for the one who hasn't pooped, you'll need to get glycerin suppositories at a pharmacy and shave a tiny piece off, and insert it. Hopefully it will produce a poop after it dissolves.

You're doing a superb job! [emoji]128522[/emoji]
 
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halfamill

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I used to flea comb again and found no fleas this time. I added a couple of drops of olive oil to the bottle and 2 of them pooped with easy but was very mushy. The one who hasn't before finally did after a mixture of the olive oil and using the triangle method again and it was solid. My new concern is that ever since I've been feeding them KMR they have been urinating a bit more and it's completely clear. Are they over hydrated? Thanks for the support guys.
 

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No, they are not over hydrated. They will urinate clear or a pale color. And kitten poop should be toothpaste-like consistency until they are eating solids. All sounds well!
 
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halfamill

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Thanks for helping me get this far guys. The 3 kittens will be 3 weeks old this Sunday.

I've been feeding them every 4 hours since they turned 2 weeks old. I'm a bit conflicted in regards to how often I should feed them. Some orphan kitten PDF files state that I should feed them 3 times a day at 3 weeks old. The KMR container states that I should feed young kittens every 3-4 hours and older kittens would be fine with 3 times a day. What do they consider older kittens? Other websites state that I should feed kittens under 4 weeks old every 3 hours. It it alright if I start feeding them every 6 hours?

On another note 2 of the kittens pooped fine 2 days on a row for the past 2 days. The third hasn't done anything for several days and has only went twice in 2 weeks. I have tried the triangle method several times, olive oil, submerging the bottom on warm water. I' will have to try the glycerin option later tonight if nothing occurs. 
 

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I agree, take it every 3-4 hours.  More often if they are in crisis, but this if they are OK.    Also the little older kittens should have these interwalls.  Look, if you get home a bought kitten of 12 weeks, it will want to eat almost the whole time.  And when he has eaten his own portion, it will also eat up his dads portion, no?

So dont spare on food on the kittens of 4-5 weeks either.  They need the nourishment, growing and later on also playing a lot.

There are some whom gives longer intervalls, but I suppose its for those whom cant or dont care to give often enough.  So for example, if you workk the whole day or even run between different jobs, you must do what you can do.  Ie give them three times a day...
 

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Yes, continue feeding every 3-4 hours. They need it. Also, the kitten who hasn't pooped needs the glycerin suppository. It's not normal not to poop regularly. Do you find poop in the nest at all?
 
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halfamill

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Hey guys thanks again for all the help with the kittens. Yesterday they turned 6 weeks old. They all fully use the litter boxes and eat solid food. I still feed them KMR on a dish as a treat once or twice a day. They are very active and playful. My new concern is the fair on their scalp is starting to thin out and they are balding on that area. Anyone have an idea on what I can do in regards to that issue?
 
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