Weaning question/possible URI

Sarthur2

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E emmaleesmith90

You cannot leave a kitten alone for nine hours who has only been eating gruel for one day. The kitten needs to stay with your mom until he's eating dry kitten chow and wet food quite well, which is probably 1-2 more weeks.

Is there a room at your mom's where he can stay without the other cats around until he learns to eat better? Can you get a child's playpen for him so he has more room to play but cannot get out within that separate room?

When you do begin leaving him home alone, you'll need to leave dry kitten chow down, water, and one wet meal that he can eat while you are at work.

Please leave him with your mom for at least another week to ten days at least.
 
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emmaleesmith90

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I never thought about a play pen. I'm pretty broke at the moment but I will look into that. And there is, but when he's not there the other cats are always laying in that room. So if he gets out of his container and walks around on the floor, even if the other cats aren't in the room could he get sick? Since they are always hanging out in there. It's only the weekends that are a problem. My boyfriend has weekdays off to take care of him.
 
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emmaleesmith90

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Also when can we stop his midnight and 4am feedings? We haven't slept right in over a month and it's catching up to us lol.
 

Sarthur2

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Especially since it's only on the weekend, he needs to stay for a couple more weekends.

Are your mom's cats healthy? Do they go outside? Do they have fleas?

You can stretch the night feeding now to 6am instead of 4am. Then continue with 10, 2, 6, 10, and 6!

So he is fed every 4 hours except at night, so you can sleep. But, leave dry kitten chow down and a dish of mushy wet food. Let's see how he does at night. If he cries and wakes you up he's not quite ready.

Hang in there, and let me know how he does. He's getting there!
 
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emmaleesmith90

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They're all healthy, but one has bloody poop sometimes. The vet said he thinks it's from her hernia. But yes, they have fleas. I think they got them flea medicine recently, but I don't know how much good it's done. They all are inside cats. They also have 7 dogs that kill cats if they get outside, but they're fine with them if they're inside. It's weird. But he has gone almost 24 hours without peeling, so I'm worried he is getting dehydrated because he's not on an all liquid diet now. I'm going to introduce him to water today when I get home. He accidentally dunked his head in a bowl of water I forgot on the floor yesterday but he tried going back for more, so maybe he is ready for it.
 
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Sarthur2

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If he has not peed in 24 hours he is dehydrated. This is a red alert!

He needs to be given as much KMR as he will take immediately, and every hour until he is peeing. It can be mixed with clear pedialyte instead of water.

You cannot make him drink water from a bowl anymore than you can make him eat solids until he is developmentally ready. It does not sound like he is ready.

The cat with bloody poop needs an antibiotic for possible bacterial infection.

If your kitten has fleas he needs treatment immediately. Fleas can quickly cause anemia in small kittens.
 
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emmaleesmith90

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We give him the already mixed formula in a can. But he has peed a little bit earlier. He wouldn't pee on his own so my boyfriend stimulated him to see if he could go and he said he only peed a few squirts. But he went to check on him about an hour ago and said it looks like he peed a little in his litter box. I will give him KMR with some pedialyte mixed in when I get home instead of gruel.
 
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emmaleesmith90

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He is acting okay though, he said he is very playful today.
 
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emmaleesmith90

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And I saw one crawl on his belly, I tried to get it but it was too fast. So I looked all through his fur and I didn't see any or any flea dirt.
 
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emmaleesmith90

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Okay I guess he peed last night at 8. I thought it was earlier than that. So it hasn't been 24 hours. More like 16. But that's still a long time, I think? I'll make his gruel a lot thinner until he is drinking water. How often should he be peeping now that he's not on an all liquid diet?
 

Sarthur2

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There is no set amount of pee. He should be getting enough fluids that his pee is clear, not dark. Dark means it is very concentrated, which means dehydration. In my experience, kittens his age pee frequently.

Will he lap a dish of formula?
 
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emmaleesmith90

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Well I gave him a bit in a dish earlier and he dipped his nose in so I pulled him away from it. But he eats his gruel okay out of a dish. So I don't get why he can't lap up his formula. He's pooping a lot. A few times a day. But his last poop was pretty firm, with some diarrhea. Why would that be? When he was on straight formula he peed a lot, but now he's got more of a solid diet so I know he won't pee as much, but I don't think he is peeing enough. I stuck my finger in his mouth and it felt damp, but not real wet.
 
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talkingpeanut

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Sarthur2 Sarthur2 do you think dipping his nose in it is necessarily a problem? Kittens get really messy! I think he's learning and I'm not sure he's getting enough to eat as is.
 

Sarthur2

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I think if you leave the dish of formula down he will learn to lap it on his own in time. If he dips his nose in it he is just figuring it out. He'll use his tongue soon enough.

However, if he is dehydrated, give him his formula in a bottle for now after he eats his gruel. He's in a transition phase now that could last a couple weeks, but he does not need to dehydrate.
 
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emmaleesmith90

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He is definitely getting enough to eat. He is 20oz now, since he was 19-something ounces last night. He gained something like 34grams yesterday, so that's pretty good. But I will give him some formula/pedialyte mixture in his "bottle" inbetween feedings. I don't think he is quite ready to lap out of a bowl because he makes himself sneeze when he does stick his nose in it.
 

talkingpeanut

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Sneezing is part of the learning process though, and he's never going to do it perfectly until he messes up for a few tries. Sneezing is good because it's clearing it out of his sinuses, not letting it into his lungs. Catwoman's post #3 in this thread explains this as well.

He may be gaining, but the way he is scarfing his food makes me think he may still be too hungry between meals.
 
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Sarthur2

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His weight is excellent for his age. He will benefit from the additional fluids you give him while he is weaning.
 
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emmaleesmith90

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Well my boyfriend thinks pedialyte may be the reason he had diarrhea before, so we are only giving formula between feedings. But I think that will be just fine.
Talkingpeanut, he never cries between meals and he is gaining a lot of weight, so I really think he is getting enough. But the formula between meals will probably hold him off better.
Thank you guys so much for all of the advice. I have raised baby squirrels, but this is my first time orphaning a kitten, so I have lots of questions all the time lol. They're much harder to take care of than squirrels!!!
 
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emmaleesmith90

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He now has diarrhea. :( And he was panting for a few seconds earlier. It was pretty warm in our room. Is that something to worry about? He is otherwise pretty active still. He wants to play and he ate great. I've been putting drops of formula on a plate, in between meals, and he's licking it up alright.
 
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