Stray kitten stuck. Help?

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Sarthur2

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Do you know by the mL markings on the syringe about how much the kitten is eating? How often are you feeding? Can you get the PetAg formula soon?

I'm guessing the kitten needs about 80-100 mLs each 24 hours. That would be 10-12 mLs at each feeding every 3 hours. More if it wants it.
 
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lulululu

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Bravo! 

The rule of rehabbing babies is NEVER feed a cold baby. ALWAYS hydrate befor feeding. Those two things can be the difference between life and death. To see if the baby is dehydrated, lift a (gentle) pinch of skin on his back and let go. it should slide right back into place, If it is slow or sticks, the baby is badly dehydrated. 

You can buy kitten replacement milk in most grocery stores - usually they put it on the top shelf. The only other milk that is good for cats is goatmilk. Goat milk can be fed short term to any mammal. You can find it in nearly any grocery store too. Don't water either one down.

The fat content in the milk of different animals varies widely. Too much or too little can make them very sick. Kittens will do okay on cows for a day or so, but not for any length of time. 

I use syringes rather than bottles, but you have to be very careful not to let any go in their lungs. you can pM me and I will give you my phone number and walk you thorugh it. I have hand raised birds, squirrels, kittens, wild bunnies with success. 

Good luck! 
 

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I am looking for a young red kitten, and actually hoped to run across one that needs bottle feeding. . Do you need a home for him? I have a lot of experience with bottle feeding, and I live in Atlanta and Asheville - probably not too far from you to either come get him or meet you. If a sibling surfaces, we'd love him too. 

details: 

We recently lost Babymilk,  the cat in my avatar. I bottle fed him ( hence his name - the only thing he'd ever answer to!) He was a the only one of 14 cats to survive  from a severe abuse situation, He was not much older than your little guy, and in bad shape when I got him.   He was 9 when he died very suddenly of a heart attack in June. Heartbroken doesn't describe it. We are torn apart - not just my people family, but even more so, our remaining two cats, who also came from abuse cases and were already trying to recover from the loss of  our 16 year old (to kidney disease) in May.

Our remaining two cats have been depressed since the loss of their two friends, and worse - they have become fearful, because they heard Babymilk scream when he had his heart attack.Because my son ran to help him, one of our cats thinks he hurt him amd has become fearful and started hiding. The other one has chewed her fur off her stomach.  I took her to the vet yesterday for this reason and discussed getting another kitten with her. The vet was enthusiastic about this idea.  I would be glad to give you her contact as a reference.

Gray Poupon ( the gray cat in the photo and the one who is hiding)   LOVES all other cats and is very affectionate and gentle. He is 9 and has never bitten or scratched for any reason. .During the years I spent rehabbing and fostering babies, he was thrilled by every new addition. Lulu, our other, is 7 and would likely not accept an older cat, but would be a great mama to a baby. It is important for babies who lose their mamas to live with other cats who can teach them the ways of a cat.  

Why red? I never again want a cat I can't easily find if something happens and it hides. That may seem silly, but I have spent the last month searching every nook and cranny for Gray  Poupon twice a day, to give him his thyroid medication. And, we miss having a red cat around the house. . 

My family consists of me, my husband and our two college student children. Both my children have had pets all their life and are great with both babies and high need older cats. We live in two houses and while my cats are indoors only, they have lots of romping room. One of our houses has a veranda that is covered with bird and squirrel feeders. 
Thanks for considering us!
 

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Oh - forgot - we also have an amazon parrot. I've had him 30 years, since he was a chick. He finds cats highly amusing and cats soon figure out he is family and not prey. 
 

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@Jessi L

Part 2:

For now, the kitten needs feeding every 2 hours, particularly now since its been starving for so long.

Do you have a kitchen scale to weigh it?

It also needs to stay warm. Do you have a heating pad? If so, put it under a blanket on low. If not, fill a bottle with hot water and wrap it in a towel and place it near the kitten. Or a sock filled with dry rice and microwaved for 5 minutes. It keeps warm for 3-4 hours. Kittens need warmth!

The kitten will need kitten formula. You can get a can of powdered PetAg kitten formula at Walmart for about $10. You will need to begin feeding this. When I know the age and/or weight of the kitten I can tell you exactly how much to feed.

Baby looks between 2-3 weeks old. Much too young to be away from its mama!

Thank you for saving it!
Sarthur2 - you have lots of great advice - you must have done this a time or three yourself! I have a couple of  things I do differently - please don't take this as criticism of your ways, because they are not - just things I found worked better for me. 

Whenever possible, I try to buy ready mixed because that darned powdered stuff is difficult to mix without clumping and clogging the syringe. Then there is a tendency to force it through the syringe and that can aspirate the kitten - that is a concern that makes many rehabbers either only use bottles or only use liquid. I also find it tends to seperate when heating and is less reliable nutritionally for that reason. I have tried various methods of mixing without success ( common problem discussed on rehabbing boards) But, the liquid can become expensive if you are only feeding one baby because it gets old fast. So, what I do is buy the liquid and divide it into small containers. I freeze anything I am not going to use in 2 days. Because you can;t microwave it (that reduces nutrients) you have to remember to pull the next one out to thaw in the fridge when you finish one. 

BTW, never hear in a microwave - heat water and sit a bottle in it. Test it with either a termometor or on your wrist ( like your grandmother did). it should be the exact same temperature as your wrist, so you should not be able to feel it. You'e lucky - your little guy seems to be an eager eater. The sickly ones are hard to feed while the milk is still warm. 

I never go by the weight of the animal. I know most rehabbers do, and swear by it, but I have never had the problems they report, so continue as I began  If I had a pinky of some smaller species I  would weigh, but I;ve never had anyhting smaller than a week old rabbitnewborn kitten sized animal. .  Weighing requires expensive equipment (standard kitchen scales are unreliable) and when I began I could find neither that equipment nor a rehabber to take it (a squirrel) to. So, I learned a different method.  Pay close attention when feeding ( you probably already are) and watch for signs he is filling up. His belly should be rounded but not hard to press on.  Notice when he starts to slow down, and stop for a moment and then see if he is still hungry. Some babies will over eat, but in my experience those have been chronically food deprived (like they had a sick mother).Kittens don't always get  a full belly with every feeding, especially when they have to compete with others, and you will get the sense of what is just right within a couple feedings.You can also add a feeding til you and Kitty get the hang of it.
 

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Sarthur2 - you have lots of great advice - you must have done this a time or three yourself! I have a couple of  things I do differently - please don't take this as criticism of your ways, because they are not - just things I found worked better for me. 

Whenever possible, I try to buy ready mixed because that darned powdered stuff is difficult to mix without clumping and clogging the syringe. Then there is a tendency to force it through the syringe and that can aspirate the kitten - that is a concern that makes many rehabbers either only use bottles or only use liquid. I also find it tends to seperate when heating and is less reliable nutritionally for that reason. I have tried various methods of mixing without success ( common problem discussed on rehabbing boards) But, the liquid can become expensive if you are only feeding one baby because it gets old fast. So, what I do is buy the liquid and divide it into small containers. I freeze anything I am not going to use in 2 days. Because you can;t microwave it (that reduces nutrients) you have to remember to pull the next one out to thaw in the fridge when you finish one. 

BTW, never hear in a microwave - heat water and sit a bottle in it. Test it with either a termometor or on your wrist ( like your grandmother did). it should be the exact same temperature as your wrist, so you should not be able to feel it. You'e lucky - your little guy seems to be an eager eater. The sickly ones are hard to feed while the milk is still warm. 

I never go by the weight of the animal. I know most rehabbers do, and swear by it, but I have never had the problems they report, so continue as I began  If I had a pinky of some smaller species I  would weigh, but I;ve never had anyhting smaller than a week old rabbitnewborn kitten sized animal. .  Weighing requires expensive equipment (standard kitchen scales are unreliable) and when I began I could find neither that equipment nor a rehabber to take it (a squirrel) to. So, I learned a different method.  Pay close attention when feeding ( you probably already are) and watch for signs he is filling up. His belly should be rounded but not hard to press on.  Notice when he starts to slow down, and stop for a moment and then see if he is still hungry. Some babies will over eat, but in my experience those have been chronically food deprived (like they had a sick mother).Kittens don't always get  a full belly with every feeding, especially when they have to compete with others, and you will get the sense of what is just right within a couple feedings.You can also add a feeding til you and Kitty get the hang of it.
I will give some comments - in part because we whom are here the whole time we do learn from each others, and thus, what we tell, is in partly our own experiences, but in much part of the lore we got and share together...

Re the discussion powdered or premixed -  many of them whom use powdered KMR feels its more reliable than the premade liquid KMR.  Similiar reports were on some other brands too.

But if you or somebody else have problems with powder - an alternative is goats milk.  Its liquid (unless you use powdered goats milk) - and usually works OK / fine / excellent....

And of couse - if you are happy with the premade liquid, and it works fine for you - fine, proceed with it. Nobody of us said premade KMR is poisoning - its just not so reliable BM-wise...

Re going by weight.  Or getting advices per body weight.  YOu do have in much right - many experienced rescuers dont hardly do any weight, they see by eyes and hand if the kitten is gaining...  And they play it by the tune with excellent results, alike most experienced housewifes and cooks, no?

But most of our forumites arent nowhere in there.  And that is why this is so important to hammer in the need of weighting and of ml / oz...

ONE example: we had a tragic case: forumist, with momma and kitten.  Kitten nursed, but forumist wasnt entirely sure how much.  So she supplemented, eagerly supported and encouraged by several forumists and advisors.  Time went, but although the forumist was supplementing every two hours round the clock, AND the kitten nursed,  the kittens wasnt improving.

So she happened to publish a pic, as forumists often do.   A quite peculiar pic come out.  After some analysis I recognized - this was a pic of a severly starved kitten, barely skin and bones...    After a while it become clear: the "supplementing" was 1ml at a time.  What was perhaps ok in the starting point, was never increased not even now 10 weeks later... The kitten literally starved to death.  The turn come too late, and yes, the kitten died  a couple of days later...

So, use the scale AND the rule of thumbs of 8ml /oz a day, if you dont have  better opinions...

I agree the kmr / goats milk shall be warmed in a water bath, not in microwave - same rule as for babies.

IF you do it in micro, be at least sure you shake the containes wigorously afterwards, so the warmth is evenly spread.  

Memory.  One of our forumites kittens was burned in the mouth - it was probably a case of micro-heating its kmr by a visiting cat-sitter.

So it wasnt negligence or carelessness, but unsuitable heating source...
 

lulululu

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I will give some comments - in part because we whom are here the whole time we do learn from each others, and thus, what we tell, is in partly our own experiences, but in much part of the lore we got and share together...

Re the discussion powdered or premixed -  many of them whom use powdered KMR feels its more reliable than the premade liquid KMR.  Similiar reports were on some other brands too.

But if you or somebody else have problems with powder - an alternative is goats milk.  Its liquid (unless you use powdered goats milk) - and usually works OK / fine / excellent....

And of couse - if you are happy with the premade liquid, and it works fine for you - fine, proceed with it. Nobody of us said premade KMR is poisoning - its just not so reliable BM-wise...

Re going by weight.  Or getting advices per body weight.  YOu do have in much right - many experienced rescuers dont hardly do any weight, they see by eyes and hand if the kitten is gaining...  And they play it by the tune with excellent results, alike most experienced housewifes and cooks, no?

But most of our forumites arent nowhere in there.  And that is why this is so important to hammer in the need of weighting and of ml / oz...

ONE example: we had a tragic case: forumist, with momma and kitten.  Kitten nursed, but forumist wasnt entirely sure how much.  So she supplemented, eagerly supported and encouraged by several forumists and advisors.  Time went, but although the forumist was supplementing every two hours round the clock, AND the kitten nursed,  the kittens wasnt improving.

So she happened to publish a pic, as forumists often do.   A quite peculiar pic come out.  After some analysis I recognized - this was a pic of a severly starved kitten, barely skin and bones...    After a while it become clear: the "supplementing" was 1ml at a time.  What was perhaps ok in the starting point, was never increased not even now 10 weeks later... The kitten literally starved to death.  The turn come too late, and yes, the kitten died  a couple of days later...

So, use the scale AND the rule of thumbs of 8ml /oz a day, if you dont have  better opinions...

I agree the kmr / goats milk shall be warmed in a water bath, not in microwave - same rule as for babies.

IF you do it in micro, be at least sure you shake the containes wigorously afterwards, so the warmth is evenly spread.  

Memory.  One of our forumites kittens was burned in the mouth - it was probably a case of micro-heating its kmr by a visiting cat-sitter.

So it wasnt negligence or carelessness, but unsuitable heating source...
All very good points. Especially the one about us learning from each other. Anyone who has bottle fed or treated injuries/illnesses knows there is always room for improvement and there will always be that case that is tricker than all he rest, or just different. 

First off, I picked up Jessi's kitten yesterday - more on that later, but that is wy I am just now responding ( we were both on the road all day making this happen!)  I quickly read your comments before leaving and tossed our good kitchen scale in with my other rescue stuff when I headed off. I did so because of the statement I just made - there are always cases that are tricker than others, and it's just best to be prepared for whatever may come. I also picked up pedialyte along with KMR and a bottle and nipples even though I expected to use a syringe. My squirrel nipples fits on a syringe, which makes it ideal but so far as I know they don't make them for kittens. Ended up VERY glad I brought the pedialyte, because he was badly dehydrated,but he took it well (with a syringe).  

I also took your advice and bought a can of dry KMR as well as the one of wet I knew I'd use before we got home. I'm willing to give it another try, if others are having success ( it's been 9 years since I had a baby and I know products change) I bought farm fresh goat's milk just last week, and portioned it and froze it for one of  my other cats who is so distressed - said to help tummy troubles. Of course she rejected it, so now I have a half gallon of it ready to go for this hungry little bugger. 

More later - somebody's hungry!
 

Sarthur2

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jessi l jessi l

Were you able to get powdered KMR? How is the kitten doing? Is it eating and pooping and peeing well?
 

Sarthur2

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lulululu lulululu

Ah! No wonder I am confused and having difficulty following this. Ownership has changed.

How is Jessi L's kitten doing?

Can we get an update please?
 
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lulululu

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Spoiling Little Nemo as best I can - swaddled in a cashmere blankie and lying in the blanket my daughter was sent home from the hospital in. I LOVE holey cashmere sweaters for babies. Nemo, fresh from yet another bath, does too. He loves his baths, and getting a tummy rub WHILE taking a bath is Nemo nirvana. Puuuuuuurrrrrrrr
 
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lulululu

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Well, Little Nemo is keeping us hopping, so it may be difficult to do many updates in the next few days, but I will try! I'm also going to try to start a blog for him. 

Jessi lives in Tennessee and I live in both Georgia and North Carolina. As fate woudl have it, we were both going to be in NC on Saturday - just 2 hours apart, so we met up and I brought him home. I've done pass offs before,and sometimes they are upsetting, if the other party doesn't quite grasp that it is a living being. That was NOT the case with Jessi or her daughter! Clearly they cared a lot and were relieved to know he will be a wanted forever baby, which he definately will. Nemo had some issues, but they were due to his extended time out and some inexperience rather than lack of care. 

Nemo had had a significant ordeal for his age - which I believe to be 9 days today - so he was only 7 days old when found, and had been out for several hours when Jessi was finally able to get to him.  He was pretty dehydrated when we met up.  I do not think he'd have had a ghost of a chance if Jessi had not made the efforts she did. I gave him pedialyte right away, and he took quite a bit ( did not - and could not measure as much went down his front, but I knew I'd gotten a fair bit in him, and did so again an hour later. At that pointI was pretty concerned about him. He was fairly strong when I met him, but became lethargic and seemed weaker as time went along. Degysration can take an animal down quickly, and I just hoped it woudl nto be too late. 

And then, an hour and a half after we parted, he woke up from a nap, loud, angry and ravenous! I had taken a thermos of hot water, and a cup, so I didn't even ask my husband to pull over I just heated a bottle and fed him right there, with my husband driving. He has woken up screaming every two hours ever since - almost to the minute, except this morning, when he went 3 and a half. I spent that time making him 18 baby blankets - he's already produced a full load of laundry. He has been poopiing and peeing just fine, but his urine was very yellow until today ( still yellow, but not like when they've been dehydrated) and BOY did he stink!  No fault of Jessi's - she bathed him and warned me! They still do, but it's that formula smell rehabbers probably all know. My squirrels smelll the same way until they are weaned - then they have no odor at all.

He had no fleas, at least by the time I got him. No obvious sign of worms either. Jessi has said pets are not allowed where he came from and that is in his favor - he's likely to haave picked up less disease if there are few cats in the area. 

As of today Nemo weighs 5.25 ounces. From what I've read, he would normally have doubled in weight in the last two days - the very two he was getting less food than he needed. So, even though 8 ounces is closer to optimal, all in all, I am happy with that weight, and think he will make it up in no time. His ribs and pelvis were very prominent when I picked him up and are filling out nicely now. 

"He does purr" Jessi told me, and boy, does he. As loudly and insistently as he meows. "What if," my husand said at lunch today "His meow grows with him and he sounds like a lion when he grows up?" 

We will be back in Georgia tomorrow and take him to our regular vet, Boy will she be surprised! We will quarantine him from our two older cats for the next two weeks unless the vet gives the go ahead to do it earlier. However, no quarantining that cry he has! My little Lulu heard him cry on speaker phone and immediately answered him! 

Nemo looks EXACTLY like the cat we just lost. Babymilk was 2-3 weeks old when we got him. 

We could not be happier about how this all worked out, and hopefully he will get a good vet report and live a long and happy life. Thanks Jessi! 

Will download and post photos soon
 

Sarthur2

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Well, this is certainly an interesting story.
 
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AbbysMom

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She said story, not "story". No need for claws here. ;) Since this is an international forum, it doesn't happen very often where one member can take over the care of another member's cat/kitten, although it isn't the first time. For us, it really is an interesting story and I'm glad that so far it is working out well for all of you. :)
 

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She said story, not "story". No need for claws here.
Since this is an international forum, it doesn't happen very often where one member can take over the care of another member's cat/kitten, although it isn't the first time. For us, it really is an interesting story and I'm glad that so far it is working out well for all of you.
Oh no! No claws intended! I was just puzzled what she meant by it.  I don't even now why I put the quotation marks. I really didn't think about it - pretty sleep deprived with this little one!  My apologies, if offense was taken.  I REALLY appreciate Sarthur2's advice. It may have saved Nemo's life. 

In retrosect, it is quite a story, isn't it? What are the odds that two people would join a list and one would almost immediately find herself in a crisis, and  the other would  find the solution to her own crisis in it? -or that we'd live less than a day's drive away from each other, and both be headed in the same direction the next day?  We live 8 hours away most of the time, and narrowed it to 2.

I joined, intending to ask for advice about my 7 and 9 year old cats, who are having a really hard  tiime since  our two more dominant cats died. Before I had a chance to introduce myself or my problem, I saw the thread ""Stray Kitten Stuck". The title instantly reminded  of  the time something chased our  cat Rose through a funnel shaped hole under our screen porch. She could get in, but only by force, and she oculd nto get out again.  We were beside ourselves - could not chisel her out - the channel was too long. We had to consider tearing up the foundation of our screen porch to get her out., but  that could have killed her too, We had no idea how much room she had or exactly where to drill. We called Animal Control, thining surely they've dealt with stuck animals before. They hadn't ever encountered this, but they came out and were  so wonderful. They spent half a day chiseling concrete with us, trying to think of solutions and most importantly, since we had small children,  keeping our morale up. Most people think of them in a policing, rather than helping capacity and may not realise they will come to an animal's aid.  Ultimately we had to put her on a crash diet, which we did with constant vet supervision, because she had a medical condition that made this very dangerous  It took 3 agonizing days, but on the third day, my son got a piece of smoked gouda and held it up to he, and she pulled herself through - scraped up, and very hungry, but okay.  We plugged the hole and had from then on have had indoor only cats from then on. The thought of another animal stuck under a house made  my hair stand on end!  It never occurred to me to offer to adopt it until Jessi posted the photo of her own little liberation success. And then I just had to! I had been deflecting offers of two adorable 4 month old kittens for 2 weeks, saying I ws holding ot for one that needed botte feeding. I truly wasn't, but when he turned up, and was close enough to reach. I thought - why not? He needed someone, and we lost someone, so...

The thing is, he is VERY young (10 days, we and the vet think) . I am going to need all your help and would hate to think a misunderstanding would stand in the way of people offering that help. I appreciate the opportunity to clear this up. 
 

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The only thing that stands in the way of our advice is the poster leaving the site.
  We have pretty thick skins here.  But not everyone looking for help does.
 
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