Help my 1 week old kitten is sick

Hello i have a 1 week old kitten she is not wanting to eat today.. And now has become basically motion less.. She is just laying there. Breathing slowly

Her mom abandonded her at 3 days old.. We have 2 Cats they are sisters rescued by my dad.. One cat had 5 kittens one was still born and the 3 others seem healthy and still cared for by momma cat and this one she abandoned.. This kitten was veru active the last few days meowing and climbin like a spider cat (my daughter calls her).. What can i do?

A lot of times mama cats will know if something is wrong with their kittens and abandon them to focus on the healthy kittens. That said it isn't completely hopeless. I recommend checking out kittenlady.org for neonatal tips. The youngest I've cared for was 3-4 weeks so I don't have any personal experience with a 1 week old to give.

Ok ill check that site thanks..

Yea i understand mom cats do abandoned kittens that are sick.. Was just hoping... Well you know.. Also i have 4 kids that are going to b pretty sad

How often and what have you been feeding this baby since the mom abandoned it?

Do you have a heat source for it?

Do you know how much it weighs?

If it's made it 4 days without mom there is hope. Just be prepared incase it doesn't work out. Hopefully the site an help. She has links to videos and stuff to help.

We bought kdr milk supplement.. She eats about every 2-3 hrs.. I dont know how much she weighs but is way smaller then her siblings still with the mom.. Yes we have her nest but she was cold earlier on the side that didnt have heat. We warmed her as soon as we noticed

Is the kitten improving with nourishment?

If she's truly sick, there's probably very little you can do, but I raised a kitten from 6oz and she had a lot of problems before she was finally healthy.

Firstly, you have to feed them every 2-4 hrs (24/7), not just during the daytime. If they go too long without food, they can become hypoglycemic, which makes them very lethargic and not wanting to eat.

My little 6oz kitty demanded to be fed every 90minutes day and night for weeks and she's a 15lb kitty now.

At 15oz, she did develop a horrendous cold and wouldn't eat, but the vet used eye drops with a steroid, he put one drop in each eye and it ran down into the sinuses and helped with the inflamed sinuses. We then let her rest for a few hours and once she could breathe, she was back on the bottle again. The cold stopped her from being able to breathe properly and it was a nightmare.

They do need the kitten milk replacement as a substitute. Do not give them human milk as they can't digest that and it causes diarrhea and then they become severely dehydrated.

If the kitten is healthy and you can get her to drink the kitten milk replacement by bottle feeding the kitten, they should improve and may be lethargic from lack of nutrition.

If you can't get them to eat, there's not a lot you can do.

You may also want to try taking them to a vet and having them given 10-20mls of subcutaneous fluids (warmed of course). At this stage, the kitten may be suffering from dehydration and these things can be helped and then once they feel better, they may start to feed off the bottle.

Also, if the kitten and mum have come in contact with fleas, anemia from fleas is a big killer of kittens. They may be able to recover if the fleas are gotten rid of and then they're fed properly or I adopted a feral kitten a few years ago, at the time he was 12 oz, he needed a blood transfusion to survive and he is still here and doing great. He would not have survived without the transfusion, but that's a severe case.

Hope this helps.

Awesome info.. There isnt a flea issue thank goodness.. But a vet is totally out of the question right now unfortunately, no money and no car to get there.. She was eating the kdr but today she is refusing or eating very little

The kitten must be warm and her food (KMR) warm or she won't be able to digest the food. Have you been using a bottle or a small needle less syringe? How much have you been feeding her?

Since she is so small and not doing well she needs to be fed every hour. You can use karo syrup or honey, a dab in her mouth will help as a quick energy source. Do you have any unflavored pedialite? You can use that to mix the KMR instead of water.

Are you using a heating pad under her nest? Make sure she can move away from the heat source... Put it under only half of the nest, if that's what you are using. You could also make a rice sock and use that.

When you are feeding a kitten: remember to keep them tummy down like they would nurse from mom and one drop at a time into her cheek and wait for her to swallow..( using a small needle less syringe ).

Have you been helping her potty?

How is she now? When was the last time she ate?

She ate at 11 very little.. Yes i am using needless syringe and she was just sucking it out on her own.. And yes a heating pad under her little nest.. Thanks.. I dont think shes going to make it threw the night [emoji]128549[/emoji]

I'm so sorry, it sounds like you've been doing all you could for her.

MrzGonzales said:

She ate at 11 very little.. Yes i am using needless syringe and she was just sucking it out on her own.. And yes a heating pad under her little nest.. Thanks.. I dont think shes going to make it threw the night [emoji]128549[/emoji]

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If she is dying for real, so she is.

But to give more energy, smear glucose sugar on her lips and gum. The easiest is to use honey, a thick solution of honey water. It adds some quick energy.

Important to use glucose sugar / honey, it doesnt need to be digested, unlike common sugar.

Also, now when she is shutting down and her digesting is no longer functional, it wont help to give her more kmr. Give her some pedialyte instead.

You blend some glucose sugar and a little kitchen salt.

The official ratio is 2 soup spoons of honey, one teas spoon of of salt, in a litre of water. Mix it up by heating... Give at body temp.

Keep the kitten warmed up, perhaps even at your chest.
You can massage it with a tooth brush - feels nice...


Such a pedialyte does contiain quite some energhy and if she doesnt die today, it will buy you time to perhaps fight off the problem...

Good luck!

Well she made it threw the night.. Drink little pedialyte.. Every hour. And we have been rubbing with a toothbrush

This is good news! Keep up the pedialyte and the kitten formula. I hope she makes it!

I'm happy to hear that! How is she doing? How are you doing today?

StefanZ said:

You can massage it with a tooth brush - feels nice...

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Aww, that's so cute.

MrzGonzales said:

Well she made it threw the night.. Drink little pedialyte.. Every hour. And we have been rubbing with a toothbrush

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Sounds like a fighter.

Aww guys she dudnt make it... Thank you all for the posts...