Baby kitten ..need advice

anapaula0324

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I've been looking and haven't found the answer I've been looking for. So I thought I should just ask the community.

I recently was given a very small kitten. I don't know her age. I was told she was 4 weeks old. She does eliminate on her own and actually uses the litter box I've provided for her. I'm using World's Best with her. I know non clumping litter is best but she doesn't seem to be trying to taste or anything.

I'm feeding her exclusively kitten glop with evaporated goat's milk. I don't know if this provides her with enough taurine but she does seem healthy. I have no way to weigh her at the moment and can't get her to a vet till Oct. 8th the earliest.
My question is can she be healthy enough on just the kitten glop ? I've offered her wet food but she's not interested at all. She just sniffed and then continued to cry for her bottle. I know I need KMR but at this time that option is not available. I feed her 3-4 times around 30 mL but I honestly just feed her till she doesn't reach for the bottle anymore.

P.S I know she's too young to be away from her mom but it was out of my control. I have kittens who are around 5 months , are both healthy, vaccinated , and spayed and neutered.
 
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anapaula0324

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What is the recipe for the kitten glop you are feeding?
12 ounce can of evaporated goat milk
1 package Knox gelatin
1 raw egg yolk
2 tablespoons mayo
2 tablespoons yogurt
1-2 tablespoons Karo syrup ( the clear one )
 
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Willowy

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She looks old enough to start on solids. If her teeth are out then she's ready. Start with canned food (Fancy Feast makes a good canned kitten food) mixed with the kitten glop until it's soupy, see how she likes that. Make it mostly glop at first, and gradually add more canned food as she gets used to it.

Still offer the bottle though. If she stops suckling too young she may develop a suckling fixation.
 
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anapaula0324

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She looks old enough to start on solids. If her teeth are out then she's ready. Start with canned food (Fancy Feast makes a good canned kitten food) mixed with the kitten glop until it's soupy, see how she likes that. Make it mostly glop at first, and gradually add more canned food as she gets used to it.

Still offer the bottle though. If she stops suckling too young she may develop a suckling fixation.
Her teeth are out so I tried today. She didn't seem interested. I didn't try with the kitten glop though. I have fancy feast classics turkey and giblets , chicken and turkey , Triumph ocean feast flavor and whiskas turkey , turkey and giblets and chicken.
She's definitely still interested in the bottle. So I will try your suggestion.
I really want to add the wet food because I'm really worried she's not getting enough taurine in her diet.
 

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She looks healthy! She sounds like she's not ready to wean to solids yet. Some kittens are not ready until 5 or 6 weeks. She should be fine! [emoji]128522[/emoji]
 
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anapaula0324

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She looks healthy! She sounds like she's not ready to wean to solids yet. Some kittens are not ready until 5 or 6 weeks. She should be fine! [emoji]128522[/emoji]
Thank you :) I have very limited experience bottle feeding so I just wanted to make sure I was doing a good job.
 
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anapaula0324

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Okay so this is a weird question but once kittens ears unfold are they completely straight ? Sugar Lily's ears aren't entirely straight. They are a little folded at the tips. She also seems pretty small for her age. She's close to 5-6 weeks at this point , occasionally still drinks from her bottle but is great at eating her wet food and using the litter box. I haven't introduced dry food yet but I think it's better to wait on that front. I took a couple of pictures. It's hard to tell sorta because of her color but hopefully you guys can see what I mean.





Not completely sure any of these are helpful to give an idea of what I mean but they are cute :) her ears are definitely not completely straight though.
 
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paulthecat

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It could potentially be something called cauliflower ear. Did your kitty ever get fleas? My kitten had fleas when I found her and the presents of fleas on her face made her shake her head a lot which can cause a build up of fluid in the ear. If it is cauliflower ear it isn't serious. It just causes the ear to deform a little bit. If you look at my kitten closely you notice she has one smaller ear than the other one but it isn't painful for them.
That's the only reason I can think of why your kitten would have folded ears at this age.
 
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anapaula0324

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It could potentially be something called cauliflower ear. Did your kitty ever get fleas? My kitten had fleas when I found her and the presents of fleas on her face made her shake her head a lot which can cause a build up of fluid in the ear. If it is cauliflower ear it isn't serious. It just causes the ear to deform a little bit. If you look at my kitten closely you notice she has one smaller ear than the other one but it isn't painful for them.
That's the only reason I can think of why your kitten would have folded ears at this age.
As far as I know she hasn't had fleas before but it is entirely possible as she was found outside. I've never seen her shaking her head while she's been living here or scratching but they could have treated her for them by bathing her. Thank you :)
 

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Okay so this is a weird question but once kittens ears unfold are they completely straight ? Sugar Lily's ears aren't entirely straight. They are a little folded at the tips. She also seems pretty small for her age. She's close to 5-6 weeks at this point , occasionally still drinks from her bottle but is great at eating her wet food and using the litter box. I haven't introduced dry food yet but I think it's better to wait on that front. I took a couple of pictures. It's hard to tell sorta because of her color but hopefully you guys can see what I mean. .
Sugar Lily looks perfect to me. She should weigh 1LB for each month of age. So she should weigh 1-1/2 LBS or so. Obviously it depends on the bone structure of the cat. She may always be small.

You can put a tiny bit of kibble down every day for her. One day she will eat it & then she will be able to free-feed on it whenever she wants. And still have scheduled wet food everyday too.
 
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anapaula0324

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Sugar Lily looks perfect to me. She should weigh 1LB for each month of age. So she should weigh 1-1/2 LBS or so. Obviously it depends on the bone structure of the cat. She may always be small.

You can put a tiny bit of kibble down every day for her. One day she will eat it & then she will be able to free-feed on it whenever she wants. And still have scheduled wet food everyday too.
I have no way to weigh her at the moment but as far as I can tell she's been gaining and if she's ever hungry she definitely lets me know lol right now I'm keeping her in a crate overnight or whenever I'm not here to supervise because my older kittens are still adjusting to her. They swat at her and my girl kitten , Harley , seems to have the most issue with her but she's getting used to her slowly. I didn't know about proper intros till I started reading other forums. Harley and Quinn both hiss at her but they seem more willing to accept her presence. They never outright attack her. They prefer to just leave her be if she gets too close than mess with her.
I'm getting a little off topic. I honestly believe she's just going to end up being a smaller cat full grown but that's okay with me. I really was just a little confused by the slightly folded ears but she's perfect to me either way. She's really an amazing kitten for her age. I wish she would have gotten more time with her siblings and mom because I know how important that is but I'm hoping Harley and Quinn can help. And after joining this site , I've learned very important things when it comes to playing with her.

As far as feeding her , I'm okay with letting her just eat wet food for now. I know she should only eat pate at this stage but I have tried very small bits and she had a little trouble with it. I'm feeding Merrick Backcountry Kitten formula so the pieces aren't too bug but I still worry. I'm going to try dry in a couple of weeks. I add water or milk (kitten glop ) to her wet food. Not sure if that's enough hydration. Should I introduce water on its own ?
 

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I have a colony of ferals whose kittens used to get the folded ears that straightened out when they got older. They had Persian in them - not sure if that had anything to do with it.  And I,myself, have had best luck with the kitten-glop rather than with KMR.  Some of my ferals are 9 years old with no health problems and some of them were hand-raised on kitten-glop (some weren't trapped until they were weaned and very wild, so they had mom's milk the whole time).

She is a real cutie - bravo on doing a great job with her 
 
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anapaula0324

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I have a colony of ferals whose kittens used to get the folded ears that straightened out when they got older. They had Persian in them - not sure if that had anything to do with it.  And I,myself, have had best luck with the kitten-glop rather than with KMR.  Some of my ferals are 9 years old with no health problems and some of them were hand-raised on kitten-glop (some weren't trapped until they were weaned and very wild, so they had mom's milk the whole time).

She is a real cutie - bravo on doing a great job with her :nod:
Thank you :) I'm trying my best. I'm planning on getting her spayed and vaccinated soon. I'm just waiting for a little more growth on her part but she's eating like a champ. Harley and Quinn are so much bigger than her so I'm still a little scared to let her have free roam.
As far as I know she's a just a regular dsh but anything's possible. I fell in love with her the minute I saw her. I don't know what it is with tuxedos but they just call to me lol so it's awesome to finally have the chance to own one. I just wanted to make sure the slightly folded ears were okay. My experience with cats is minimal.
 

Primula

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As far as feeding her , I'm okay with letting her just eat wet food for now. I know she should only eat pate at this stage but I have tried very small bits and she had a little trouble with it. I'm feeding Merrick Backcountry Kitten formula so the pieces aren't too bug but I still worry. I'm going to try dry in a couple of weeks. I add water or milk (kitten glop ) to her wet food. Not sure if that's enough hydration. Should I introduce water on its own ?
I've never weighed a cat or kitten in my life so don't worry about a scale. Don't know why she should eat only pâté (?). When I had foster kittens who were gradually weaning, they ate any kind of Fancy Feast can I put down. Then later on they had FF kibble. Sugar Lily should definitely have water! BTW, milk is not good for cats.
 
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anapaula0324

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I've never weighed a cat or kitten in my life so don't worry about a scale. Don't know why she should eat only pâté (?). When I had foster kittens who were gradually weaning, they ate any kind of Fancy Feast can I put down. Then later on they had FF kibble. Sugar Lily should definitely have water! BTW, milk is not good for cats.
Quick update. I apologize for taking so long to respond to your advice but I had issues with my phone. It was stolen and its basically my only point of communication right now.

Anyways Sugar Lily is doing great. I think she's just going to be a tiny cat. She's definitely gaining and she always lets me know when she's hungry. She actually eats kibble on its own or mixed with her wet food. I've been mixing for all of my cats to make the wet food last a little longer. But they do usually get just wet at least once a day. She also eats all varieties now. I think before the bites were too big for her but now she doesn't mind. I feed a variety of diff wet food and brands , not too many fish flavors though as Quinn seems to have a sensitivity to it.

When I mentioned milk I meant kitten glop not cow's milk. I made it with goat's milk. It wasn't necessary to add though as she ate the kibble as is. She is a force to be reckoned with lol she's so small compared to Harley and Quinn but she doesn't let that stop her from playing with them. Its always supervised as I'm of course concerned about possible injuries to her. But so far everything is fine. I even managed to capture a moment of total peace between Quinn and Sugar Lily.

 
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