Sickly Kittens

One of my co-workers has approached me to help feel her little kittens during the day. We have the approval of our respective supervisors, so the kittens will be coming into work.

I have fed very young kittens before with a bottle and KMR. I know it has the proportions on the can, but I was wondering if I could increase the amount of powder because these kittens are not healthy and have not eaten for a day or so.

Any advice, suggestions, help would be gratefully appreciated.

What a great place you work at.

I have some question:
How old are this kittens?
Is the mother available to feed them?
Have they been check by a vet for URI?

2 days is a long time for kittens to go without eating.

Fern

I don't have a can of it in front of me, but there are instructions on it for undernourished kittens - I believe it actually suggests less powder to water in this case for rehydration but please verify!

If they haven't been eating well for a few days, you need to get them to a vet pronto. Kittens fade too quickly.

www.kitten-rescue.com will help you

I am very concerned about these. My co-worker is a wonderful person who still has a $2,000 bill with her vet for taking care of her inside cats. The kittens are about 3 to 3.5 weeks old, they are outsiders but not feral. One has had an infection that has destroyed his eye. The story goes, momma got a cold, passed it on to the kits. Momma is weak and doesn't have much milk. One kitten looks good, one is so-so, one has the bad eye and one won't eat. My concerns are: It sounds like distemper to me, but she says that the vet told her no. I don't know what my chances are for passing an infection along to my insideres. I am going to try to cover my shirt with paper towels or something and then strip and wash my hands with antibacterial soap when I get home BEFORE I touch my babies. Anyway, this does not sound good but I can not stand by and wonder if I could have helped in any way. I am going to try to feed and see if I can get something into their tummies.

Well, my co-worker brought the kittens in late yesterday afternoon. Nanci and I got about 2 oz down their little tummies, the sick one was licking his chops. One of his eyes is completely closed. The co-worker told us that everything we were doing was wrong, but said she would bring them back today. Well, she didn't. I guess she took them to the vets and told him/her to put them down. I know you can't please everyone, but the idea was to get some fluid into these babies and that's what we did. I don't understand the reaction. Whatever. Anyway I guess two of them are down and I had decided to name the sick one Dusty. I guess I'll go hide in my corner now, I've been a bad girl.

I think it was wrong of your co-worker to tell you that everything you were doing was wrong. From your posts, it doesn't seem that way to me. Can you find out what has happened to the kittens? From your descriptions, it didn't sound like they were beyond hope at all, especially if the vet ruled out Panleukopenia. With a little bit of medication, they would have most likely recovered. Can you find out what has happened to the kittens?

She took them to the vets and told them if they couldn't help them, to put them down.