New and Need Help....

Hi, my name is Mandy and I adopted a new kitten yesterday. She was born on May 24, 2004, so she is not quite 4 weeks old. I have not had a kitten this young and am not quite sure what to do. I took her because she was living in a trailer, where the owner only came on the weekends, there were maggots in the mothers food and all kittens had fleas, some with ticks. It was at least 100 degress in the room where she was, and the owners did not want the kittens, I grabbed the only girl and ran. She is very sweet and too cute, I will see if I can post a pic. I got alot of fleas off of her last night, and she still has a ton. She has urinated only twice and has not defacated that I know of. She has been here about 18 hrs. I tried to bottle feed her formula, but she does not want it, nor dry food mixed with water, nor canned food. She does not drink alot of water, i did force some on her, as well as about 7 peices of moist food. She only stays awake about 30 minutes then sleeps for a few hours. wakes up and cries until I pick her up...like my kids did...lol I'm not sure if this is normal or if she should be eating and drinking more, sleeping less? can I do anthing for the fleas? They are hard as hell to catch...any help would be greatly appreciated...the other animals don't seem to mind her.

please go to this website www.kitten-rescue.com

This little one sounds like it is in dire straights. You need to get it to the vet, because at this age with so much against it, it may just need to be tube fed. Try the kitten glop- and make sure that you are feeding formula and not cow's milk-

PM Tania, Sandie or myself or post any questions you might have in the Health Forum or the SOS Forum- Tania is the kitten expert and she lurks in those forums more than she does here

Mandy, welcome to TCS.

She looks like a real sweetie. The first thing this little one needs is some Pedialyte or a home-made version. You can find the information here. This will help to rehydrate her and give her much needed electrolytes.

There is a flea spray that you can use on kittens of any age, you just spray it on, use a flea comb to comb out as many fleas as you can and then you just rinse her off, i had to go through the same thing with my kitten and that is the advice my vet gave me since she was so young, as far as the other problems I would definately consult a vet.

There is some good information on how to get rid of fleas in very small kittens here. Once you have given this little one some Pedialyte, you can try and bottle-feed the formula again or perhaps try kitten glop. This link will give you some ideas too. The recipe is on the same page as the Pedialyte. Her tummy looks a bit distended so she quite possibly has worms. You'll need to get some worming meds from a vet and follow their directions on how much to give her.

Remember, although the conditions she was living in were horrible, it is a big shock for her and she will miss her mom and litter-mates. I would encourage you to invest in a Snugglekittie for this little one. You can find out about it here.

You will find that the website hissy gave you, www.kitten-rescue.com is a great resource for people who find themselves in your situation.

This may be asking a lot, but is it possible for you to go back and rescue the mom-cat and other kittens? I hate to think that they have been left in this situation.

Also, at this stage, it's important to keep her separated from your other pets until she has been given a clean bill of health by a vet. Always wash your hands before and after touching her so you don't transmit anything from her to your pets.

I am going to take the kitty to the vet on monday. I guess I should get to naming her pretty quick too...lol...Thank you all so much for the tips, I really appreciate it. I will post an update later next week on how she is doing. she really is a precious kitty. If you all have any name suggestions, please let me know. thanks!

This thread should give you a few name ideas.

Also please don't flea treat this kitten any other way than with a flea comb and some water with a bit of dawn liquid soap in it- unless you do the spot on flea treatment found at that website, anything else over-the-counter used can potentially harm, or even kill this tiny kitten.

I was wondering the same thing Tania was, is it possible for you to rescue Momma and the others? Or could you call and report it to the local humane society? They may not be able to survive those conditions.

Welcome to the site and thank you for rescuing this precious baby!! I have to agree with the others, if there is any way for you to either rescue mother and the rest of the babies, or at least report it to the SPCA/Humane Society... Those poor animals!!

I'll move this to Health & Nutrition for you, even though our most knowledgeable kitten experts have found you here already.

P.S. I only edited the post so your picture will show.

Mandy, how is the little one doing today?