new kitten - lots of questions

Hi! I'm new here. I hope it's OK to just jump right in!

Here's our new baby:


Starlight

We brought her home from the SPCA today. It's been a complicated few days with her!

My 5 year old daughter (in the picture) picked her out yesterday. We were told that we could pick her up today after she was fixed. We were told that she was 3 months old.

They called early this morning to say that she did not meet the weight requirement to be fixed. She is only 1 pounds 9 ounces, and must be 2 pounds.

We were told we could visit her, but not take her home until she's fixed. We went to visit her and Emma and Starlight just totally bonded. The shelter manager allowed us to bring her home as her foster parents, but not officially adopt her until she's fixed.

She came home with a cold and antibiotics. She also is on a special food to help her gain weight (prescription diet canned food).

So - my questions:

Is it likely that she really is 3 months? She seems small, but I'm not very experienced with kitties!

How much weight should she be gaining? a day? a week?

How much should she be eating? We've had her home for 4 hours and she's had 2 teaspoons of the canned food, a few bites of dry food, and lots of water. She has peed and pooped a few times.

Other than the antibiotics, is there anything I can do to make her feel better with her cold? She has a little bit of discharge in one eye. With my kids, I squirt a little bit of my own breastmilk in there and it works really well, but I'm not sure about human milk for baby cats! (We believe in human milk for baby humans, so cat milk for baby cats makes sense, but I don't have any cat milk!)

Anyway - I really look forward to learning from you all!

Nancy

Welcome to TCS! Congrats on finding a cute kitty to join your family. I'm glad they let you bring her home.

I like natural remedies. I've never heard of breastmilk for eye discharge, but if you want to try it on the kitten, I'm sure it won't harm her any. As for putting on weight, I believe that being in her own loving home, rather than at a shelter, will be key. I think she will probably blossom for you. When you take her to your vet, they can advise about her age. Some kitties are just tiny!

She is adorable. As is your daughter.

Congratulations on your new kitten. A three month old kitten should weigh considerably more than 1.9lbs. However, it is not impossible for a kitten that age to be smaller, especially with an unknown background. If she has been sick, seperated from mom, without access to plentiful, healthy food she may be underweight. She also may be a week or two under 3 months, sometimes it is hard to know exact ages of strays.

Now that she is in a home, hopefully she will gain weight. You can buy a little food scale to weight her and monitor her progress. She should gain at least 1/4 a pound per week at this age. There is no set amount of food that she should be eating. She should be freely nibbling on crunchies and eating canned a few times per day.

The anitbiotics should help with her respiratory infection. As long as the eye discharge is clear, you won't need to do anything else at this time. If the discharge becomes thick, yellow or her eye gets more swollen or shut, your vet may want to prescribe eye ointments. I do not know of any home remedies that will help. The virus just needs to run its course. A clean, healthy environment, fresh water, good food, and TLC will all help with the virus more than any home remedy. If things don't go as expected make sure you let your agency and vet know.

Best of luck with your little gal.

It is very possible that the kitten is 3 months. One foster home I saw kittens at had a room full of 6 week old kittens and one 16 week old kitten. They were all the same size, because the oldest had been separated and starved, and supposedly had doubled in size in the week before I had seen it (which was unbelievable).

What a sweet picture! Your daughter looks like she is in heaven.

I honestly dont believe that she is 3 months old, but that is just my opinion. My baby pepper is 4 months old and he is like twice her size. I sometimes feed my cats human milk. Dont feed her human milk until you know that it would be ok for her. When you say discharge in her eye what do you mean? It seems like she has been eating enough. Make sure she drinks lots of water, and atleast two teaspoons of wet food per day. My cats eat two spoonfuls per day and they eat the same perscription diet. Cats are very loving so when she gets a little older dont worry if she starts trying to nurse on you or lick you. its just a sign of affection. Keep Posted

The main thing with a sick kitty is that they are eating and drinking and going to the bathroom like normal. It sounds like she is so I wouldn't be too worried. She may be underweight, the shelter may have been guessing her age if she came in already born then who knows. Just continue with the meds and get her better. For her eye discharge, use a warm washcloth and do that a couple times a day as needed. Just be patient and keep with the meds and making sure she keeps eating. Wet food is good for such a young kitten. She should be good to spay as soon as her cold clears up. That one little pound won't take too long to gain once she is on a constant diet and meds and also away from the other cats at the shelter who basically can keep pasing the sickness back and forth.

Great job adopting her and welcome to TCS.

First of all, congratulations on your beautiful little furbaby...she's adorable!

She does seem a bit small for 3 months, but I'm sure when she's feeling better, she'll gain weight like gangbusters. For a little one like that, I would leave dry food out at all times (use a small-kibble kitten food. I've used Royal Canin babycat & liked it). I would feed her some canned kitten food a few times a day. She will let you know how much she wants to eat, and you can adjust accordingly. If you put the extra in the fridge, make sure you warm it up slightly. She probably won't eat cold food since she won't be able to smell it. In fact, if her nose is stuffy, you may want to heat each feeding to warm (not hot!). She'll be able to smell the food more, and may be enticed to eat. Continue with the antibiotics, and finish the entire course.

For her goopy eye, I would clean it with warm water and gauze to make sure it stays open. I have also used weak tea (black tea, no additives) and gauze...it's very soothing.

I'm a bit confused about the breastmilk...were you planning to feed it to the kitten, or putting it in her eye? Either way, I'd say no. You're right about cats needing cat milk. They don't digest cows milk well, and I can only imagine the same holds true for human milk. If you mean to put it in her eye, I would definitely not do that. Nothing will feed bacteria better than milk of any kind, and I can only think that you could potentially cause either an exacerbation of the current infection, or cause another. Stick to the antibiotics & cleaning the eye.

Good luck & keep us updated on your baby's progress!

I've never heard of breastmilk for an eye infection, but I have heard of breastmilk for ear infections. I don't know if it works or not! But human breastmilk is full of antibodies, so I suppose it is possible it could help. Mainly, the antibiotics will be what clears up the infection!

Originally Posted by Beckiboo

I've never heard of breastmilk for an eye infection, but I have heard of breastmilk for ear infections. I don't know if it works or not! But human breastmilk is full of antibodies, so I suppose it is possible it could help. Mainly, the antibiotics will be what clears up the infection!

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Sorry, I can't agree to it's use on a kitten. Breastmilk is chock full of antibodies for a human babies to protect them from diseases human babies get. Antibodies are for the immune response within the body. Used topically, antibiodies have zero effect in fighting infection. My fear is that the milk may actually be detrimental in this case.