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- Oct 25, 2011
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Hello, [some questions after introduction]
I was searching for more information concerning the rearing of kittens and stumbled upon this website. I live with a group of EMT's on a college campus in Tennessee. My girlfriend and I were sitting on the couch in the common area of the house/dorm when we heard loud whining noises from the basement. Two kittens were found on the cement floor of the unheated basement level.
Aristotle was found first. He is a cheetah'ed tabby (that's what the vet tech said anyway). Quinn was found next (a darker grey and silver tabby).
Quinn has since found a home.
We found the kittens this last Friday night and early Saturday morning.
I have taken Aristotle to the vet (yay); his visit was yesterday afternoon. The vet said that she thought him to be in good condition. The vet also said that the kittens are about three weeks old. Both kittens were de-wormed and given a squirt of frontline on the napes of their necks to fight off those fleas and ticks.
One of the individuals living in the house with me has raised kittens and orphaned baby raccoons since she was in middle-school, so we had a great resource to consult in the beginning of our care for little Aristotle.
We live in a small town, and the vet is closed on certain days of the week, so I decided to introduce myself as a caregiver to this kitten and use this community as a resource throughout my continued care.
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Questions: - I have been feeding Aristotle just about every two or three hours. The exception is at night. Kitty sleeps through the night almost every night! He sleeps right next to my head in his little heated box, so if he wakes up I will definitely wake up. I have not been waking him up during the night (6-8 hours) to eat. I do wake him up before I go to class to feed him though, and he will usually go right back to bed after breakfast.
He usually eats about a tablespoon's worth of KMR formula at a time. Sometimes he will eat less, but suckle more frequently. Usually though, Aristotle eats about a tablespoon to a tablespoon and a half's worth of formula every two to three hours.
Now, he is developing a very round belly. I was worried that he was constipated or backed up in some way, but the vet says that if he has been eating regularly and he does poop -even irregularly- he should be fine. When we found him he was right around seven ounces in weight. By the end of day two he was up to eight ounces. When we visited the vet he had gained another ounce for a grand total of nine!
? His abdomen is not sensitive to firm touching, but it does seem slightly distended and/or swollen. Is it really normal for kittens to have such swollen-looking bellies?
I read that it is normal for kittens to have some excess fluid in their abdomens. Could this be the cause?
I want to make sure that he is not eating too much at each sitting. He can really gulp down some formula and can be pretty bossy about kneading on the bottle. Sometimes it seems like he just eats so much! (He will stop though.) Is there any danger of overfeeding?
Thanks for reading and any suggestions or comments you might have,
Curt and Aristotle (sleeping on my chest)
I was searching for more information concerning the rearing of kittens and stumbled upon this website. I live with a group of EMT's on a college campus in Tennessee. My girlfriend and I were sitting on the couch in the common area of the house/dorm when we heard loud whining noises from the basement. Two kittens were found on the cement floor of the unheated basement level.
Aristotle was found first. He is a cheetah'ed tabby (that's what the vet tech said anyway). Quinn was found next (a darker grey and silver tabby).
Quinn has since found a home.
We found the kittens this last Friday night and early Saturday morning.
I have taken Aristotle to the vet (yay); his visit was yesterday afternoon. The vet said that she thought him to be in good condition. The vet also said that the kittens are about three weeks old. Both kittens were de-wormed and given a squirt of frontline on the napes of their necks to fight off those fleas and ticks.
One of the individuals living in the house with me has raised kittens and orphaned baby raccoons since she was in middle-school, so we had a great resource to consult in the beginning of our care for little Aristotle.
We live in a small town, and the vet is closed on certain days of the week, so I decided to introduce myself as a caregiver to this kitten and use this community as a resource throughout my continued care.
--------
Questions: - I have been feeding Aristotle just about every two or three hours. The exception is at night. Kitty sleeps through the night almost every night! He sleeps right next to my head in his little heated box, so if he wakes up I will definitely wake up. I have not been waking him up during the night (6-8 hours) to eat. I do wake him up before I go to class to feed him though, and he will usually go right back to bed after breakfast.
He usually eats about a tablespoon's worth of KMR formula at a time. Sometimes he will eat less, but suckle more frequently. Usually though, Aristotle eats about a tablespoon to a tablespoon and a half's worth of formula every two to three hours.
Now, he is developing a very round belly. I was worried that he was constipated or backed up in some way, but the vet says that if he has been eating regularly and he does poop -even irregularly- he should be fine. When we found him he was right around seven ounces in weight. By the end of day two he was up to eight ounces. When we visited the vet he had gained another ounce for a grand total of nine!
? His abdomen is not sensitive to firm touching, but it does seem slightly distended and/or swollen. Is it really normal for kittens to have such swollen-looking bellies?
I read that it is normal for kittens to have some excess fluid in their abdomens. Could this be the cause?
I want to make sure that he is not eating too much at each sitting. He can really gulp down some formula and can be pretty bossy about kneading on the bottle. Sometimes it seems like he just eats so much! (He will stop though.) Is there any danger of overfeeding?
Thanks for reading and any suggestions or comments you might have,
Curt and Aristotle (sleeping on my chest)