Bringing In Abandoned Kitten

[White.Jessica]

Hello Everyone,

I’m fairly new to this site but need some thoughts, insight, and/or possibly some guidance on what to do.

First of all I’d like to give you a little back story. My fiancé (who claims to dislike cats) has the biggest heart in the world when it comes to finding strays or abandoned kittens when working out on the farm. At the beginning of this year we took in a kitten who lost two of her legs and part of her tail after getting frozen to a drinker and she’s been thriving ever since. This morning I get a phone call from him and he tells me that he’s picked up a kitten and is bringing it home with him once he gets off at lunch. Even without seeing this kitten I know that I am in for a mess, but when he arrives with a kitten that literally cannot walk and is nothing but skin and bones, I’m in awe and at a loss of what to do.

This is where I need some help, and I googled to make sure I was posting in an active forum to make sure I’d possibly get a response. Our preferred vet won’t be in until Monday, so I can’t get this poor sweet boy in until then. Now I’m no vet myself, but these are just some assumptions that I’ve made after spending the last 3 to 4 hours with him. He seems to have either a dislocated or broken leg but nothing else seems to be broken. He also just seems so weak and fragile from lack of food and water and being out in the cold (the past few days have been low 60s and 50s, the nights have been low 40s to high 30s with extremely brisk winds). I’ve been syringe feeding him milk, but what suggestions does anyone have? We’ve got him in blankets and the heat on him (not too high) in the meantime to warm him up. I’d love to save this poor boy, the fact that he was out in the cold just suffering alone breaks my heart into pieces. I’m hoping for a miracle. If anyone could possibly throw any suggestions or guidance our way to help this little guy out I’d be very grateful.

One of my main concerns right now too is his kidney functions. Personally I don’t think he’ll make it through the night, but one can only hope...

Please let me know if you guys come up with any ideas. I’m open to anything at this point. I would prefer to not euthanize him unless that is my last resort and there’s no other options and you guys believe that there is no hope.

Thank you for your thoughts.

 

[rubysmama]

Hello and welcome to TCS. Thank you to you and your fiancé for having a big heart, and bringing this kitten into your home.

Is there a 24 hour vet in your area you could contact. Is the milk you're syringing him cow's milk? Or KMR? Cow's milk generally does not agree with cats. KMR is best. Or goats milk, if you can get it.

Hopefully members with rescue experience, will reply. But for now, keep him warm. Try to get him hydrated. And, again, if there's a 24 hour vet in your area, I'd contact them for advice.

 

[surya]

Do you have any idea how old the kitten is? Alot of cats can't tolerate cows milk, so do use KMR or goats milk. If the kitten is four weeks or older, you could mix some wet kitten food with the KMR and syringe feed it as well. They sell kitten milk replacer at Walmart. In dehydrated kittens, I also gave them unsweetened pedialite mixed in with their water. The electrolytes in it are supposed to help with dehydration. Keep the baby warm with a heating pad on low, covered with towels so it doesn't get burned. And put in a box the kitten can move away from if it gets too hot. That's all I can think of. I'm not an expert, I have just taken care of a few sick babies myself. Poor little thing, I'm sending a prayer.

 

[White.Jessica]

Hello and welcome to TCS. Thank you to you and your fiancé for having a big heart, and bringing this kitten into your home.

Is there a 24 hour vet in your area you could contact. Is the milk you're syringing him cow's milk? Or KMR? Cow's milk generally does not agree with cats. KMR is best. Or goats milk, if you can get it.

Hopefully members with rescue experience, will reply. But for now, keep him warm. Try to get him hydrated. And, again, if there's a 24 hour vet in your area, I'd contact them for advice.

First of all thank you so much for your reply <3

There isn’t a 24 hour vet anywhere close to us unfortunately We’re stuck waiting until Monday to get him in.

I was giving him cow’s milk, but stopped and headed up to our local grocery store and grabbed some KMR for him.

 

[White.Jessica]

Do you have any idea how old the kitten is? Alot of cats can't tolerate cows milk, so do use KMR or goats milk. If the kitten is four weeks or older, you could mix some wet kitten food with the KMR and syringe feed it as well. They sell kitten milk replacer at Walmart. In dehydrated kittens, I also gave them unsweetened pedialite mixed in with their water. The electrolytes in it are supposed to help with dehydration. Keep the baby warm with a heating pad on low, covered with towels so it doesn't get burned. And put in a box the kitten can move away from if it gets too hot. That's all I can think of. I'm not an expert, I have just taken care of a few sick babies myself. Poor little thing, I'm sending a prayer.

He’s not very old, but I’d say he probably is at about four weeks. I’ll definitely try out your suggestions. Anything to really help him out.

I thought about Pedialite, but wasn’t for sure if that would work. I’ll definitely pick some up tomorrow morning.

Thank you so so much <3

 

[White.Jessica]

I just thought I’d do a quick update on him for everyone who views or has viewed this thread. He is currently up and moving now along with purring and meowing. It’s a rough state of movement with stumbling and nothing but unsteady feet, but we’re moving in the right direction. This is much better than the lifeless state I had at noon.

Now I’ve got another problem on my hands...Our two-legged kitty doesn’t seem too fond of him. Any sort of bonding suggestions? All she does is hiss and sort of “growl” when she gets near him? I’ve never had this problem when bonding two kitties together before.

 

[rubysmama]

I hope things are still going well with the kitten. Please post an update, when you can.

About the other kitty not being happy with the kitten's arrival. For now, I would recommend keeping them separate. Especially until you get the kitten to a vet. In addition to the possible broken/dislocated leg, you need to ensure he doesn't have any disease/illness that could be passed on to your other cat.

When you do get to the point of introducing them, here's a TCS article that should have some tips for you: How To Introduce A Kitten To An Older Cat

 

[talkingpeanut]

Yes, please keep them separate. You don't know if the new kitty has anything infectious.

How much and how often are you feeding? Does he have teeth?

 

[White.Jessica]

Update: After much thought yesterday we decided to name our new fur-baby Oakley.

I took him to the vet today and was shocked with the information I received. This little kitten who is no bigger than my hand (which is about 5.5 inches long) is 4 months old according to the vet. He is that small from being that malnourished.

Oakley is on an Urgent Care wet canned food “diet” along with dry kitten food and an antibiotic that the vet prescribed me to see if his stool will harden up. If it doesn’t harden up and he doesn’t start gaining a little weight by next Monday, I am supposed to bring him in first thing so they can try and figure out if he has a parasite or something else going on. If his stool does harden up and he does gain weight, then in two weeks after being on the Urgent Care wet food he should be in good enough condition to get his vaccines.

If you guys have any other suggestions on anything such as bonding (when we get to that), food suggestions for extra nutrients, etc. please don’t hestitate to post. We’re grateful that he’s still alive and breathing.

I also want to really thank everyone for replying <3 By all means my fiancé and I aren’t rescuers, but we both have big hearts and try to help out to the best of our abilities when there’s an animal in trouble.

I’m thankful for all of the good vibes, you guys <3

 

[White.Jessica]

Yes, please keep them separate. You don't know if the new kitty has anything infectious.

How much and how often are you feeding? Does he have teeth?

He does have teeth and I’m feeding him about a little more than a 1/4 of a cup of dry kitten food and adding just a touch of water to it as well as about half a can of wet cat food a day. He nibbles on both throughout the day, more so the wet food than the dry. I was doing cow’s milk until I found out that was a no-no for cats. My fiancé wanted to start that back up again last night, thank goodness I was there to tell him no

 

[rubysmama]

So glad to hear little Oakley is hanging in there. He's obviously a fighter, if he's managed to stay alive all this time under those conditions. Poor little guy. So glad your fiancé found him.

Normally the "rule" is to let kittens eat as much as they want, as they are growing. So as long as he isn't gorging/vomiting, you are probably ok leaving food down for him all the time.

Yes, cow's milk is bad. But KMR or goats milk could still be used as a supplement to his food.

Please keep us updated on his progress. And post a pic of him, when you can.
How To Add A Picture To Your Forum Post

And if you would like to read some uplifting rescue stories, check this out, particularly the first one on Anubis.
6 Amazing Cat Rescue Stories That Will Melt Your Heart

 

[RajaNMizu]

a little more than a 1/4 of a cup of dry kitten food and adding just a touch of water

Thanks for caring for this baby! If you're adding water to kibble, please don't leave it out for more than 30 minutes because wetting kibble causes it to breed bacteria very quickly. Dry kibble can be left out for longer periods of time.

 

[White.Jessica]

Thanks for caring for this baby! If you're adding water to kibble, please don't leave it out for more than 30 minutes because wetting kibble causes it to breed bacteria very quickly. Dry kibble can be left out for longer periods of time.

My grandma used to be an extreme cat lady (60+ cats at one time, but when you went to her house you never even knew) when I was super little and I always remember her disposing of the dry food if it got soggy or it was wet. I just always assumed this was from her always being clean. I guess in all technicality that is what this is about, since as you stated wetting dry cat food is a breeding ground for bacteria. For some odd reason when I did this this thought went straight out of my head.

Thank you for this