Help!! Found very young babies, should I take them in??

[nekochan]

Originally Posted by strange_wings

And I agree with Laureen. With any new animal with a suspicious/unknown past, assume it has something contagious - keep away from your face, wash your hands well, and change clothes - wash clothes in hot. I hope everyone is healthy though and that with good food and care their fur looks better soon. Once they're old enough you can slowly introduce them to your kitties to make sure they get taught proper cat manners, too!

Oh I know, I am definitely being very careful about that... The kittens are being "quarantined" and they are going to stay that way until they are old enough to be FelV/FIV tested and are wormed and checked. I don't want to pass anything to my pets...

I'm going to try to get some more photos of them today, I'll post those when I have them.

 

[nekochan]

Ok I took photos. Excuse the messiness, I had just given them formula mixed with wet food.

This one shows the size difference between the smaller and larger kittens:

This is one of the bigger ones:

This is one of the smaller ones:

 

[mbjerkness]

I wonder if they could be from two different litters, Could Mom be caring for another mom's kittens?

 

[cc12]

Weird. That is quite a discrepancy. I have no idea except what the above poster said.

 

[nekochan]

Originally Posted by mbjerkness

I wonder if they could be from two different litters, Could Mom be caring for another mom's kittens?

I thought of that, but if that were the case it would be odd for them all to be the same colors!

There are three with calico/tortie markings in addition to the stripes (torbie) but only two of the smaller ones have the calico, and one of the larger ones.

 

[sarahp]

It has to be 2 litters. If they have the same colourings, they could have the same father.

 

[cc12]

Originally Posted by sarahp

It has to be 2 litters. If they have the same colourings, they could have the same father.

I was thinking the same.

 

[nekochan]

Originally Posted by mbjerkness

I wonder if they could be from two different litters, Could Mom be caring for another mom's kittens?

I think I figured it out. I think mom may have been carrying two litters conceived at different times.

My vet doesn't think the thing with their tails is ringworm, but she said it does look infected. She suggested treating them with Nolvasan or Chlorhexidrine.

 

[ipw533]

I recommend a wet canned mix formulated for kittens with KMR mixed in--a kind of slurry that can either be administered with a feeding syringe or that the kittens can eat themselves. They appear to be at an age where they would still be nursing off of their mother but would also be eating on their own; at this point the mother begins to wean them. She would later teach them to hunt and after that they would be responsible for themselves.

Since you do not have Mom, you are now Mom. You will need to socialize and feed the kittens until such time as they can be adopted out--good luck....

 

[nekochan]

I am a little worried about the smaller kittens. They are all eating well but the smaller ones are not growing as quickly as the larger ones, so basically the size difference is getting bigger... The last time I weighed them was 2-3 days ago (planning to weigh again tonight) and the smaller kittens were 6-8 ounces and the larger ones were 12-14 ounces.

I have started giving more canned food and everyone seems to be eating well, but I still give formula to make sure they are all getting enough. They are all really sweet, they usually purr when I pick them up.