Hi,
I have just joined these forums because to be honest I am looking for some advice, I hope you guys don't mind and may be able to help.
I just got a kitten from my boyfriends sister last night. He is only 45 days (just shy of seven weeks) but she has a lot of pets and they seemed to be doing well, going to the toilet unaided and eating kitten food, so I offered to take him early.
However I did think he seemed very small for seven weeks but haven't had such a small kitten before (my other cats were both recue cats at approx 2 yrs and approx 3 months).
This morning she contacted me to say three of the original six kittens had died and one was very poorly. My kitten had only taken a small amount of kitten milk from a saucer last night in front of me but I had put it down to the stress of a new home, especially since I had bathed him and given a flea tablet that night as he was badly infested. When I checked him immediately after her call he had not eaten or drunk any more and seemed lethargic.
My boyfriends sister contacted me again to say she thought the problem was that the mother's milk had dried up and she hadn't noticed in time, it may have been a couple of days since they were fed from mum and had got more and more tired, unable to feed themselves completely. However her neighbours cat also had a litter of only three and was accepting towards the two survivors she had who were now feeding and going to stay with the neighbour until they were recovered, would I like to bring my kitten as I had no apparatus to try and feed him myself yet?
I only live a street away so took the kitten round immediately. Sadly this didn't work as he refused to feed from the other mum cat but the neighbour gave me a syringe and managed to feed him one ounce of kitten milk. This was at one p.m. today.
However she has never hand reared a kitten either (the syringe was a spare one of the type used to give babies medicine) so couldn't give me much advice other than a rough guess that he would take about an ounce every two hours.
So - sorry for the novel I am writing here by the way! - since one p.m. I have been feeding him on demand and he has taken 6.5oz of pre-mixed kitten milk - does this sound OK?
He has urinated but not had a bowel movement the whole time I have had him - should I be worried?
What else should I be doing other than feeding, grooming (very messy eater!) and keeping him warm?
When should I think about introducing solids back into his diet? I know he is old enough for it but god he is so tiny - especially now I have seen him next to other kittens two weeks younger and a third larger - it is kind of scary.
And finally, should I feel justified in being incredibly annoyed that my boyfriends sister somehow failed to noticed that her kittens were smaller (at 6.5 weeks!) than the neighbours kittens aged 4 weeks! And! That she allowed them to be so infested with fleas the bathwater was bloody last night!
I feel totally out of my depth and just have no idea what I should be doing but want to give this wee guy the best chance he has...any advice would be much appreciated.
I have just joined these forums because to be honest I am looking for some advice, I hope you guys don't mind and may be able to help.
I just got a kitten from my boyfriends sister last night. He is only 45 days (just shy of seven weeks) but she has a lot of pets and they seemed to be doing well, going to the toilet unaided and eating kitten food, so I offered to take him early.
However I did think he seemed very small for seven weeks but haven't had such a small kitten before (my other cats were both recue cats at approx 2 yrs and approx 3 months).
This morning she contacted me to say three of the original six kittens had died and one was very poorly. My kitten had only taken a small amount of kitten milk from a saucer last night in front of me but I had put it down to the stress of a new home, especially since I had bathed him and given a flea tablet that night as he was badly infested. When I checked him immediately after her call he had not eaten or drunk any more and seemed lethargic.
My boyfriends sister contacted me again to say she thought the problem was that the mother's milk had dried up and she hadn't noticed in time, it may have been a couple of days since they were fed from mum and had got more and more tired, unable to feed themselves completely. However her neighbours cat also had a litter of only three and was accepting towards the two survivors she had who were now feeding and going to stay with the neighbour until they were recovered, would I like to bring my kitten as I had no apparatus to try and feed him myself yet?
I only live a street away so took the kitten round immediately. Sadly this didn't work as he refused to feed from the other mum cat but the neighbour gave me a syringe and managed to feed him one ounce of kitten milk. This was at one p.m. today.
However she has never hand reared a kitten either (the syringe was a spare one of the type used to give babies medicine) so couldn't give me much advice other than a rough guess that he would take about an ounce every two hours.
So - sorry for the novel I am writing here by the way! - since one p.m. I have been feeding him on demand and he has taken 6.5oz of pre-mixed kitten milk - does this sound OK?
He has urinated but not had a bowel movement the whole time I have had him - should I be worried?
What else should I be doing other than feeding, grooming (very messy eater!) and keeping him warm?
When should I think about introducing solids back into his diet? I know he is old enough for it but god he is so tiny - especially now I have seen him next to other kittens two weeks younger and a third larger - it is kind of scary.
And finally, should I feel justified in being incredibly annoyed that my boyfriends sister somehow failed to noticed that her kittens were smaller (at 6.5 weeks!) than the neighbours kittens aged 4 weeks! And! That she allowed them to be so infested with fleas the bathwater was bloody last night!
I feel totally out of my depth and just have no idea what I should be doing but want to give this wee guy the best chance he has...any advice would be much appreciated.