Very Young Foster Kitten - Help!

[chromecat]

Hi everyone, I am in a bit of an emergency here. I am a foster carer but only took care of puppies, and in 2 hours they're bringing me a 2 week old kitten, the lady just can't keep him (they found him) and the kitten hasn't eaten in 1 day, only took some water. I know I will have to feed her every 4-5 hours and make her wee/poo.

I have about 2 hours before the kitten gets here - what do I buy? I have a 5 month old kitten and I will keep them separated, so I am thinking about rubber gloves, syringes, antibacterial... what else? I have booked kitty in at the vet this afternoon and he will provide some formula. I am just panicking a little bit as I have never taken care of a kitty so young - any advice please?

 

[Furballsmom]

Kitten milk replacement, there are recipes on the internet or you can buy it.
wow, you are amazing!!!
EDIT kitten bottles

 

[Margret]

If you can't find kitten bottles on short notice, get some wedge shaped makeup sponges. Wrap one in a cotton handkerchief and let her suckle from it. If you can't find KMR on short notice, goat milk. If she's underweight, add a little honey to it.

You do know that once the emergency is past we're gonna want lots of pictures, right?

Margret

 

[Furballsmom]

 

[chromecat]

UPdate: we went to the vet, he checked her, said she is strong, no fleas, but was SO hungry! Fed her 15 ml of formula on the spot, gave me some to take home and taught me how to do it. At home we placed her in a crate with a stuffed mouse and a warm bottle, she fell asleep next to it. Next week is going to be hard but we're ready to do this!

 

[chromecat]

 

[Etarre]

awwwwww....so very cute! Glad she's eating, and kudos to you for taking care of her.

 

[Furballsmom]

What a darling baby - thanks for the update!!

 

[chromecat]

Ok, she is eating well, kind of sleeping well (cries a little bit). But I can't get her too poop. At all! This morning I massaged and she peed a little bit (a bright yellow was on the cotton pad, which I am happy about). But I thought she would have to pee and poo much more. I am massaging her for a minute or so but nothing. After the milk replacement her stomach is quite rounded and bloated - what do I do? Do I take her to the vet if I can't manage to get her to poop at the next feeding?

 

[Furballsmom]

Tell you what, give your vet a call - it might be that it's taking a while for things to work their way through her system, but in any case, the vet can tell you over the phone what to look for and when.
Hang in there!!

 

[foxden]

Some of our experienced kitten advisors may be able to help.
@margd @Sarthur2 StefanZ
Do you have any advice for chromecat ?

 

[StefanZ]

Im in a hurry now . One reaction is, if she pees just drops she is prob some dehydrated. It adds to the constipation. So she need more fluid / water. Give pedialyte as extra fluid it contains nourisment too.

 

[StefanZ]

OK, now I have read. You got good advices so far. KMR or goats milk. Or what kmr did you got?
Give more often, but somewhat lesser. You can sleep 4-5 hours in the night, as she is strong. Or if you have work to attend. But normally we recommed every 2-3 hours... More tight if in crisis.

As said, she is prob somewhat dehydrated, so give more fluid for a while. If you dont want to give water instead of nourishment, you can give pedialyte, as it does contain some nourishment by itself = glucose sugar.

Good she takes bottle OK. Not all do, not at once at least....

Do burp her after the bottle feeding. As they tend to swallow air while eating from bottle.

If constipation continues, you can add a couple drops of coldpressed rapeseed / canola or olive oil to her formula, every meal till it helps.
Almost any oil will do, but these mentioned are healthy and nourishment by themselves.

chromecat

 

[ashade1]

What a sweetie! I was going to suggest adding oil to the bottle as well!

 

[chromecat]

Updates:

StefanZ
Luckily I work from home so I've been able to give her the bottle (I am actually using a dropper, she takes it straight away. The syringe was a pain!) every 3 hours the whole day. Sometimes 10ml, sometimes 5ml, depending on how hungry she looked. Total since this morning at 8am to 10pm: 60ml of warm water mixed with 1 scoop of MKR in powder, the one my vet gave me. 60ml is also what the label said for 200g kittens, she was 175g yesterday and 177g today but vet said 60ml for the full day is OK. During the night I will have to go in every 2/3 hours to change the rice sock, and she WILL wake up and cry. Can I give 5ml every 4 hours tonight or I cannot go over the 60ml indication? Now it's 11pm and I thinking to give her 5ml at 1pm, 5ml at 5am and then from 8am start the new feeding day. That would be a total of 70ml in 24 hours (but obviously you need to consider all the liquid that goes lost somewhere else instead of her mouth when she wiggles). My only problem is that when she gets 5ml she wants a lot more and cries desperately.

Belly situation: quite rounded and bloated, that's why I am being reluctant to feed her more.
Pee and poo: she peed a few drops during the first few feedings, but in the last two she peed quite a bit (pee was actually dropping from my hand while I was holding her).
Poo: nothing. Maybe I am not stimulating her right or not long enough. She just wiggles when I try. Called the vet earlier today and he said poop might take a couple of days.

After we feed her she cries a little bit then snuggles up close to her rice sock and falls asleep. But as soon as one of us goes into the bathroom to check on her, she starts crying LOUD. She is in a carton box that we're keeping partially close to retain warmth.

We put her next to our kitten (he is 5 months old, in my avatar picture) and they sniffed each other a bit. She tried to go under his belly probably looking for milk. He was super calm and just let her sniff him. However now I am SUPER concerned because I saw on her nose a little spot pinker than the rest of the nose and I am so scared it might be ringworm and I am scarred she passed it to our cat already. We are using an apron each time we have to feed her or massage her but sometimes she just climbs up our t-shirt under the apron. Should I keep them separated? We have carpet in our apartment and that's why it's stressing me out! But she only stay in the spare bathroom, tiled floor, which I'll bleach tomorrow.

So sorry for the long post but I am second guessing myself for literally everything I am doing.

 

[StefanZ]

the rule of thumb is 8ml/30g of bodyweigh, divided around the clock. If she wants more, you can give more, its OK. But she shouldnt have much less. The usual diluation of KMR is 2parts water 1 part powder. Or 3 part goats milk, 1 part powder is a good recipe.
Sometimes you can dilute it a little more if constipated. You can use pedialyte for the extra dilutation. Good she is peeing better now.

Here, begin with adding of oil as said earlier.
Burp her after every feeding.
You can also try with some simethicone - the same as for babies whom got colic. You find it in parent aisle on Walmart or drugstore. A drop or two at a time.

How much isolation? The doc deemed her as healthy. Yet, Its wise to isolate some time till you are SURE she is healthy, the risks isnt that big, but its of course up to you.
I know lotsa rescuers whom do handraise themselves although they do have a perfectly good fostermomma, just because not to take any risk.

The big exception is if the resident is himself a rescued ex homeless. Because in this case you can be entirely sure the immuno-system is well above average... As its a survivor of the thoughest test possible...

Edit simethicone not dimethicone

 

[chromecat]

StefanZ thanks so much for your reply - I feel so lonely in doing this (except for my partner of course, who loves to feed her!) and I think the foster association didn't give me enough directions.

She is 177gr so for my calculation should be about 47.50ml in 24 hours. I have already given her 60ml in 14 hours I will give her 5ml every 4 hours tonight (so another 10ml in total, a whopping 70ml overall for 24 hours). Milk replacement is called di-Vetelact by the way. I will try to dilute it a bit more and tomorrow morning I will add a drop or two of olive oil to each feeding.

I try to burp her placing her against me and patting her gently, but no burps so far.
Yes, doctor said healthy and strong - but she looks so fragile, her eyes are wide open but she struggles to walk. I don't want to put her close to my cat again until I see how the patch on her nose develops. Resident kitten is a rescue but I don't think he was a stray (not sure though).

I never thought I'd say this, but I just really want to see some poop!

Also, she stays in her box in the spare bathroom but as said as soon as we open the door or switch the light on... the alarm goes off and she starts crying until we feed her. If she's still hungry and I put her back, she just won't stop. When she is full enough she snuggles up and sleep until we wake her up for next feeding. So she basically only sleeps and eat, is this normal? Should she be playing? Vet said she must be between 2 and 3 weeks old.

 

[talkingpeanut]

Don’t worry about overfeeding. The little one can have as much as they want, and should be gaining at least 6-10g per day. A round belly is normal.

What is the brand of kmr?

 

[StefanZ]

If she is peeing good, she perhaps doesnt need extra dilutation any longer. The sheer amount of formula gave her enough of fluids. . Im writing this, because if she is that hungry, you could try with a little less dilutation, ie more powder in the batch, giving more substance and filling up better. And this oil - it cant hurt.

ps if 177g and almost 3 weeks, she is underweigh. Even with 2 weeks its somewhat underweigh. Perhaps nothing peculiar she craves more food than what is strictly necessary.

diVetelact seems to be an Australian product. Its surely OK. But can you get say, goats milk? Preferably raw goats milk, but cartooned, bottled or dried should be OK. Sometimes a change of formula is what is helping having constipation (or worse still, diarrhea).
Are you in Australia?

One trick whitch is recommended by our experienced rescue expert catwoman707 is using warm water. This is an old trick, but catwoman got in a nice reinforcement.
You hold the kitten in your hand, face to you, rear end outwards. You let wam water gently run over the end... This by itself is soothing. And - with your other forefinger, you tap regularly on the genitals and behind - feels as mommas tongue...
This works often surprising well.

Of course, make sure there is no draugh, you dry off the kitten afterwards, and have it warm and cozy with a heating pad or IR-lamp. The wet ones are always freezing, no?

 

[chromecat]

Don’t worry about overfeeding. The little one can have as much as they want, and should be gaining at least 6-10g per day. A round belly is normal.

What is the brand of kmr?

It is di-vetelact.