I posted a few nights ago in regards to the near-feral cat I'm trying to domesticate. Well, it seems I found the solution, or maybe I should say, the solution found me. Just yesterday, a baby kitten was also put into my care. The next-to-feral cat INSTANTLY warmed up to her, AND me... He almost acts like parent to her. She was playing with some of the wires to my surround sound in my tv room, and before I could even get up and move her, he was pushing her away from them... lol
Now, however, I'm having some kitten troubles... she is by FAR the smallest and youngest kitten I've ever been put in charge of. Hence the name I've given her, Shrimp. I've read mixed opinions about this in online FAQs and other references, so I thought I'd ask where the real experts seem to hang out.
She is old enough to eat actual food. She should still be nursing, which I'll get to here in a moment, but, as far as food goes, I'm completely stuck. If I feed her the soft, canned, moist food, she eats so fast that it upsets her stomach and gives her diarrhea (She is very litterbox aware and makes sure to use it every time surprisingly). If I feed her solid kitten chow (like out of the bag).. the chewy stuff of course, she doesn't eat as fast therefore doesn't get sick, but it literally hurts ME listening to her try to chew that food. And like I said, thats not even your typical hard bag food. Thats the moist chewy kind. She REALLY needs to put on some weight, and she eats more often if its canned, but that can't be helping her gain weight if she develops diarrhea from eating it so fast. I've seen another kitten that ate it too fast, except she would throw up after her meals. So first question, what should I do about the food situation?
And second, she VERY rarely drinks the water I have put out for them. She DOES drink it, but like I said, its rare and very little. It doesn't seem to be effecting her health THUS FAR but I'm a bit concerned that she doesn't drink more. Also, this morning, I got up to grab some more cereal, and when I got back into my living room from my kitchen, she had literally climbed up my coffee table, and got on top of it. And she was up on her back legs, with her head inside of my milk glass drinking my milk. So obviously she would prefer nursing on her mother's milk as opposed to going to water already (I do give them RO bottled water, by the way). Although, I've been told (I don't know how much of this is true, because I have no experience with kittens quite this young...any I've helped were already to the point of drinking water regularly) that the replacement formula stuff for nursing kittens can be bad for them and often can cause UTI's... is that true, and should I just keep her on water hoping she'll adjust, or should I get her going on that formula ASAP???
just FYI - having her nurse from her mother is out of the question. Nothing is known about her for certain, or the mother. The person who found her literally had to stop traffic on a fairly busy gravel road and put her in the car because she was out there alone dodging traffic, no houses nearby, but believe me, she is far from being scared of humans... she slept on my shoulder most of last night... lol
Now, however, I'm having some kitten troubles... she is by FAR the smallest and youngest kitten I've ever been put in charge of. Hence the name I've given her, Shrimp. I've read mixed opinions about this in online FAQs and other references, so I thought I'd ask where the real experts seem to hang out.
She is old enough to eat actual food. She should still be nursing, which I'll get to here in a moment, but, as far as food goes, I'm completely stuck. If I feed her the soft, canned, moist food, she eats so fast that it upsets her stomach and gives her diarrhea (She is very litterbox aware and makes sure to use it every time surprisingly). If I feed her solid kitten chow (like out of the bag).. the chewy stuff of course, she doesn't eat as fast therefore doesn't get sick, but it literally hurts ME listening to her try to chew that food. And like I said, thats not even your typical hard bag food. Thats the moist chewy kind. She REALLY needs to put on some weight, and she eats more often if its canned, but that can't be helping her gain weight if she develops diarrhea from eating it so fast. I've seen another kitten that ate it too fast, except she would throw up after her meals. So first question, what should I do about the food situation?
And second, she VERY rarely drinks the water I have put out for them. She DOES drink it, but like I said, its rare and very little. It doesn't seem to be effecting her health THUS FAR but I'm a bit concerned that she doesn't drink more. Also, this morning, I got up to grab some more cereal, and when I got back into my living room from my kitchen, she had literally climbed up my coffee table, and got on top of it. And she was up on her back legs, with her head inside of my milk glass drinking my milk. So obviously she would prefer nursing on her mother's milk as opposed to going to water already (I do give them RO bottled water, by the way). Although, I've been told (I don't know how much of this is true, because I have no experience with kittens quite this young...any I've helped were already to the point of drinking water regularly) that the replacement formula stuff for nursing kittens can be bad for them and often can cause UTI's... is that true, and should I just keep her on water hoping she'll adjust, or should I get her going on that formula ASAP???
just FYI - having her nurse from her mother is out of the question. Nothing is known about her for certain, or the mother. The person who found her literally had to stop traffic on a fairly busy gravel road and put her in the car because she was out there alone dodging traffic, no houses nearby, but believe me, she is far from being scared of humans... she slept on my shoulder most of last night... lol