Daily Kitten Chat Forum » General Chat

1. 

   Hello All,

   Firstly, I could cry with relief at finding this site and its been so helpful already, thank you!

   Here's the story so far...

   On Thursday, I went to Volunteer at the local animal clinic as usual and 3 tiny kittens were bought in that were orphaned and wild. Their eyes are just opening and they are shakily crawling around, so i think that they are coming up to about 10-14 days old. Anyway, I suggested that I could take them on to get them big and healthy enough for rehoming (I am currently an expat, so sadly cannot offer them a long term homeas much as I would love to, it wouldn't be fair on them further down the line). We welcomed Mia, Margot and Boo to our lives. They are beautiful.

   However, I am so worried. 3.5 days later and they are all eating well from the bottle. They sleep well too and are affectionate. They have all urinated but only Boo has poo'd this morning (browny/orange - and long but quite firm) - after which he did not want to eat. This was at 8.30 and I had last fed them at 4.30am. Sorry for the long post but here are my questions...

   - Is it ok to be feeding them every 4 hours at this stage - i.e. 8.30am, 12.30. 4.30pm, 8.30, 12.30, 4.30am - 6 times a day?
   -Is it usual that in 3.5 days only one of them has pooped?
   - Is it possible that we just overfed Boo last night and that was why he didn't want to eat or is the poo + no eating syptomatic of something worse?

   Its 2 hours until the next feed and I am desperate to get Boo up and try again, check he's ok but the three of them are sleeping, curled around the hot water bottle and my t-shirt - so I will resist!

   Sorry again for the long post and if you have any words of wisdom, i'd be desperatley grateful. Thank you x

   Posted 2 years ago by scaredymama #

2. 

   Hi, Scaredymama and welcome to TDK! We LOVE people who foster kitties, you are a star in our eyes!

   I'm not sure where you are. I'm in New Zealand and just checking in. We have many very experienced kitty foster mums on TDK but many of them are in the US (still asleep now), one is in South Africa and some in the UK (possibly not up yet on a Sunday), so the first thing is to keep checking back, as I'm sure many people will jump in to help you, but it may take some time.

   In the meantime, I'll do the best I can. If you are worried about Mia and Margot, you could try adding a drop or two of vegetable oil (eg olive oil) to their formula. Are you stimulating them to poo/pee before and after feeding? If you click on the two pink tags I've added in the top right hand corner, poop and constipation, you will see many previous threads on this subject -- it's a perennial favourite on TDK. (We do a virtual happy dance for successful poop!)
   I would not expect to be seeing too much poop when they are only on formula. I'll give you some good kitten rearing sites that should help:
   www.­messybeast.­com/­handrear.­htm
   Messybeast is highly recommended by Skyron, our SA kitty foster mum and it has loads of information!

   These other three are good too, and the first one has a section called 'The poop on scoop' which may help.
   http://www.kittenrescue.org/pages.php?pageid=15
   http://www.fanciers.com/cat-faqs/orphans.shtml
   http://www.feralcat.com/raising.html

   Good luck and, as I say, keep checking back. We would love to see pix of your little ones!

   Posted 2 years ago by jcat #

3. 

   Dear JCat,

   Thank you so much for your reply - its so helpful. I'm in Mahe, Seychelles - only been here a couple of months, so a scaredymama all around!

   I love that succesful poops are celebrated! I'm going to feed them all again in about 40 minutes and do as you say, before and after (I must admit that I was only doing it beforehand as they come over very sleepy after their feed) and see what luck we have. I may well post the story of the feed here after (I have a feelng I will become a real kitten bore).

   I will of course post the pics (I'm not sure quite how to on this site, but i'll work it out - I have some good ones already).

   Thank you again, I very much appreciate it x

   Posted 2 years ago by scaredymama #

4. 

   Hi again, Scaredymama, really glad if that's of any help :)

   You can add a pic of your babies as your avatar (go to your profile, hit edit information then go to the gravatar site where you can upload a photo), or submit one to the Kittenmaster for kitten of the day, or start a Catster page -- click on my avatar to see my Catster pages for Libby and Jasper.

   We are all crazy kitten bores on this site, please keep in touch! And, as I said, please keep checking back for good advice! We are not vets but everybody helps whenever they can.

   Posted 2 years ago by jcat #

5. 

   Welcome ScaredyMama to TDK!!! Thanks so much for taking care of those babies!!

   Posted 2 years ago by Buttercup #

6. 

   I don't know if we can post links or I'd put one up (an article written by a wildlife rescue person) that details how to care for newborn kittens. In the meantime, I'll try to find the article and describe what steps I can.

   Posted 2 years ago by lusioncat1 #

7. 

   Hi Scaredymama! So glad you found us! You truly are a hero to be taking on these little ones. God Bless you! The links that JCat posted are great ones! Please keep us posted on how these little ones progress! =D

   Lusioncat1....Yes..you can copy/paste links here to great information from all over the web! We've all learned great stuff that way! =D

   Posted 2 years ago by Karenopa #

8. 

   Welcome Scardeymama! You have a great kind heart to take in the orphaned kitties... Remember, as posted earlier, that there are not a lot of solids in formula, so there is not much to poop... once they get going, they will probably poop every other day for a while... then every day. As long as they are continuing to act normally for them, don't worry too much. What you do need to watch for is dehydration in the little ones. so if Boo is not taking his next feed, you might want to find some unflavored pedialyte and mix the formula with that rather than water... Do keep posting! And good luck with the little ones!

   Posted 2 years ago by nawlins catmom #

9. 

   Thank you all so, so much - your lovely posts have really, really helped.

   Fortunatley, Boo did take his next feeds and seems to be very happy. Mia ate so well that when she finished she looked slightly dreamy and fell asleep almost immediatley. They are all going for a wee after stimulation but no more poop. I am officially on poop watch!

   I'm taking them back to the clinic on Tuesday to ask advice about fleas etc and to get them to just have a check over the kittens and make sure all is ok.

   I say this whilst touching wood, but they are just coming on so sweetly. I have them in a carrier to sleep with my old cardi and hot water bottle and then a big old drawer with pillow cases etc for a while before and after feeding and they are crawling around, looking over the edge of the drawer and generally being kittens...and very much loving affection and being handled.

   I'm really hoping that they make it and go on to be happy cats.

   Anyway, thank you again...this site (and your posts) are a sanity saver...

   Night all x

   Posted 2 years ago by scaredymama #

10. 

    You are giving them that chance! Brava!

    Posted 2 years ago by nawlins catmom #

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