Daily Kitten Chat Forum » General Chat

1. 

   Hey guys,
   First of all thanks to everyone here. Its because of TDK that I found out so much.

   Anyways, we found an abandoned kitty, luckily people in the area marked that they were born 21 days ago. Eyes fully opened with scratchy balance. We named him tiger.....cause he looks like that. This particular kitty was abandoned by its mom. We bought him home 3 days ago. Before I checked online because he was crying we fed him cow's milk for 3 times in 12 hours and then after seeing posts here stopped immediately. We were in horror but he stopped crying. Now the next challenge was making him pee and we got him to do that in 2 days but no poo. We started feeding him baby formula. He kept loving it and we kept feeding it that and then we realised that was a mistake too but poo'd today. His stool is brown and yellow when disturbed. Its not solid but rather thick cream type poo (lacking sophistication in describing this as we are panicking). Now we live in Bangladesh which is not really a super pet friendly country in terms of pet dedicated products on the market. We have searched everywhere but no kitten formula or kitten milk substitute. And since I am speaking about this as is I might just ask you guys a bunch of questions together. Please try and help....we are so worried.

   1) He shakes or vibrates when we sleep. We have a warm water bottle with him where he sleep but still he shivers. We have an AC running as our weather is really hot but its on 25 C so its not terribly cold and he is always covered by his blank, should I worry?

   2) What should I feed him going forward?

   3) Do kittens this age drink water?

   4) How frequently do we feed him? We presently are doing 3-4 hours and he eats and sleep but we don't know whether its enough. The recommended feeding at his age is 26ml every 8 hours but he never ever drinks that much even if we force him which we haven't done to forcibly? What should we do?

   5) Can't tell whether he has a fever but sometime he sneezes but not much just a few times a day, could be the blanket right?

   6) We have a vet for our other pets, should be take him in?

   Please please please let me know and I will be forever grateful.

   Lots of love and warm hugs from asia....

   Matt and Synthia Islam

   Posted 7 months ago by Matt #

2. 

   Hi Matt & Synthia, thanks so much for taking care of this little one.

   We have several people here who have raised tiny abandoned kittens, but while we wait for them to chime in, here's a thread with some links to very useful sites with lots of good advice: http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/topic/31105

   Posted 7 months ago by Kilroy #

3. 

   Thanks kilroy........I will appreciate any help I can get at this point...he's so adorable and strong it seems that we don't want to lose him and remain worried. I will read up on those linked sites now....

   Posted 7 months ago by Matt #

4. 

   www.messybeast.com is an excellent site for all your kitten and cat needs

   Posted 7 months ago by CSBM #

5. 

   1) yes, it is normal for kittens to shake while sleeping, especially if they dont have littermates. It doesnt have as much to do with temprature as it does with psychological comfort of snuggling up to a buddy. Try putting a soft toy in with him to snuggle.

   2) nutritionally speaking, human baby formula wont kill him. It doesnt have all the nutrients he needs, but the poop you describe sounds excellent. If you can find goat's milk it would be better, but its not essential. He'll be a bit smaller than most cats of his age, but he will have a chance to regain the nutrition when he starts eating solid food - which happens at 4 weeks of age, so he doesnt have long untill then.

   3) no, no water for them just yet, unless he becomes dehydrated or constipated. His diet at the moment is all liquid so he doesnt need water.

   4) at his age, every 3-4 hours feeding is great. Personally I dont follow a very strict guide for amount to eat, more of a general guideline. 15 ml at every feed would be what I expect for him. Please dont force him to eat more, it will do more harm than good.

   5) sneezing can be an early sign of an oncoming cold, which is serious for little kittens. Watch him closely - if his nose/eys become goopy & snotty, or he stops eating he needs to see a vet for antibiotics.

   6) If you want to take him to vet, it would be great. It doesnt sound like he needs to go urgently, but a general check-up and a dose of deworming medication, as well as some tips from a vet about what to do would probably help you (and him) a lot.

   Thank you for taking in this little guy & good luck with raising him :)

   Posted 7 months ago by Skyron #

6. 

   There is always good advice here..Just to be on the safe side, have this little one looked at by the vet. Thank you for saving him.. :)

   Posted 7 months ago by caroline #

7. 

   My understanding is that cows milk or human baby formula does not have enough nutrients to support healthy kitten growth; the Messybeast site gives instructions on supplementing it:

   "If commercial kitten formula is not available, a suitable feed mixture for healthy kittens is 1.6 ml evaporated milk, 1.6 ml cooled boiled water, 1 level teaspoon glucose, 1 small egg yolk (no white at all). One recommended by a veterinarian is 3 oz condensed milk, 3 oz water, 3 oz plain full fat yoghurt, 3 large or 4 small egg yolks (no whites). An alternative is kitten glop...KITTEN GLOP

   Kitten Glop is a suitable feed mixture for healthy kittens and is also good for lactating queens. Most recipes refer to American brand names which are not understood outside of the USA/Canada. I have converted these to generic terms and noted alternatives.

   Ingredients

   1 envelope unflavoured gelatine
   water per gelatine package directions (approx 12 oz)
   1 12 oz can whole evaporated milk (not skimmed) See notes
   3 tablespoons plain yoghurt (not low fat)
   3 teaspoons clear corn syrup See notes
   3 tablespoons mayonnaise
   1 or 2 raw egg yolks (optional) See notes
   Notes

   If you have canned goat's milk available, use this instead as it reduces the likelihood of lactose intolerance problems. Sheep's milk is even higher in fat but not generally available in cans.

   Some recipes use 2 tablespoons mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons plain yoghurt and omit the corn syrup entirely.

   Clear corn syrup (e.g. "Karo" brand in the US) is a concentrated glucose solution. It contains 15% - 20% dextrose (glucose), a mixture of other types of sugar and may be flavoured with vanilla. Dark corn syrup is made with molasses and is more strongly flavoured. Glucose solution may be used instead.

   Raw eggs can be a source of salmonella. Do not use any egg white in the mixture, it can prevent other nutrients from being digested.

   Kitty vitamins and/or acidophilus are sometimes added. Only add vitamins if the diet is deficient in them - vitamins can be dangerous in too high quantities (hypervitaminosis) and vitamin imbalances affect development.

   Method

   Boil the water and mix in gelatine powder. Add the other ingredients in the following order, mixing well after each addition: half of the canned milk, corn syrup (if used), mayonnaise + yoghurt, egg yolk (if used), remainder of the canned milk. Use either an egg beater or a blender set to low speed.

   Serve the glop at room temperature or slightly warmed since the kittens will be used to warm milk. Warming the mixture makes it more pungent and therefore more appetising. Do not pour back unused portions into the stored mix as it may introduce contaminants.

   Glop sets into a jelly when refrigerated. It can either be stored in the fridge in a covered container for up to 2 weeks or frozen into individual portions in ice cube trays and defrosted as needed. Freezing it is very convenient, but it must be properly thawed before serving as cold food will cause stomach upsets in young kittens."

   It looks like they are adding egg yolk and a couple other things to the milk.

   Posted 7 months ago by Kiplings_cat #

8. 

   If you do use human baby formula, it's best to use it at double strength but if you can get goats' milk, as Skyron says, that would be best. Here are some more recipes for kitten glop (milk substitute): http://www.hdw-inc.com/glop.htm

   Make sure that, in his nest, he has enough room to move off the hot water bottle if he gets too hot. He can't regulate his own body temp at this age so you don't want him to get overheated either, but it sounds like he's doing fine.

   You've got some great advice above and the Messybeast site is brilliant. Good luck and welcome to the site! We would love some pix and progress reports (hint, hint).

   Posted 7 months ago by jcat #

9. 

   canned goat's milk is available in any grocery store in the baking aisle...

   Posted 7 months ago by CSBM #

10. 

    Yes, but they're in Bangladesh, CSBM.

    Posted 7 months ago by jcat #

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