Orphaned Kitten First Night

So My Neighbor Called....

May 28th, 2014
And she asked for the "kitten expert"...my first thoughts were "uh oh"... 

A few years ago in the last apartment that we'll hopefully ever live in, I found a couple stray kittens at our complex. Well that little endeavor turned into my husband and I working with our apartment manager to catch, vaccinate, spay/neuter, release (if they were feral) and find homes for the friendly stray cats. Proud to say that by the time we moved out, all of the cats in our area had been spay/neutered. I think we helped close to 15 cats, and we have a wonderful local vet to thank because we paid for all of it out of pocket and she gave us a great discount for the services.  

Well last night my neighbor called me over to show me what she found. A tiny fluffy white kitten!

Unfortunately the kitten was dehydrated and had been out all night - they were hoping the mama cat would come back and she didn't. So my neighbor asked if I could take her because the last thing they wanted was cat especially one so small.

Quick to act I called the local farm feed store which was closing in ten minutes, explained my predicament and asked them to wait for me.

They came through! And they had farm fresh goats milk! An excellent substitute for natural mother's milk as opposed to a powdered formula.

So I armed myself to fight for this baby's life - Here's what you need:

• Emergency feeding kit - with bottle and probiotics.
• Syringe - in case she wouldn't take the bottle.
• Goats Milk - (Apparently cows milk is really hard on a kitty's tummy, even adult cats should avoid cows milk. And a natural milk such as goat is a better option than formula.)
• Nesting Box with towels - the mother prepares a nest for her kittens that is only big enough for them to turn around in, they need to be kept warm to snuggling is key.
• Heating Pad - kittens need to be kept warm or they can suffer hypothermia

Luckily she didn't have fleas, wasn't too lethargic and she seemed relatively healthy with no breathing or eye issues. She perked right up after her first feeding.

I also immediately called a friend of mine who is a Veterinary Technician. Based on how small she is, eyes open but light sensitive, ears uncurled but not entirely upright and the fact that she sleeps all the time and crawls a little (not quite walking yet) we're estimating her to be close to 2 1/2 - 3 weeks old at the max.

She needs to be on a liquid diet and fed every 2-3 hours, and she must be stimulated to go potty.

I was also informed that sometimes kittens die for no reason at all this can be due to in-breeding. In-breeding issues can sometimes result in a healthy looking kitten that could in fact have internal issues or abnormalities. Usually the mother knows and so she will abandon the baby - hopefully that's not the case with this little one!

After my quick trip to the feed store, I arrived home just in time to meet my husband and break the news to him. He's such a great sport! Next thing I know, he has the kitten in his lap and is gently waking her up while I prepared the bottle. She refused the bottle so we ended up using the syringe to gently squirt milk into her mouth. She did a good job eating!

Another thing I learned:
Its better to feed them small quantities regularly than to over-feed them which can lead to bloating and tummy digestive problems.

And then last but not least before and after every feeding the kitten should be stimulated to go potty, and groomed gently because this is what the mother would do after feeding time.

In order to use this we used warm wet cotton balls to gently wipe her face and bottom with, another success!

Also being so tiny they are susceptible to getting sick if you aren't careful. So you want to make sure you wash your hands before and after handling the kitten, sterilizing all feeding tools after each use, and keeping her away from other animals especially cats. My friend said that since our dogs are fully vaccinated and cats/dogs don't typically share diseases they would probably be ok together. On that note, Dante and Ziva were definitely curious! Dante being older was much more calm about meeting the little kitten, Ziva on the other hand was way to excited so we couldn't allow her to be to close.

We ended up holding and snuggling her during a movie, then placed her in the nesting box I created and set my alarm for every 2 hours.

My husband with a bottle

Sleeping baby with a full tummy!