I just discovered 3 young kittens last night. Apparently their mother was one of several feral cats (people like to dump cats around here and they are usually wild - untouchables. Anyway it took me about 3 hours to extract the 3 kittens from where they were, and they are quite young. How long they had been abandoned I am not sure, but I am guessing a couple of days (I think I know which cat was their mother).
Any suggestions on how and what to feed them? Maybe just as important anything I shouldn't feed them? Any special care?
I do not know their age but I had to wash the eyes of 2 of them to get them opened this morning. I'll upload a photo to my photos - the java loader didn't work with my Safari browser.
Tim
Any suggestions on how and what to feed them? Maybe just as important anything I shouldn't feed them? Any special care?
I do not know their age but I had to wash the eyes of 2 of them to get them opened this morning. I'll upload a photo to my photos - the java loader didn't work with my Safari browser.
Tim
Comments
This is a very brave deed of yours to take the three kittens!
I do not know if you have time, but usually it is strongly recommended to show rescued pets to a vet as soon as possible. He will examine them and will make some vaccinations, if necessary.
As to feeding, you can give them substitute of cat milk. It is usually sold in pet shops. Although, when we rescued our cat (he was very young, though his eyes had already been open; apparently he was several weeks old), we used to give him usual cow milk. Also, you can make a special blend: 5 mL of 10% cream + 3 mL of bolied water + 2 mL of glucose. Give them 2-3 mL of this blend each feeding time. Assuming that the kittens are several weeks old, feeding interval should be around 3 hours. If you decide to show them to a vet, he may give you some suggestions too.
You may use a simple syringe to give them milk / the blend. Without a needle, of course!!
I hope the little sweeties will be okay!!
P.S. The Java loader doesn't work with my Opera, either. But I simply use FireFox (or non-Java way) to upload anything.
FYI: Kittens don't like baths. Just gave all 3 baths due to fleas. Use Dawn Dishwater detergent to kill fleas while not hurting the animal.
I had rescued 2 kittens about the same age as the ones you have there Tim, judging by the picture.
What you should also do is gently rub their belly, so that their bowel movement is activated. Also using a tissue dipped in warm water to rub their little bum will help them urinate and should also help them poop.
If you see them not pooping once a day, and their bellies getting larger you should take them to the vet asap if you haven't already. They might have worms in this case too.
Good luck and let us know how you're doing!
We live in the country and people love to dump cats here. Most are wild - feral and can't be touched. We started the year with 12 adults. Apparently 4 of those had litters. To my knowledge we now have had 17 kittens this Spring. My bother has taken 2 which leaves 15 here including these latest 4. They are the youngest.
One of the mothers is partially tamed; she will allow me to pet her especially at feeding time. After trying to wrestle with 4 kittens climbing everywhere, I decided to try and see if she would foster them. SO as of this morning, I left them with her. Her own are weaned and eating. And at least 2 of these 4 started eating the food I gave to the older kittens (dry food mixed with warm water). Last I checked, she had all of them still with her.
Now the key is to try and handle them daily so when they are older they are not wild. Then I can adopt them out or most of them. We will keep a few here.
I think it is very-very good that you have a mom-cat that could try to foster them. I hope she'll do that!
Did the 4 kittens get into a trap that you had to extract them? Where were they?
And yes 4 litters of kittens produced 17; my brother took 2 and I have managed to get rid of 1 other so we have 14. I have separated 4 into their own holding cell because they are very unfriendly - I had to trap them. I try to handle and pet each kitten daily to get it use to humans and friendly so we can give them to others in the community.
The mother cat is looking after all 10 under her charge now.
I can't understand it how people can dump pets!