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- May 19, 2019
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Hi, I’m new here, but I really need some help and opinions to for my (roughly) 7 week old kitten. Its kind of a long story, but if anyone is willing to read it all and give advice or opinions it will be SO amazing.
So, about two, going on three, weeks ago, i brought home three 4-5 week old kittens, as their lives were at potential risk, they were born in the hay bale stall of a barn with 7 horses in stalls around them, they had 4 siblings, who were crushed under hay bales, because the owner didn’t know that any kittens were in the stall. The mother of the 3 remaining kittens is VERY skiddish and scared of humans and so were the kittens before we brought them home. It is also believed that the mother is simply a foster mother because the kittens coats look nothing like their mother or fathers, but very much like that of another female cat who was pregnant at the same time, but clearly didn’t want to be a mom. So bringing the kittens home, within hours all three were completely new kittens, not scared of people, playful, playing with toys, running around, using a litter box. The next day, one of the kittens, who we call Batman, started eating wet cat food, with a small amount of milk from a bottle every once in awhile, but primarily on wet food. after a few days, the same for kitten number two, Chloe, these two kittens are now starting to eat hard food, and no longer want the bottle. but kitten number three, Nova Mae, refuses anything other than a bottle. we have tried everything we can think of and we are getting worried, but aren’t sure if it is too early to be so worried, we have tried
• putting the bottled milk into a small bowl and guiding her to it with dipping a finger, using the nipple itself, letting her drink a small amount then pouring it into the bowl, to learn to lap, she only wants the nipple and bottle.
• putting soft food on the finger to try to guide her to it
• very slowly reducing the amounts of feeding she gets in hopes she will get slightly hungry and try to eat (never starving her EVER, still giving her a bottle when the other two get soft food)
•giving soft food before the bottle
•mixing the milk with soft food to get her to eat it.
and everything else we can possibly think of. she doesn’t even attempt to lap it even if it is still only bottled milk. i know it can take up to 8-10 weeks, we just love her very much and are worried that because her siblings caught on so quickly and she hasn’t, that we are doing something wrong. all the tricks we used for Batman and Chloe have not worked for her. she doesn’t have any symptoms of illness. she is perfectly healthy. runs around with lots of energy and plays all day long with her siblings. with almost more energy it seems, and nothing has worked. i know this thread is very long but the details matter to get help for her. PLEASE give any advice you may know or words of wisdom or just anything to help us do what we can to make sure Miss Nova Mae is the best kitty she can be. if you have read the whole thing, THANK YOU. PLEASE HELP!
So, about two, going on three, weeks ago, i brought home three 4-5 week old kittens, as their lives were at potential risk, they were born in the hay bale stall of a barn with 7 horses in stalls around them, they had 4 siblings, who were crushed under hay bales, because the owner didn’t know that any kittens were in the stall. The mother of the 3 remaining kittens is VERY skiddish and scared of humans and so were the kittens before we brought them home. It is also believed that the mother is simply a foster mother because the kittens coats look nothing like their mother or fathers, but very much like that of another female cat who was pregnant at the same time, but clearly didn’t want to be a mom. So bringing the kittens home, within hours all three were completely new kittens, not scared of people, playful, playing with toys, running around, using a litter box. The next day, one of the kittens, who we call Batman, started eating wet cat food, with a small amount of milk from a bottle every once in awhile, but primarily on wet food. after a few days, the same for kitten number two, Chloe, these two kittens are now starting to eat hard food, and no longer want the bottle. but kitten number three, Nova Mae, refuses anything other than a bottle. we have tried everything we can think of and we are getting worried, but aren’t sure if it is too early to be so worried, we have tried
• putting the bottled milk into a small bowl and guiding her to it with dipping a finger, using the nipple itself, letting her drink a small amount then pouring it into the bowl, to learn to lap, she only wants the nipple and bottle.
• putting soft food on the finger to try to guide her to it
• very slowly reducing the amounts of feeding she gets in hopes she will get slightly hungry and try to eat (never starving her EVER, still giving her a bottle when the other two get soft food)
•giving soft food before the bottle
•mixing the milk with soft food to get her to eat it.
and everything else we can possibly think of. she doesn’t even attempt to lap it even if it is still only bottled milk. i know it can take up to 8-10 weeks, we just love her very much and are worried that because her siblings caught on so quickly and she hasn’t, that we are doing something wrong. all the tricks we used for Batman and Chloe have not worked for her. she doesn’t have any symptoms of illness. she is perfectly healthy. runs around with lots of energy and plays all day long with her siblings. with almost more energy it seems, and nothing has worked. i know this thread is very long but the details matter to get help for her. PLEASE give any advice you may know or words of wisdom or just anything to help us do what we can to make sure Miss Nova Mae is the best kitty she can be. if you have read the whole thing, THANK YOU. PLEASE HELP!
