5-6 Week Old Stray

[ilovelucykitty]

Hey everyone. This past weekend, my mom and I found an abandoned cat on local railroad tracks. We waited for two hours to see if a mama cat was coming back to get her or not, but she never did. We decided to take her home and take care of her because it didn’t look like she was going to survive the night. The next morning we took her to the vet and got her de-wormed, and got a cream because she had an eye infection. We thought she was only 2-3 weeks old because she only weighed 8 oz. The vet confirmed she was 5-6 weeks old and was severely underweight and the mama cat probably abandoned her because she was the runt. We have had her for a few days now and she started to eat better. We tried bottles but she would drink the milk replacement or lap it. She refuses to drink water which really makes me nervous. She ate wet food really well today. We have a friend who is a vet and said she should eat about 2/3 rds or more of the can a day. She did that today, but she also pooped 7 times. The only solid one was the first. She also won’t poop in litter, only on a certain bath mat in my bathroom. She was really cuddly all day, but when I got up tonight to check on her half way through the night she was going crazy. I made her a bottle because I read that the diarrhea may because she was weaned too quickly, but she just chewed hardly on the nipple. She was like frantic. I brought her back to my room and tried cuddling with her but she was biting my fingers and trying to bite my nose and lips a lot. I read to say no or ouch and remove her but she would just come back on top of me and try to bite me even more. I got the canned food out and she ate a good amount. I’m just worried about her tummy and her behavior. She calmed down and was falling asleep so I put her back to bed and she cried minimally and and quieted down now so I think she’s asleep. My mom isn’t as worried as I am, but she’s just so little and I know diarrhea isn’t good. Also she won’t drink or lap water so I don’t want her to get dehydrated. We mixed even more water into the canned wet food just to try to get some more liquid into her. I held her and cuddled/played with her from 11:00 am-4:00 pm and then again from 5:30 pm-9:00 pm, so she got a lot of attention today. I just need tips or reassurance that I’m doing something right. I know this post is really long but I’m just worried.

Side note: we have taken care of kittens even younger than this before. my three cats were abandoned in my bushes by mama cat and we took them inside because they wouldn’t have survived the night (it was going to be -4). They didn’t even have their eyes open yet and we took care of them and bottle fed them and stimulated their potties.

 

[UnoMama]

I got Uno off the streets at the same age ~6 weeks and he was pretty malnourished too.

You're doing well.
Keep in mind it's a strange new environment, it might be that she takes a day or two to get used to food and water bowls and starts using them a bit more regularly (the water specially). The nighttime craziness could also be due to the strange environment and that she's not used to this routine (she must've been sleeping and waking at weird hours earlier). Give her some time to calm down.
Definitely go for more wet food, and yes, mix in water.

At this age though, she's old enough to eat on her own, so I'd think no real need for bottles? Give her the milk replacement in a bowl if she's having it - it's probably good nourishment since she's underweight, but if she's eating wet kitten food it's more suited to her age and she should do ok on it.

On her behaviour ... the excessive biting is something she would have done with her mom/siblings for attention and she (likely) didn't spend enough time with them to learn better social ways. She'll be nippy for a while I suspect .... just keep reinforcing that you are NOT into it, and remove her from your bed a few times if necessary.

Definitely check in with the vet for diarrhea - I didn't face anything like that so unfortunately I can't offer anything useful on that.

Above all, try not to worry. She's a fighter who's made it this far, I'm sure she'll be ok.

 

[Sarthur2]

What a cute kitten! The diarrhea is likely from the dewormer and the new food — new to her. Just keep feeding her small amounts of wet food about 4-5 times a day, dishes of kitten formula, and leave dry kitten chow and water available 24/7. Right now she is getting most of her fluids from the wet food and milk, so she may not drink much water yet. Her stool should firm up in the next few days.

Start putting her in the litter box before and after meals, and put it where the bath rug is. She should catch on soon. She’s a baby and has probably never used a box before since she lived outside.

As you know, kittens are full of energy and very playful. Get a toy on a stick so you can let her chase it and use up some of her energy a couple of times a day. Without another kitten to play with you’ll need to be her playmate.

She’s lucky that you found her!

 

[UnoMama]

Oh and if giving her dry food … make sure it’s soaked in water. This is also a good way of ensuring some water intake, and she’s too young to chew the dry food right now anyway