aprox. 3 week old Vietnamese kitten --EMERGENCY__

meaganandalbert

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Hi all, 

I was riding my motorbike to work today and saw a kitten tied up in a plastic bag. I got the kitten out and took her home, she drank some water and ate a small prawn. She is so small (palm size) but eyes open and able to groom,lap water and chew food. She may be an older runt. 

This is Vietnam, there is no pet store and no vets anywhere so please don't suggest that, i would if they existed.

The kittens belly is very bloated and the rest of her is skin and bones. I've tried stimulating her to poop but nothing yet.

I really need your help;

1- An alternative (home-made) formula or something for humans that i may be able to hunt down.

2- I found whiskers wet food at Big C can i give her some?

3- How often should I feed her (She is starved so it needs to be gradual but how gradual?

4- There is no vet so anything on natural de-worming would be helpful but probably doesn't exist.

5- any other info that you can give me.

This is a third-world country, I don't have access to any veterinary services I really need whatever you can give me (even if not entirely reccomended) to give this little baby a shot at life.

Thank you,

Meagan
 

Kat0121

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Thank you for taking this little one in. She is lucky to have you.

Can you please post a picture of her so we can get an idea of how old she might be or what condition she is in? 

so she hasn't pooped yet but have you seen anything near her bum that might indicate she has worms? The bloated belly is one sign but sometimes you can see evidence near the anus. 

I did find a link to a site listing natural remedies for worms in pets

http://www.petremedycharts.com/Lear...n to Herbs/Herbs/Herbal_Wormers_for_Pets.html

I don't know what part of Vietnam you are in but the search I did kept bringing up this clinic in Ho Chi Minh City. Dr. Nghia seems well recommended and he sees cats

https://www.megavina.com/pet-cares-58/saigon-pet-clinic-ho-chi-minh-city-164.html

As far as food is concerned, you can feed her the wet food if that is what you can find and she will eat it. You can also give her full fat goat's milk if you can find that to help her gain weight. 
 

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Does she have teeth? If so, she can eat wet food or minced meat mushed with goat's milk. If not, can you get baby formula for humans? You can use that, but mix it double the strength recommended on the can (twice as much powder, same amount of water). Or goat's milk will work fine, and is probably cheaper.

You can probably find most things you need at the pharmacy. Most pet medications are also used for humans, it's just a matter of dosage. You can use pyrantel pamoate (sold as pinworm treatment for children) as a de-wormer, and if she needs antibiotics you should be able to find those too. You can usually find dosing info online, make sure you find a few different sources that agree with each other.
 

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Whiskas wet food isnt that bad, its the relativiely best of their products.

Can you get goat milk?  Preferably raw.   Buffalo raw milk is OK too.  We dont recommend cow milk, although unpasteurized cow milk from cows in Vietnam is possibly OK.  As long as the overal hygiene is OK, of course.

I will perhaps return later.

Tx for helping this little fellow!  (yes your Karma has been upgraded, but tx anyways!)
 
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meaganandalbert

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Thank you all for your help!!

I can get water buffalo milk and I can get baby formula so I'll be going first thing in the morning. 

She has teeth but is VERY small (remembering that VN cats are small and have severe inbreeding issues)

Unfortunately, I'm not in Saigon or Ha Noi where there are clinics. they are 1000km away.

He/She pooped twice YAY! it was a little runny for my liking but not liquidous. No visible worms which was nice. no irritation of the anus.

here are some photos the tummy has gone down A LOT.

 


 
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meaganandalbert

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I left this out because i thought it might upset some people but I found him/her in a tied plastic bag like i said. His/Her mother was probably captured for the cat meat trade so there is no siblings around otherwise they'd have been in the bag too and no hope of finding mum :(
 
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StefanZ

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I left this out because i thought it might upset some people but I found him in a tied plastic bag. His/Her mother probably captured for the cat meat trade so there is no siblings around otherwise they'd have been in the bag too. :(
to tell the truth, the swedes whom as a nation and people, after all are supposed to be great animal loves, some of them can do so too....  So lets not condemn the vietnameses.  Cruel people may be  everywhere.  its of course their Karma and eternal soul.

We others do mind ours.
 

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Very cute kitten!

Thank you for rescuing this poor baby.

I've never understood the cat trade in that part of the world. I find it ghoulish and disturbing. There is so little respect there for domestic animals. It's sad.
 
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meaganandalbert

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As much as i'd like to not blame the vietnamese/chinese people involved in the trade, the things i've seen them do is mortifying. Not the plastic bag, that's done in every country i've ever lived in but the meat trade is something else entirely. 
 

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Can she lap from a saucer? She looks old enough. The buffalo milk would be good, and you can beat up a raw egg yolk in it (not the white) to make it richer for her. Most kittens love that. Any kind of yoghurt or curd cheese is OK too, though if possible without salt. And yes, the Whiskers food, though not ideal, will be OK. It is better than many other mass-produced brands. If necessary, make it soupy with water or chicken stock, again woithout salt.

You can make some food too, from boiling up chicken and then blending or mashing up the meat with the stock. You will need to cook it for quite a while. Later, you can feed her raw chicken, cut into small pieces. No cooked bones - the cooking makes them brittle so they splinter and are dangerous in the stomach.

It is good that she is peeing and pooping. Can you make a litter tray for her - if you can't get litter then dry earth or sand will do, on a plastic tray.

She has a chance in life now, thanks to you.
 

indie-n-button

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I've just gone through a similar situation to you. My kitten wasn't in that grave of a situation as yours seems to be, but she was very bad off :-( She's doing well now though, and I'm adamant that she'll continue to prove.

She looks adorable, and the fact that she's walking around and mewling is a good sign in my opinion! It shows that she's still got some strength in her :-)

As well as the whiskas, you can also add some raw egg yolk (or scrambled egg yolk and egg white, but no raw white) into her food. As well as some raw chicken (even lungs, offal, or 'stomach' is good too! Very nutritious for them) These'll all add nice calories into her diet to help her gain weight. I think you should feed her little amounts every 2-3 hours. She might be dehydrated too, so you can try feeding her some honey water through a syringe every 2 hours or so.

You can also make her some 'soup' that I fed my kitten on, here's what I used:

- some yogurt (plain is perfectly okay for them, but nothing flavoured. if you can get 'unbranded' stuff over there, i think that'd be best!!)

- buffalo's milk (or goats, is good too)

- Raw meat (this can be plain raw or offal, lungs tripe etc. etc. Ask a local butcher for the stuff he doesn't use for human food, if he has any)

- You can substitute the raw meat with some of the whiska's cat food!!

- Boiled egg yolk

Blend all of this together and add a little drizzle of honey for some energy. Give her small quantities of it regularly. You may also want to purchase a scale to weigh her and check her progress. To me she looks like a 4 week year old kitten? I'm not too sure though, so you'll have to ask another user about that.
 

indie-n-button

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Oh and I forgot to mention, she looks like she may have an eye infection of some sort? You can wipe the gunk away from her eyes by wetting a gauze or rag in warm water and pressing them gently against her eyes for a few seconds and then wiping them clean. Her nose may need cleaning too (you can hold the warm gauze/rag on the nose to loosen up the snot, if she has any, and then wipe it away once it's loosened and comes out of her nose)

Also make sure you check for any signs such as sneezing etc. she COULD have a URI, which might have caused the eye-gunk. The pictures aren't too clear so I'm not sure if it's eye-gunk I can see or just plain old dirt! You can put your ear against her chest too and listen to her breathing, check for any wheezing!! Hopefully she's just dirty, though I wouldn't bath her yet even if she is, let her gain some weight and get some fat on her first!! :-)

Good luck to you both though!! And thankyou so so much for saving this little tyke
 

pandora the cat

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Cat trade is disturbing,stupid and wrong 1. Cats are beautiful animals and need as much love and respect as a human
2. Who would go and work there like nobody in good mental health would go up to their young daugter or son and go "ok sweetie i have to go to work im gonna go and kill innocent animals to grind them up for dog food yay!!"
3. WHY THE HELL EVEN WASTE YOUR TIME ON CATS ITS PROBABLY MORE AFFORDABLE ,LESS RANTWORTHY AND LESS RISKY TO JUST GET COWS OR GOATS OR EVEN JUST PIGS!!!
Anyways sorry about the random rant but thank you for stopping to help that poor little guy and wish you and the kitten luck. The world needs more people like you thank you.[emoji]128522[/emoji][emoji]128079[/emoji][emoji]128079[/emoji][emoji]128079[/emoji][emoji]128079[/emoji][emoji]128079[/emoji][emoji]128077[/emoji][emoji]128077[/emoji](i applaud you)
Ps it looks like it might have upper respiratory syndrome which can be fatal i dont have that much medical knowledge but i sometimes watch animal cop shows (heartwarming shows[emoji]128522[/emoji]) but anyways you could look it up and stuff but anyways wish yiu the best
 
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Willowy

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She doesn't look too bad off to me, "just" neglected. I think she'll improve greatly with good nutrition and being kept clean and dry. If she weren't tough she wouldn't have made it this long, sad to say that's probably what happened to her siblings. At this point I wouldn't guess she needs medication, besides de-wormer.

I would actually guess she's about 8 or 9 weeks old. She doesn't look like a baby (ears too large, body shape is different) and size can be stunted by malnutrition. So, see if you can get some pyrantel pamoate (ask for what they give kids for pinworms, I'm sure you can get it at a pharmacy), and give her 5-10 mg per kg. So if she weighs 1 kg and the kind you get has 50 mg per ml, give her something between .10ml and .20ml---so try to get a very small syringe to measure it! A diabetic insulin syringe is usually small enough. If you can't get a syringe, put 2 drops in her mouth, or, if she'll eat it, in her food/milk. . .I believe a drop is usually .05ml. If you don't get rid of the parasites she can't use the nutrition from the food she eats.

Keep her dry and clean. If she needs to be bathed, be sure to dry her thoroughly and keep her warm until fully dry. I think you'll see an improvement very quickly!
 

newkitties

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As far as deworming goes, I lived in China for a few years, and the area I lived , the vets gave me food grade  diatomaceous earth to mix in with wet food over the course of a few weeks to deworm. Small amounts. There is more stuff online I'm sure about how much. It's used here in the USA to worm farm animals, and it kills bugs, anything with an exoskeleton really, and people use it (including myself) as daily supplements. It can cause diarrhea if used too much or too often in animals.

It HAS to be food grade, the non food grade version is POISON. The other version is referred to as pool grade as it's is often used to help filtration in pools, and contains a 60%-70% concentration of silica, where food grade has at or less than 1%.

If you notice worms, you could try that. It got rid of tapeworms in a cat I rescued while living in China, since the vets over there didn't offer any sort of deworming, other than that.

Here's a link of the differences http://www.absorbentproductsltd.com/food-grade-diatomaceous-earth-vs-pool-grade.html  it should clearly state it is food grade on the package if you decide to use it.

If you go this route, be sure to mix it in with wet food, as it is a fine powder and can cause irritation if inhaled. I wouldn't recommend doing it if you had access to actual medication, but I've seen it work wonders on livestock and it saved the kitten I was caring for in China.

Thank you for rescuing this baby, I've seen first hand how domestic animals are often treated in Asia. You can't blame them really, it's the way they were raised, most people don't know differently and are taught that there is no real difference in a goat and in a domestic pet. It's refreshing to see more and more people care :)
 
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meaganandalbert

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Hello everyone,

Thank you for all your help. Little Kitty is doing well. He ate some whiskers wet food (1 tbl spoon) and drank some goat milk. He has a lot more energy now and is doing normal poops (although not in the litter tray yet but we are working on that) I wiped his little face free of dirt and he does have one weepy eye.

Good news! I found a veterinary supply store with an active vet not too far away. They don't have kitten formula but they agreed to see the little guy and give him a check-up.

I will be keeping him until 8-10 weeks then I will pay for his nueter/shots. I will start looking for a permanent home for him after that as I cannot guarantee him a life with me because getting a cat back into Australia is a horrific and expensive ordeal. 

I will be posting updates.

Once again, I'm very grateful for all your advice and helping me help this little guy. 
 

StefanZ

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Hello everyone,

Thank you for all your help. Little Kitty is doing well. He ate some whiskers wet food (1 tbl spoon) and drank some goat milk. He has a lot more energy now and is doing normal poops (although not in the litter tray yet but we are working on that) I wiped his little face free of dirt and he does have one weepy eye.

Good news! I found a veterinary supply store with an active vet not too far away. They don't have kitten formula but they agreed to see the little guy and give him a check-up.

I will be keeping him until 8-10 weeks then I will pay for his nueter/shots. I will start looking for a permanent home for him after that as I cannot guarantee him a life with me because getting a cat back into Australia is a horrific and expensive ordeal. 

I will be posting updates.

Once again, I'm very grateful for all your advice and helping me help this little guy. 
Im happy to hear  Kitty is much better now.   A remark, as you have found goat milk, you dont really need no more kitten formula.

Also, the tips by Indie-n-Button   are useful for you - she is living somewhere in the India peninsula, as I understand it. Its roughly the same milieu, no?.  What she has access to, probably you do have access to you too.
 

StefanZ

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Im copying in my post re Pedialyte.  Not that its necessary now, but I do have it handy.  Also, it may be useful in the future, for you and for others whom reads our forums.

Re homemade pedialyte, Im reusing a couple of my older posts.  If it seems lenghy, the most important recipe is at the end.

Pedialyte:

Now, as the sugar source, I use always glucose sugar (dextrose).  Its easy to get in Sweden, most well equipped food shops do carry the powder.    There are also flavored sweeties, heavily used by students and  wanna be sportsmen,  made of glucose sugar.   

So for me its no big deal to use the proper ingredient, instead of using emergency replacements.

For american forumites whom have difficulties to find glucose sugar proper, there is always white caro syrup, or even honey - honey does contain some glucose, and white caro syrup contains much glucose sugar.  In some brands its perhaps even essentially liquid glucose sugar.

Common sugar works too, but much slower, as it must be digested..  While glucose doesnt need to be digested, it goes into blood directly from the stomach, yes, even from the lips and mouth.

These whom tried both, are astonished how quickly glucose works, practically instantly.

As salt source, I use  minerale salt.  Also common in shops here in Sweden.  This salt contains  several different minerales, not just the NaCl in the usual kitchen salt. Including this potassium K salt.

A nice base for salt sources is simple a bottle of good minerale water.   These do typically contain a lotsa of different salts, in suitable concentration. Look at the label!

Let the gas out, add the glucose sugar source, and voilá!  you got a terrific home made pedialyte...

Common kitchen salt is OK if you dont have anything else, but its too "poverty"  if you use the pedialyte more than occasionally.

A third recipe is,  you use water from well cooked rice.   In practice its heavily over cooked.

And add  salt to it, preferably  such a minerale salt mentioned above...

This rice water contains lotsa of glucose sugar.   This variation of  pedialyte probably extra useful in some types of diarrhea, as water from overcooked rice is in itself  one of the remedies against diarrhea.  At least, the emergency doc gave us the recipe when I was a child and sick in diarrhea...   :)

A nice combination should be,  a  homemade pedialyte on such an overboilded rice, in water of mineral water.

Here we get both natural glucose sugar, lotsa of good mineral salts, and the rests from rice whom are good when having a diarrhea.  After all, such rice water is a classical home remedy for humans with diarrhea...

There is of course bought pedialyte, which can be used too.  Some of the brands have too much funny ingredients, though.  But if desperate, can be used.

My recommendation for bough pedialyte is, flavorless pedialyte for babies.   This is OK for cats.

Last, not least: diluting powder kmr with some pedialyte instead of just water, is often useful with diarrhea kittens, as reported by our forumists.
 
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