Caring For Abandoned Premature Kitten

[gemmakitty]

Hello everyone,

My mother and I found a batch of 3 newborn kittens under our shed on Monday (2 had died) (6/11). Since two had already passed, we decided to try to save the survivor and bury the other two. We live in a very rural area with a lot of coyotes and wolves, so the mother likely had died and we have not seen her around since. We tried to feed the baby and saw her tongue and mouth was coated in dirt and rocks. We reckon that she was under the shed for at most 10 hours since that was the last time we saw her. We fed her some goat milk and she proceeded to defecate a LOT of blood- at this point we assumed she was dying. However, after all the blood, her bowel movements have been completely normal, pooping a few times a day and peeing light yellow after each meal.
We have been feeding her 1.5 ml of goat milk from our neighbor's farm every 1.5-2.5 hours. She hates to be alone on a towel on the heating pad on low, but sleeps immediately when we hold her on our chests and wrap her in a blanket with a heating pad on low on top. Is this okay?
We weighed her when we first found her and she was 2 ounces. She is currently 2.3 ounces. It has been 4 days and I'm a little worried she isn't gaining weight more. Should I try to feed her more? 1.5 ounces seems to be her limit.
At times, her breathing gets raspy but it is much less worse when she sleeps. Does anyone have any advice for this?
We took her to the vet on Tuesday, and he said she was premature and her chances of survival are not high. They gave her an antibiotic for her breathing problem and a steroid shot to help her growth catch up.
My mom and I have raised plenty of cats but never a newborn, let alone a premie. I suppose what I'm aiming to get from this is just some affirmation and advice. Thank you. I attached a photo!

 

[gemmakitty]

Reading through my post I have a few clarifications to make! I can't find an edit button so I will correct down here.
"We reckon that she was under the shed for at most 10 hours since that was the last time we saw her."--> we had seen her mother wandering around 10 hours before.
"Should I try to feed her more? 1.5 ounces seems to be her limit. "--> I mean 1.5 ml!

 

[Kieka]

It sounds like you are doing everything you should be doing. If possible, I'd try to keep at the 1.5 hour mark for feeding for now to get as much in her as you can, 2 hour once she is eating more. If she is eating well up until 1.5ml keep trying to push in just a smidgen more, 1.6 today, 1.7 tomorrow, she should be eating a little more but if she really is premature she might remaining a week or two behind goal for a while. The Kitten Lady has a little premature kitten who didn't start catching up until he was 8 weeks old, so don't give up any progress is good progress at this point.

Here is a weight and feeding chart from The Kitten Lady that may help,

Feeding Kittens
Weighing Newborn Kittens (and How This Could Save Their Lives)
Hand Rearing Kittens: What You Need To Know To Save A Newborn's Life

 

[gemmakitty]

Thank you Kieka-- these are really invaluable resources! We will try to feed her more often. I'll keep this thread updated with any improvement / changes!

 

[StefanZ]

You are doing nicely! Also raw goats milk is really good.

If you want to press in more the easiest is prob to give more often say every 1,5-2 hours instead of 1,5-2,5. You can even every hour although its lotsa work.

The kangoroo method is excellent heating pad or IR heating lamp useful. Not too hot.

A stuffed animal as companion perhaps made of fleece.


You can massage her with forefinger its nice and healthy.

Make lotsa friendly noises.

Good luck!

 

[gemmakitty]

Hi Stefan, Do you think it would be better to have her in her own bed instead of sleeping on us? We are waiting on an Amazon order of the Snuggle Kitty and are thinking of transitioning her so we can move around a bit more without waking her.

We also have a 5 month old cat, a 3 year old cat, and a 5 year old cat. Do y'all think they would be okay to be around her? They are all mighty curious haha.

 

[Kieka]

I forgot, the holding is probably she wants the heart beat. As long as you are willing, holding her will make her most comfortable. But like StefanZ said a stuffed animal might be a nice cuddle buddy. They do make stuffed animals with heartbeat and pockets for heating pads if you are interested. I've heard a ticking clock can be a substitute under the blanket as well.

 

[StefanZ]

She mat surely sleep on her own with access to heatng pad and stuffed friend.

Re your residents there is the problem with the customary quarantine.
How is their immune system?
Healthy fully vaccinated used to be outside? Good.
Perhaps even rescued ex homeless? Excellent!
IF so you dont need to overdo the quarantine.

Let the most motherly of them be a foster parent. Its often a neutered

 

[StefanZ]

Male.

But if not - keep rhem apart

 

[StefanZ]

We fed her some goat milk and she proceeded to defecate a LOT of blood- at this point we assumed she was dying. However, after all the blood, her bowel movements have been completely normal, pooping a few times a day and peeing light yellow after each meal.

Was it fresh blood, or old, black, tar alike blood?? It dawned on me when I was falling asleep, if it was tar alike "old blood" it wasnt no blood, but simply her first defecation in life. Foetuses have their intestine filled with such a black "tar". yes, its even called for tar.
So no bleeding, just a normal first defecation. Its seen only on orphans, because usually momma ates up all the faeces, so its rarely seen even by experienced cat people.
As you see, Im on watch even if sleeping!

Ok, now when awake and sitting at my computer, I notice the attached pic. The legs arent really bare, they do have some fur on them. Right?
If so, she isnt very premature, she is just very little.
The margins are thin, but she should have a fighting chance, especielly as you are giving such a good care.

If its possible for you, its probably wise to have a higher humidity in the room, sooner than dry air. For example having a big wet towel drying up in the room the whole time.
Why? The lungs may be slightly underdeveloped. Its the last major organ to develop before birth.
Why just slightly? She would die in hours or minutes after birth with much underdeveloped lungs.

 

[gemmakitty]

I forgot, the holding is probably she wants the heart beat. As long as you are willing, holding her will make her most comfortable. But like StefanZ said a stuffed animal might be a nice cuddle buddy. They do make stuffed animals with heartbeat and pockets for heating pads if you are interested. I've heard a ticking clock can be a substitute under the blanket as well.

I purchased a stuffed animal online that has a heartbeat and it arrives on Monday. We are excited for when it shows up! Thank you so much for your insight! You have been a real help.

She mat surely sleep on her own with access to heatng pad and stuffed friend.

Re your residents there is the problem with the customary quarantine.
How is their immune system?
Healthy fully vaccinated used to be outside? Good.
Perhaps even rescued ex homeless? Excellent!
IF so you dont need to overdo the quarantine.

Let the most motherly of them be a foster parent. Its often a neutered

Our 5 year old neutered male is an ex-farm cat. He mothers our two girls that are 3 yrs and 5 month old cat. I think we will wait until she is a bit stronger before letting them spend too much time together.

Was it fresh blood, or old, black, tar alike blood?? It dawned on me when I was falling asleep, if it was tar alike "old blood" it wasnt no blood, but simply her first defecation in life. Foetuses have their intestine filled with such a black "tar". yes, its even called for tar.
So no bleeding, just a normal first defecation. Its seen only on orphans, because usually momma ates up all the faeces, so its rarely seen even by experienced cat people.
As you see, Im on watch even if sleeping!

Ok, now when awake and sitting at my computer, I notice the attached pic. The legs arent really bare, they do have some fur on them. Right?
If so, she isnt very premature, she is just very little.
The margins are thin, but she should have a fighting chance, especielly as you are giving such a good care.

If its possible for you, its probably wise to have a higher humidity in the room, sooner than dry air. For example having a big wet towel drying up in the room the whole time.
Why? The lungs may be slightly underdeveloped. Its the last major organ to develop before birth.
Why just slightly? She would die in hours or minutes after birth with much underdeveloped lungs.

Her bloody defecation was black and red, with little chunks in it (rocks, we think). It might have been a mix of her first defecation being tar-like mixed with trauma of eating rocks.
I really hope you are right in her not being premature! Just little and weak from her bad circumstances. We are turning on the humidifier now!

And Day 4 Afternoon Update: She's eating a lot more! We've been walking her up to eat every 1.5 hours and shes now eating 1.5-2mls. Later tonight I'll be weighing her and I'm hoping we have some progress

Thanks to both of you so much for the advice! I'll continue the updates and if anyone thinks of anything else, I'm glad to hear~

 

[StefanZ]

The motherly ex farm 5 year male sounds as an excellent candidate as her foster dad. It should go nicely!

 

[talkingpeanut]

Please don’t fall asleep with her in bed with you. It’s so easy to turn the wrong way and for a tragedy to occur. Otherwise, it’s safe to hold her when you are awake and alert.

Thank you for taking her in.

I don’t think it’s possible that she was eating rocks, given that she is too young to seek out solids at all. I wonder what that was.

 

[gemmakitty]

Hello everyone, she is officially a week old today!

She is doing great. She is a hungry little monster that is very demanding for the goat milk. I think our kitchen scale is broken, so a new one is coming in from Amazon today. When we get an accurate reading, I will post another update!

She's eating 2 - 2.5 ml per feeding every hour and a half now! She is so strong and I am very thankful for all the life saving advice we have received.

Her eyes are slowly opening now, so we are keeping her away from light. It's so exciting!

Thank you all so much for your amazing support and advice. She is getting so strong all because of you. I'll update again with her weight later!

 

[catsknowme]

What a fantastic update - you are doing an excellent job! My disabled daughter raised a kitten in an almost identical situation and her cat, Christy, lived to be over 18 years old! The curious thing was that Christy was basically perfect in behavior. She was very, very smart and enjoyed watching TV with my daughter. The one thing she didn't do was learn how to hunt.

 

[StefanZ]

What a fantastic update - you are doing an excellent job! My disabled daughter raised a kitten in an almost identical situation and her cat, Christy, lived to be over 18 years old! The curious thing was that Christy was basically perfect in behavior. She was very, very smart and enjoyed watching TV with my daughter. The one thing she didn't do was learn how to hunt.

This last is a serious disadvantage for a farm cat. But for a home cat its sooner a big plus, especially if she is allowed to go out.
Nobody will complain she is predatoring on rare bird species.

 

[ileen]

Sounds like you are doing great with the kitty. You may already know this, but since you posted the weight in ounces, I just wanted to post for you that 28 grams = 1 ounce for easier use of the chart posted above.

 

[gemmakitty]

Hello everyone! Day 11 update.

She is doing great, and her eyes are open huge!! She's gaining about 0.2 oz a day, and is 3.1 ounces now.

Our only concern is her eating schedule. Despite our efforts, she is wanting to have 1.5 - 2 ml of goat's milk every 30 mins to an hour and aggressively sucks on just about anything if she isn't fed quickly! This is quite tiring for us and we are wondering if anyone has any tips on getting her to go longer.

Here is an update photo. Thank you everyone for your support so far! <3

 

[StefanZ]

The addition of 0,2 OZ a day - roughly 5.5-6 grammes, although OK, isnt not great. So its good she wants more! You do have a very tight intervalls, she apparently eats quite a lot althogether. Perhaps you can manage to give her even more at every feeding?
There ARE products to make the goats milk / kmr thicker, and thus, giving the kitten a feeling of saturation. But as said, she really needs more, not less.

I wonder if she may have worms whom are eating up part of her food? Its early to try and give her any, esp as you arent desperate.
But deworming will be in the queu in another a couple of weeks. It will be still a little early, but there are mild dewormers whom are supposed to be OK for 2+ weeks kittens.

 

[gemmakitty]

We will keep trying to feed her more if possible! I'm just afraid of giving her too much and causing her aspiration.
Unless she starts acting really lethargic or has any other problems, we have an appointment to take her to the vet on Monday morning when she is officially 2 weeks old. They should be able to give her dewormers and check for any issues, we are just nervous about her development..
Thank you! I will keep updating if she eats more / less. I appreciate all your help Stefan!