How To Tell Kittens Age? Pictures Anyone?

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orange&white

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For de-worming you can give 1/10 ml of pyrantel pamoate (50 mg/ml suspension) per pound of weight, and that's safe for kittens as young as 3 weeks. I'm not sure about panacur at that age.

If he really is 5 1/2 weeks old, he's undersized :(, but that's no surprise if his mama has been gone for a week.

I'd add the goat's milk glop/KMR to his canned food for several more weeks, but it's probably not strictly necessary. I just feel like it gives them better nutrition and a better start in life.
Yes, he looks undersized, like he has had some muscle-wasting in the last week. When I first saw him with the mother on May 9th, he looked like a healthy blue-eyed kitten. On Tuesday evening, one week later, my neighbor said that he had been screaming (meowing loudly non-stop) since 10am the entire day.

I'm torn between thinking to deworm him now, or try to get a little weight on him and build back his immune system for a few days. I hate to give him chemicals when he is weak, but I know that worms can't be helping anything. I'll pick up some wormer on the way to work tomorrow.

Also I need to get a kitten-safe flea treatment on him. I saw one flea on his head today.

He should be old enough to be on straight kitten food, but I did make the Hoskins goat milk formula to try to bulk him up a bit. I added unflavored gelatin and some extra taurine. He's eating about 1/2 canned food mixed with the Hoskins, then "souped" with warm water before serving.

He just had his third poop a little while ago. It started solid and ended a little mushy.
 
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orange&white

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Fourth poop in 24 hours was solid. At least I don't have to worry about him being constipated! :p

I weighed him about an hour ago after he pottied. He gained one ounce in 19 hours.
 
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orange&white

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Today the kitten gained 1.7 ounces, so he's gone from 17 ounces to 19.7 ounces in less than 48 hours. Kitten is definitely trying to make up for lost food. He ate 4.6 ounces of food today after eating 3.6 ounces yesterday. He and my overweight 12 year old senior cat tied in the food-eating contest.
 

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Yea, feed the kitten as much as he can eat (wet food). He need to replaced what's lost, nutrients and all.
 
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orange&white

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He's a little peeing, pooping and eating machine; that's for sure! He's already eaten 2.4 ounces of food plus a little extra goat's milk to make 3 ounces and it isn't even 10AM. I've been weighing his food separately from extra water and goat's milk.

He's pretty active. I hung a couple of toys from the top of his outdoor "cabana", plus he has an assortment of balls, a stuffed toy, a scratcher, a brush, and things to climb on.

I picked up some wormer on the way home from work yesterday, but not sure to give it to him until he is 8 weeks? He looks less bloated than he did on Wednesday evening when I trapped him.
 
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orange&white

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No, I'm sure he isn't. He was born outside to the feral cats and I'm guessing as close as possible that he will be 6 weeks early next week. I've read that I shouldn't give him anything until he is at least 6 weeks, and some say that he shouldn't have the first wormer until 8 weeks. He's very runty looking, so I worry about side effects until he is a bit stronger. I could use advice on whether to worm him now or wait a couple weeks. His stools are all normal and solid now, so he doesn't seem to be having intestinal problems.
 

tabbytom

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Bloated stomach could be due to worms. I think you can dewormed them as early as 3 weeks or something like that. But it's better to find out first when is best and not sure about over the counter deworming tablets.
 
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orange&white

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As long as his poops are normal and his belly doesn't bloat up, I'm leaning toward fattening him up some more before giving him any meds. That's what my instinct is telling me, but not sure waiting until he is closer to 2 pounds is the right thing. His stomach is looking more like "normal kitten" in the two days I've been feeding him.
 

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Sounds like you are doing a great job taking care of little Shillo. I want pictures. :)
 
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orange&white

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Thank you. I wish I had a working camera, but the batteries on my old Nikon will no longer charge. Shilo is a cute little orange-on-orange tabby cat (no white markings). He's sleeping in a fleece blanket on my lap right now, purring away. He's going to make some lucky person a fine pet. :cloud9:
 
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orange&white

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He gained another ounce today to 20.7, and ate 5 ounces of food plus extra goat's milk. He's now eating more than my senior cat and my 7 month old kitten! I don't know if that's just because he was starving for at least two days or if that's just how much tiny kittens eat. I envision him as having nothing but one big stomach inside his little oval body. No other organs...just a giant stomach. :biggrin:
 

tabbytom

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:hyper: Very good news. He's growing up and pumping in food for growth. Keep it up!

Once they have their energy level restored, they'll be active and also will be burning lots of calories and so will be eating often.

Let him eat as much and as often as he wants. He'll burn it off soon.
 
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orange&white

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Two two two. :p Kitty weighs 22.2 ounces today. Another 1.5 ounce gain. He's only eaten 3.6 ounces of food today, but still has one more meal to go.

This weekend Shilo learned how to stand up on his back legs like a grizzly bear, and how to scale the 4-foot wall of his "Kitty Kabana" like a little monkey. Instead of just batting toys around, he started to plan, stalk and then pounce. He's been quite the active little fella' in betwixt the hours of requisite kitty napping.

I really do wish I had a functional camera. The underside of Shilo's tail and the rings around his tail look grey (momma cat was mostly grey), while the rest of his coat is orange-on-orange. If he turns out to be an orange cat with a grey-and-orange ringed tail, he will be quite unique I think.
 
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orange&white

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I live in the dark ages, technologically. My phone is a 2010 model flip phone that only costs $7 per month as long as I only use the minutes for emergencies and to call my elderly father. :paperbag:
 
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orange&white

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In post #14, I mentioned that Shilo is one of the two kittens I almost ran over with the lawn mower on May 9th when I started this thread. I was incorrect. Shilo is a 4th kitten from the litter. The two original kittens turned back up in my back yard this morning for the first time I had seen them since May 9th. Sadly, I did not see them until after I let my dog out to potty and he started barking his excited "I treed a feral cat or a squirrel!" bark. I grabbed his leash and slip-over walking collar to go get him, when I saw he was barking at the kittens, on the ground, not up a tree. One kitten was in "fight-or-flight" mode and trying to face off and fight him, even though she wasn't cornered and could have run away easily. She was too young to know. My dog killed her before I could get him. :( Then he started at the other sister kitten. My dog won't listen to me when he is in prey drive. I started yelling "No!" and "Leave it!" at him, which did not help, and he killed her too. :sniffle::sniffle:

It was a sad, ugly morning. I wrote a post in Crossing the Bridge for the two little kits. They were so beautiful.

On a much happier topic, Shilo is doing well. He's turning into feisty little kitty, trying to dart out of his kennel every time I open it to feed him or clean his cat box and water bowl. I bring him inside two or three times a day, and he is starting to bite me pretty hard even through my jeans or shirts. I can definitely see why staying with mom and siblings :frown: is helpful for bite inhibition. I had a thought to try to trap the surviving sibling to put with Shilo moments before my dog got to her. Sorry...I'm very sad today.

Anyway, Shilo is at 27.2 ounces this evening. Here's his weight chart since I trapped him eight days ago:


ounces
05/17/17 17
05/18/17 18
05/19/17 19.7
05/20/17 20.7
05/21/17 22.2
05/22/17 23.1
05/23/17 24.8
05/24/17 25.9
05/25/17 27.2

I decided to post every few days instead of daily. I figure that reading a cat's weigh gain daily is about as exciting (to other people) as watching paint dry. It's only exciting to the painter.
 

tabbytom

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Awwww.......@orange&white, so sad to hear about the kittens :alright::grouphug2:

Glad that Shiloh is progressing well and putting on weight.

Photos :camera: please! Oh, sorry, I just remebered, dark ages, no flash :lol: :crackup:
 
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