Kitten taken too soon from mom :(

[KelseyKatz]

Hi everyone~

I saw a post from a lady saying her cat had kittens in the garage and that they were almost 8 weeks. I had no intention to get another cat but when I saw this precious girl I couldn't refuse! I drove over 2 hours to get her. I got there and immediately felt something wasn't adding up. The kittens looked way smaller than any 8 week old kitten I've ever seen, they were still nursing and wobbly. They all including the mother had upper respiratory infections and eye infections. It broke my heart seeing them all like this! My girl Chloie and one other kitten had it the worst. One eye was glued shut from gunk. I knew they were giving all these cats away way too young but I knew I would be the best choice to care for this little girl.

Took her to the emergency vet that very day but the wait was 10 hours long. So I took her home, kept her warm on chest and played purring sounds for her. Brushed her with a toothbrush and attempted to stimulate her to use the restroom. She was so lethargic I honestly didn't know if she was going to make it. She wouldn't move. She seemed exhausted. But my girls a fighter. I took her to the emergency at 5am the next day and thankfully she was seen right away. They confirmed what I already assumed. She was not even close to 8 weeks old but only 4 maybe 5 weeks tops they said. Now my baby girl Chloie is 6 nearing 7 weeks old and she's doing great! I have had cats all my life but I've never felt such a deep love and bond as I do with this little girl. I've pretty much had to be the stand in mommy. But it was all worth it because she is the love and light of my life.

I've never had a kitten this young so please any added advice you know I'd really appreciate!

 

[daftcat75]

I rescued my Krista from a shelter at 2 years old. Pictures of your girl is the closest I’ll come to seeing kitten pictures of Krista.

Here’s a sneak preview of what your Chloe may look like as an adult.

 

[KelseyKatz]

I rescued my Krista from a shelter at 2 years old. Pictures of your girl is the closest I’ll come to seeing kitten pictures of Krista.

Here’s a sneak preview of what your Chloe may look like as an adult.
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Krista was beautiful! I'm so truly sorry for your loss. We lost our wonderfully special girl Shi-Shi last July. She was 16. She was the first we've ever had to put down and I tell you, I grieved her more than I have grieved family members that have passed. What happened with Krista if you don't mind me asking?

 

[daftcat75]

Krista was beautiful! I'm so truly sorry for your loss. We lost our wonderfully special girl Shi-Shi last July. She was 16. She was the first we've ever had to put down and I tell you, I grieved her more than I have grieved family members that have passed. What happened with Krista if you don't mind me asking?

She was sixteen when she passed. She lived at least two to three more years than I was expecting when she first got her senior sicknesses. Long, long story short: a lifetime of kibble (didn’t know any better) caught up to her with teeth issues, ear infections, IBD, and eventually GI lymphoma. Any one of these could have been manageable. But having to frequently make tradeoffs to keep her eating when her teeth were bothering her at the expense of her IBD makes her loss that much more heartbreaking.

If you can feed Chloe an all wet food diet, you’ll be that much further ahead of potential future health issues like teeth issues, gut and butt issues (IBD/lymphoma, constipation), feline diabetes, and kidney disease. I know these are mostly old(er) cat ailments. But tastes are developed when they’re young. Kibble addicts aren’t born that way.

 

[KelseyKatz]

Wow wow wow. So sad! Poor girl had one thing after the next! Thank you for bringing up the kibble. My husband is not a cat lover and has always forced me to buy the cheap kibble and never wet. Both of my male cats are kibble only and I'm fighting my husband to feed them wet as well. He says every other day feed them wet so they don't get used to it.

My oldest cats Bubbuzz and Shi-Shi (Shi-Shi since passed) both has/had frequent UTI's due to kibble only diet. Both also have/had kidney disease. The diet from the beginning is so important! Fortunately, my husband is madly in love with Chloie and we have her on wet food mostly with a side of kibble.

Do you have any websites to recommend on this diet so I can show my husband?

 

[daftcat75]

Wow wow wow. So sad! Poor girl had one thing after the next! Thank you for bringing up the kibble. My husband is not a cat lover and has always forced me to buy the cheap kibble and never wet. Both of my male cats are kibble only and I'm fighting my husband to feed them wet as well. He says every other day feed them wet so they don't get used to it.

My oldest cats Bubbuzz and Shi-Shi (Shi-Shi since passed) both has/had frequent UTI's due to kibble only diet. Both also have/had kidney disease. The diet from the beginning is so important! Fortunately, my husband is madly in love with Chloie and we have her on wet food mostly with a side of kibble.

Do you have any websites to recommend on this diet so I can show my husband?

I do. I have two sites I can recommend. This first one is going to post as “StackPath”. I think that’s just a bug in the way this site tries to preview a site before posting a link. It’s a “meaty” site on cat health and cat nutrition. Probably the best there is. I come back to it again and again because I find the articles have too much to absorb in one reading.
StackPath

This next one also doesn’t preview right. It has a focus on homemade cat food (raw and cooked.) But it also has articles on nutrition and ailments caused by poor nutrition or fixed with appropriate diet.
Home

If your husband is concerned with the cost of wet food, you can often feed a cat a homemade diet for cheaper than wet food. Do it right though. Use a supplement premix or follow a recipe. Kibble is only a cheaper diet today. You’ll pay more further down the road in vet bills. It sounds like you already know this.

 

[daftcat75]

It’s never too late to switch a cat to all wet food. I was able to get Krista off kibble at thirteen and she ate all wet food (and some raw) for three more years. She would not have made it that long if she was still eating kibble.

 

[KelseyKatz]

I do. I have two sites I can recommend. This first one is going to post as “StackPath”. I think that’s just a bug in the way this site tries to preview a site before posting a link. It’s a “meaty” site on cat health and cat nutrition. Probably the best there is. I come back to it again and again because I find the articles have too much to absorb in one reading.
StackPath

This next one also doesn’t preview right. It has a focus on homemade cat food (raw and cooked.) But it also has articles on nutrition and ailments caused by poor nutrition or fixed with appropriate diet.
Home

If your husband is concerned with the cost of wet food, you can often feed a cat a homemade diet for cheaper than wet food. Do it right though. Use a supplement premix or follow a recipe. Kibble is only a cheaper diet today. You’ll pay more further down the road in vet bills. It sounds like you already know this.

Oh yeah I'm very well aware of it. It's hard living with someone who doesn't get it but I like the idea of making the food! They only live a short time, make it healthy and enjoyable for them! Thank you for the links I will check them out right now!!

 

[KelseyKatz]

It’s never too late to switch a cat to all wet food. I was able to get Krista off kibble at thirteen and she ate all wet food (and some raw) for three more years. She would not have made it that long if she was still eating kibble.

Okay I'm going to look into making the switch for my boys!

 

[daftcat75]

My recommendation with homemade (raw or cooked) is to take it slow. Make it a guest star one meal a day until you’ve got your supply, production, and distribution (thawing and feeding) down pat. Even when you’re confident you have a winning recipe and a practiced cat food making and feeding operation, I still recommend keeping at least one meal a day as canned. This is so you can weather out any supply issues (couldn’t get your ingredients) or production issues (forgot to make a new batch before the old one ran out.) You have her whole life to figure this out. Don’t just set down a gravity feeder of kibble and call it a day. But also don’t stress that you aren’t feeding a homemade diet tomorrow. Some very patient and loving cat parents took as much as a year or more to transition their kibble addicts.

 

[KelseyKatz]

My recommendation with homemade (raw or cooked) is to take it slow. Make it a guest star one meal a day until you’ve got your supply, production, and distribution (thawing and feeding) down pat. Even when you’re confident you have a winning recipe and a practiced cat food making and feeding operation, I still recommend keeping at least one meal a day as canned. This is so you can weather out any supply issues (couldn’t get your ingredients) or production issues (forgot to make a new batch before the old one ran out.) You have her whole life to figure this out. Don’t just set down a gravity feeder of kibble and call it a day. But also don’t stress that you aren’t feeding a homemade diet tomorrow. Some very patient and loving cat parents took as much as a year or more to transition their kibble addicts.

You've really helped me a lot already thank you! I want to get her on the right start and keep her healthy and have a long happy life.

 

[Sarthur2]

The Cat Site has extensive forums on cat nutrition, including raw diets. There are many articles available to read in each forum. Not to discourage you from reading anywhere else, but we at TCS do provide broad-ranging assistance in a wide range of topics in various forums. I encourage you to check out and post in any of our forums that may be of interest to you, and to read other threads as well as our articles.

Thank you for saving this baby! I had a calico kitten who looked very similar to yours that I adopted at 4-5 weeks and lived to be 21 years old. I pray that the mother cat and her other babies have found equally suitable homes. That was a sad situation. Best of luck to you with your new kitten! KelseyKatz