Hello everyone, this is my first post and it won't be my last.
I'm a US ex-pat living in China and my fiancee and I rescued a stray kitten yesterday afternoon.
It was not a spontaneous decision, we had been on the lookout for one (or two) for awhile, and were prepared. I have had cats before, she hasn't.
Our new kitten is ~6 months old, all white, has odd-colored eyes (blue & brown), and we're pretty sure she's deaf.
The problem though, is that she hasn't eaten a thing in the ~30hrs we've had her so far.
She's peed once (on the floor in the bathroom) and used the litter box twice successfully after that - both bowel movements that were a little too soft but not runny.
She's a purr-machine, but very sedate. She will slowly follow us around the apartment so that she can always see one of us (again, we think she's deaf) but doesn't *play* like a normal kitten her age would. She spends her time curled up here or there snoozing or watching us intently.
She has a bad case of conjuctivitis in both eyes that we're dealing with, and she had a pretty dirty butt when we rescued her so I think she's been having bowel problems lately.
Initially I tried to feed her Purina kitten chow, the best stuff I can locate here in China. Although she has been drinking water she hasn't touched the chow. Concerned, we made her a minced chicken hearts and rice slurry before we had dinner tonight and she was equally uninterested. My fiancee has since headed back to the store to get the ingredients necessary for a recipe for kitten formula we found online (goat's milk, yogurt, gelatin, mayo, a little pureed meat babyfood).
Our kitten is *very* skinny and as we live in China we do not have access to the quality veterinary care that an American would. There is an animal hospital 30mins or so away but they deal primarily with major accidents like broken limbs, or spaying/neuturing. Most pet owners here never take their pets in for regular checkups.
We will get her in to see a vet ASAP, but our primary concern at the moment is getting her to eat something, anything.
Any suggestions? We're getting pretty worried over here...
I'm a US ex-pat living in China and my fiancee and I rescued a stray kitten yesterday afternoon.
It was not a spontaneous decision, we had been on the lookout for one (or two) for awhile, and were prepared. I have had cats before, she hasn't.
Our new kitten is ~6 months old, all white, has odd-colored eyes (blue & brown), and we're pretty sure she's deaf.
The problem though, is that she hasn't eaten a thing in the ~30hrs we've had her so far.
She's peed once (on the floor in the bathroom) and used the litter box twice successfully after that - both bowel movements that were a little too soft but not runny.
She's a purr-machine, but very sedate. She will slowly follow us around the apartment so that she can always see one of us (again, we think she's deaf) but doesn't *play* like a normal kitten her age would. She spends her time curled up here or there snoozing or watching us intently.
She has a bad case of conjuctivitis in both eyes that we're dealing with, and she had a pretty dirty butt when we rescued her so I think she's been having bowel problems lately.
Initially I tried to feed her Purina kitten chow, the best stuff I can locate here in China. Although she has been drinking water she hasn't touched the chow. Concerned, we made her a minced chicken hearts and rice slurry before we had dinner tonight and she was equally uninterested. My fiancee has since headed back to the store to get the ingredients necessary for a recipe for kitten formula we found online (goat's milk, yogurt, gelatin, mayo, a little pureed meat babyfood).
Our kitten is *very* skinny and as we live in China we do not have access to the quality veterinary care that an American would. There is an animal hospital 30mins or so away but they deal primarily with major accidents like broken limbs, or spaying/neuturing. Most pet owners here never take their pets in for regular checkups.
We will get her in to see a vet ASAP, but our primary concern at the moment is getting her to eat something, anything.
Any suggestions? We're getting pretty worried over here...