Newborn Kitten Help

MattPathetic

Today was an extremely trying day. My parents 2 dogs found the hiding place for a cat's litter of kittens. They ended up killing one but we got them away to save the other two.
In the time we were looking up information for animal rescue and burying the poor dead kitty, it seems the mother came back for one of them.

It's been several hours and she hasn't been back for the other kitten. My sister bought forumla, but my biggest question is should we wait?
What exactly should we do? It's getting colder and the lone kitten isn't getting the heat it would from having brothers and sisters around it.

Suggestions?

witch_ie

Call the shelter and ask them. I don't think that the mother will come back for the other kitten, but if there's a chance she will, they would know. You probably don't want to leave the kitten alone over night though.

Edit: If the shelter is closed already (on the east coast?) try calling on the west coast just for the advice.

MattPathetic

Another thing worth mentioning is that I also have a 2 year old spayed cat that I rescued from a similar situation a few years ago.
The cat lives downstairs where the dogs can't get to her.

Any idea on her reaction to brining the baby kitten in? Or best to keep them apart?

I told my sister to make all these calls for questions, however I was stuck going to work after all the crazyness. I just wanted to see if I could get some answers for my own peace of mind.

Quoth

Definitely keep them apart if you bring the kitten in, because it could have health problems that you don't want to spread around.

I highly recommend that you take it to a vet immediately because they will be best able to instruct you on the proper care. Good luck.

witch_ie

I would keep the cats apart for now. The kitten is really vulnerable right now and unless you're looking into adopting another cat, there's no reason to put them together. Also, it's hard to tell how your cat will react to another cat in her territory. She may be nice or she may be defensive.

MrDelish

We adopted a stranded kitten that was less than two weeks old (we think. It couldn't walk), and we had it in a box with an electric blanket set pretty low.

Now she's about five years old and is half feral (insane) and is terrified of the outside, but she's alive

mts

how old do you think it is/ how much do you thnk it weighs? if you post a photo, i can give it a pretty good guess. i have done the bottle baby thing.

Do you have a cat carrier? or a small crate?

isolate the kitten for now. depending on how old it is, i would put it in the crate with a small towel or bed, a box with some non-clumbing, non-clay litter, and a small bowl of water and wet food. if you have an electric blanket that will work too, but keep it really low

if it is eating solid food , stay with that bottle feeding is a hassle as you have to do it fairly often and it makes the poops awful

Trillian

If you want, you can mix the wet food with some of the kitten formula and see if it can lap that up.
Be very wary of any weight loss though, if it can't get enough food.
Bottle feeding a kitten is easy if someone is home all the time, but doing that + cleaning up after a bottle fed kitten is trying. My mom and I found 3 abandoned kittens years ago and bottle fed them. By the time they were weaned they loved water because we had given them so many baths over their short little lives

AlyceInWonderland

ooookay, I work at a cat rescue shelter, and right now we're dealing with about 70 newborn kittens. Either found, or born in our shelter.

Definitely take the kitten in. The mother probably won't come back, and why take the chance? If it's eyes are still blue, it can't be more than several weeks old, and definitely will need to be bottle fed. If you get one of the tiny bottles, cut a tiny bit of the tip off so more milk can flow out, that way the kitten will take to the bottle a lot easier.

Set up a cat carrier with a couple blankets, a rectangular box (think the top or bottom of one of the boxes you get clothes in on christmas), and either get "yesterdays news" (it's compressed newspaper pellets. They're sterile, and don't have clay litter dust that will bother the kitten. You can find it in any pet store) or shred up regular newspaper into strips (probably cheaper, and just as good). To see if it's able to recognize food on its own, put a small bowl of wet cat food mixed with water (make it really runny and soft, so the kitten can just lap it up) into the cat carrier.

Also, if you can, take it to the vet immediately.

hope this helps.

ceres

Alyce's sounds like good advice. Make sure the kitten gets as much love and affection and contact as you can shower upon it over the next few weeks. Then to the vet with you, and don't for get the most important thing of all: pics plz

I got our cat when I was working in a vet's office... she was picked up at about 3 months old as part of a capture-spay-release program. Even though she was old enough for dry food, she still sought affection. She's turned into a beautiful, loving cat with just one or two weird behaviors.