# Found a kitten today...(update page 3)



## BigBurma (Apr 26, 2009)

There is a feral cat around our neighborhood that we sometimes feed and she got pregnant. She had her kittens somewhere a couple weeks ago and just today I heard one mewing for the first time behind the fence in our backyard... I went back to investigate and he came right out to greet me! He had been mewing for a good 45 minutes before I tried feeding him some milk through a syringe with no luck. If the momma cat doesn't come back by tomorrow I was going to take him over to my friend's house and see if his nursing cat will feed him. How long should I wait for the kitten's mother before I do this? Any tips on taking care of such a tiny kitten if the mother doesn't come back?

Here's a pic!!!


----------



## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

What I would do: If I see a kitten alone anywhere...I am taking it home to care for. Especially if Mamma is a feral, I want the opportunity to raise and socialize the kittens so *they* can get good homes and if I can, I TNR (trap, neuter, release) the mother cat.

I would bottle raise the kitten with KMR (kitten milk replacer) and a bottle/nipple. I like the PetAg brand bottles/nipples and I like the kmr product called "Just Born w/ Colostrum" made by Farnam. If it is only one kitten, I use the little pre-mixed cartons. If it is a litter of kittens more than 2, I buy the canister of powder and mix it myself, making a fresh batch every 24hrs.


*the reason why I do this, is I want the chance for the kitten to get a good home. If Mamma was moving her nest, either one-at-a-time and dropped the kitten, or was moving them all together as a "field trip" and he got left behind, I would say an hour is plenty time to wait. I would never wait overnight, and certainly more than a few hours. The cries of the kitten...if they don't attract Mamma...will eventually attract the attention of *other* animals. Animals that could harm/kill the kitten.


----------



## BigBurma (Apr 26, 2009)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

Welp, The momma never showed, so I went and got the "just born" kitten formula and the bottle... he WOULD NOT EAT IT. no matter what we tried. I managed to force small amounts on him, but it wasn't really working out. I ended up taking him to a friends house who's cat just had kittens and she sniffed him and started cleaning him right away! I put him in the box with the others and we stayed until he was eating and we knew the momma was fine with him there. The only problem is he is a week or 2 older than the other kittens (they still have their eyes closed)... I guess we will just have to watch him and make sure he's not too pushy.


----------



## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

Wow! Very cool that the momma cat took the kitten right in. And great that you were there to look out for the little one.


----------



## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

Yay! Wow, what a good mamma cat! I found an orphaned litter of 5 and my nursing mamma cat would let them nurse, but she would not sniff/lick them at all. So I only used her for about 3 days until I could get all of the babies switched to the bottle. Your single kitten should do well with the other litter. Do have your friend make sure the littler kittens are getting enough to eat off the mamma. One of the very BEST things about her taking him in, is she will care for him and raise him as her own, teaching him what he needs to know to be a kitty AND he will get plenty of 'nursing' behavior that bottle fed kittens just don't get.
h =^..^=


----------



## BigBurma (Apr 26, 2009)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

The best part is my friend actually has 2 cats that just had kittens at almost the exact same time! One had 6 and the other only had 1... so all the kittens are in the same "nest" and the mommas actually take turns feeding them!!! Plenty of milk to go around! He already has homes lined up for most of his kittens and is going to have them all fixed ahead of time once they are old enough... I assume he'll be getting the mommies fixed too (they are really strays he takes care of and they stay in his shed). I'm gonna keep mine! I think Toby needs a playmate anyways, hopefully the age difference and the fact that they are both males isn't going to be an issue with them getting along. Just gotta come up with a name... hmmm.... :roll:


----------



## Mutzi (Jun 2, 2008)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

:luv What a cute little kitty! What about the name "Shorty"?


----------



## katlover13 (Apr 15, 2008)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

With that coloring is it possible that the kitten is female? VERY pretty little face. I'm glad you rescued her and are going to give her a home.


----------



## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

Good job! It was so kind of you to rescue that kitten. I would focus on trapping the mother cat now by getting her spayed so this doesnt repeat itself in another 4 months. You can put a hav a heart humane trap out, baited with mackeral or tuna, to get her into the trap. Have a pending appointment set up at your humane society or vet that this cat is coming in when you get her.


----------



## Luvkitties (Jan 22, 2009)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

What a cute kitty! 
I like the name Shorty proposed by another member!!! 

You did a great job by bringing this kitty to your friend's house!


----------



## cmw0829 (Nov 23, 2008)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

What a beautiful little kitten. Good for you for taking care of him/her(?).


----------



## BigBurma (Apr 26, 2009)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*



katlover13 said:


> With that coloring is it possible that the kitten is female?


This is interesting, what would make you think it was a girlie?

As for a name, right now I'm leaning towards T.J. O'Pootertoot. (from the Ben Stiller Show)...


Here he is with his new kitty family!!!


----------



## katlover13 (Apr 15, 2008)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*



BigBurma said:


> katlover13 said:
> 
> 
> > With that coloring is it possible that the kitten is female?
> ...


The orange coloring around the nose with some white and black. Makes me think she looks sort of calico/tortie - ish and I think that coloring is usually female.


----------



## OctoberinMaine (Sep 12, 2006)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

You did a great thing to help this kitten, and what a great momma that she took him/her in. I'm glad we can look forward to lots more pictures!


----------



## Jeanie (Jun 18, 2003)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

Thank you for helping this little orphan! I would keep the formula in the "new" mother's house, just in case the other babies are not getting enough to eat. It takes some patience, but he will get used to a bottle. I hope we have a great ending to this story!


----------



## BigBurma (Apr 26, 2009)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

Turns out this kitten was probably from a different mother from the street behind ours. Because yesterday I saw the momma cat (which I thought was TJ's momma) crawl under the little bridge-like walkway to our house. I peeked under there and lo and behold she had brought her kittens to us! She's got at least 3, one dark tabby, one black, and one cream with light stripes. I think there may also be another tabby one, but it's hard to see up under there, it is a very small opening and she doesn't like us getting too close. 

They are a little smaller I think than TJ, so maybe he is from somewhere else, but it's still possible he was somehow separated from this family. They all seem to be doing great, the new found kittens actually got into the food I left out for the momma and the little stripey one was chowin' down! is it normal for them to start eating dry food after only a few weeks? I was thinking it was 6 to 8 weeks, but these kittens are maybe 4 weeks old, or less. Either way they are all cute as can be and I will have a hard time deciding which one(s) to keep and which to give away. I'll be sure to post pictures if I can get some, the mom cat is still quite wild and does not like us poking around. She seems alright with us for the most part though since she knows we give her food, but she still won't let anyone pet her. I hope we are able to get the kittens before they are trained to be so skittish of humans.


----------



## Jeanie (Jun 18, 2003)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

Usually, kittens start eating soft food at 4 -4 1/2 weeks, and then gradually learn to handle small chunks and finally crunchy food. In order to prevent another pregnancy, I would get a humane trap (borrow from humane society), and get mother cat spayed. There are TNR organizations who will help you also.

I like to keep kittens together with the mother cat longer, but in this case, you will want to tame these little ones asap. I would take them in the house and socialize them. How kind of you to care!  

Here, by state, are some low cost or free organizations that will help you get mother cat spayed:

http://www.lovethatcat.com/spayneuter.html

Good luck! Keep us informed.


----------



## BigBurma (Apr 26, 2009)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

Thanks for the link. As far as the food goes, they went straight for the dry stuff and started crunchin away. Today I just gave them and the momma some of the kitten milk I had left over from the other kitten. We have a place called "The Fixx" who will fix stray cats for $20 each. That's 120 bucks for the momma and the 5 kittens, but if that's the only option I guess I don't have much choice. I'm going to call the Humane Society and see if they have any better deal set up since the cats are feral after all.


----------



## Jeanie (Jun 18, 2003)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

That's inexpensive, in comparison to the organizations around here!


----------



## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

That is a screamin deal for a S/N . Im assuming the rabies and vacinations are extra? That is the kindest thing you could do for this momma cat and babies is to spay and neuter them. They will have a chance of a healthier happier life even if they are feral. 

We spayed so many female cats who were just a couple years old but their uterus were mush and the vets tell us they would of died next time they were pregnant. Their bodies just cant handle pregnancy after pregnancy after pregnancy. It ruins their health.


----------



## BigBurma (Apr 26, 2009)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

Yeah, you can't really beat 20 bucks for s/n that's less than half of what the animal shelter charged when I adopted my other cats. This place is new to me, I'm not even sure where they're located, but they do it for that price for feral cats and people with low income (such as myself). That's really great of them, I'd love to volunteer there sometime if I wasn't working so much.


----------



## BigBurma (Apr 26, 2009)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

Well, here's an update on the feral cat & kittens...

I went up to the place and bought 2 $20 S/N vouchers (one for the momma cat and one for the older kitten). I made an appointment for tomorrow morning for the mother cat to be spade. I figured I'd have better luck catching her in a trap, so I went up to the animal shelter to borrow one and luckily the lady we talked to was a friend of my mom's because she said what we are doing (catching a feral cat and having it fixed to be re-released) is actually illegal here. I was really surprised. She didn't go into much detail but I'm hoping they are only saying it's illegal if you don't also get them vaccinated. Either way, she was nice enough to let us use a trap anyways as long as we were trying to catch a feral cat to "bring her back to the pound to be terminated" :yikes. That's really bad that it's illegal to TNR here, you would think that sort of thing would be encouraged. 

Anyways, I was going to wait until tonight to catch her, but she moved the kittens over the fence to the neighbor's house (who has dogs)! We heard one whining and that's how we found them, turns out she got her little paw stuck in between some boards. I've got the trap set with some wet food so hopefully the momma will get caught then the kittens should be fairly easy to get afterwards. The one that had her foot caught is actually sleeping on my chest right now! :luv 

They've got a couple more weeks before I can get them fixed, which is fine since I won't have any money before that! :lol: I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this will go smoothly and the kittens will all find a good home.


----------



## Jeanie (Jun 18, 2003)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

I so hope you will use one of the shelters that approve of TNR (Trap/Neuter/Return), and will cooperate with you. It breaks my heart to think that the Humane Society wants to destroy mother cat.  There is help available. 

Please check other organizations:

http://www.lovethatcat.com/spayneuter.html

www.alleycat.org/


----------



## BigBurma (Apr 26, 2009)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

It was not the Humane Society I borrowed the trap from, it was the county animal shelter. We aren't taking any of the cats to any kind of shelter, I just went there to get a trap for the momma. After much trouble I got her and the kittens. She's in the shade on the back porch in the trap. She really freaked out when she realized she was in a cage, like running from side to side ramming her head into the door trying to get out, I felt *HORRIBLE!!!*  

I guess there isn't much else I can do, I was going to wait until later to tonight to catch her, but she had moved the kittens into the neighbors yard with dogs, luckily we found them before the dogs did because we had to really work to keep them away once they noticed what was going on. The kittens are all together in a big tub in the bedroom chowing down on some canned food, the little black one is especially skittish, I hope he gets over that so he can be adopted. Once they're all fixed we are just going to keep the momma cat here to live out her life in our yard and the surrounding woods where she's been living. And the kittens I will probably keep one and adopt the rest of them out for $20 each to pay for the spay/neuter. They are so cute I wish I could keep them all!


----------



## Jeanie (Jun 18, 2003)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

I'm so glad! Bless your heart! You'll get mother spayed too, right? This will be a happy ending after all!


----------



## BigBurma (Apr 26, 2009)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

Yup momma's got an appointment in the morning to be spayed. I was lucky to find a vet who took the voucher and could work me in on such short notice.

Now, on to the CUTENES!!! >>>



Pepper is the light colored one and the stripy one is Garth.










Wayne & Garth:










Louie (named after Louis Prima) is the black one and Wayne:










Pepper, Garth (left)& Wayne(right) posing for the camera:










Pepper with a huge yawn!










TJ (left) and Louie he likes to snuggle and sleep, a lot:










Pepper, Wayne & Garth playin:










Pepper hams it up:


----------



## love.my.cats (Jan 29, 2009)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

They're all soooooooooo cute! :luv I especially like Pepper!


----------



## Jeanie (Jun 18, 2003)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

Ohhh! They're precious! I love Louis,  but they're all sweet.


----------



## BigBurma (Apr 26, 2009)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

These kittens are really great, after spending a little time with them you start to notice their little personalities. So, there has been some discrepancy over the age that kittens can be fixed... Some place told me 8 weeks, another said 6 months, I'd say that's a pretty big difference. I don't mind keeping them a little longer, but my dad's not a big fan of cats (although he has taken a liking to Pepper). She does seem smarter and more alert than the others... maybe just because she is a girl









Wayne is very vocal, Garth is playful and cuddly, Louie is very timid and sweet, and TJ seems to be attached to me already! He must remember I brought him to his foster family. They are all cute as can be and getting used to us pretty quickly which is great. One of them even went potty in the little litter box I put for them! We'll make house cats of them yet!


----------



## Jeanie (Jun 18, 2003)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

If you have a pet kitten, it should be neutered before six months, so that no breeding is possible. However, shelters neuter them very young, and adopt them out at 6-8 weeks. It's better to keep the litter together, take requests, reserve them, and hold them until 12 weeks.


----------



## BigBurma (Apr 26, 2009)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

Thanks for the info Jeanie, I'll keep that in mind. So it would be safe to wait at least 10 weeks? I guess that's 5 or 6 more weeks, it's hard to say how old the are since we don't know when they were born. Can anyone tell by looking at the pictures how old? About a month, month and a half is my best guess. :?:


----------



## Jeanie (Jun 18, 2003)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

Their eyes stay blue until they are about six weeks old, so that will help you to judge. Shelters like them when they are six weeks, but if you are going to find homes for them, you can wait longer.  Some breeders let the kittens go between 10 and 12 weeks. But they learn how to be cats by wrestling and playing with one another, and they gain strength. They're also used to human beings.  Use your best judgment.


----------



## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

Ill insert my opinion. You could go at it two ways.

First off the cat should be atleast 3 lbs before spay or neutering them. 

Try to adopt out kittens in pairs. Convince people it is better for their well being and happiness to have each other as companions. 

If you can follow up on the people you could let them be adopted out at 8 weeks. But be very firm on you will follow up on checking that the people get them S/N and vacinations. Give them all the information and some places will set up a tenative appointment. I bet the white siamese looking one will go quick. We are always being asked if we have siamese kittens or adults!

How sad to hear the county says TNR is illegal. Do you think that is accurate? I know the county shelter here puts all ferals down if brought to them. But they dont oppose s/n and feeding colonies in our county. The humane society in Tucson wont accept ferals but they encourage people to take them to be s/n at their low cost s/n clinic and then release them back to your yard and keep feeding them.

Your kittens are so absolutely cute!!! They look very healthy too.


----------



## furbabylover (Nov 7, 2008)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

I would really be scared adding a kitten of an unknown background that could possibly have fiv/felv or any other disease) that he/she could pass on to Mama cat and all her kittens. I always test Mama cat and the necomer before letting a kitten nurse on a lactating cat.Good luck and I sure hope that nothing gets passed between the cats. Your awesome for rescuing this kitten


----------



## Jeanie (Jun 18, 2003)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

I don't think BigBurma has a lactating female. She's going to use a bottle. Of course, all new cats or kittens should be tested before being allowed near resident cats.


----------



## BigBurma (Apr 26, 2009)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

I do have a lactating female, though the kittens are old enough now to be weened and we just got momma fixed today. The kittens are drinking some from a bottle and will also lap up the formula from a saucer. They will even scarf down some wet food if I give it to them, I figure they're about 6 weeks old. 

The momma was ok when I took her in early this morning but I don't know how it all turned out since my mom is the one that picked her up from the vet. I was hoping to keep her in the cage for the remainder of the day and give her some food so she could recover a bit at least from the surgery, but it looks like my mom already released her. She was spayed, vaccinated for rabies, and had her ear clipped. 

Honestly I didn't think about one kitten passing a disease on to the others, but for all we know any of them could have something... Just because we know who the momma cat is doesn't mean we know her health status, she is completely wild and unable to be handled. All the kittens seem to be perfectly healthy and playful, aside from a small case of fleas there are no signs of mites or worms or any odd behavioral problems. They are getting used to people and will crawl all over you and follow you around and snuggle up on your chest. One thing's for sure I need to clip those little needle-sharp talons of theirs. Also are there any flea meds that are safe for kittens this young or do I just need to wash and comb them?


----------



## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

FYI for the future. 

Once a cat is spayed you should keep her confined a *minimum* of 2 days if not longer to recover. Males can be released in 1 day of recovering.


----------



## BigBurma (Apr 26, 2009)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

That's what I was thinking. My mom said she was going to leave her in the carrier, but she was going crazy and hurting herself trying to get out... She didn't want her to split open the stitches so I guess she just let her out. There was blood smeared inside the carrier which freaked me out! I didn't see her since I brought her to the vet this morning so I don't know what the deal was, I was across town when she brought her home... I'm really worried for her but I think she is much more comfortable outside and would likely recover faster than if she were freaking out in a cage. It's not like she just lays there, she will keep trying to get out over and over and over.  poor momma.


----------



## BigBurma (Apr 26, 2009)

*Re: Found a kitten today...*

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~UPDATE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Well, momma has been hanging around the house and is doing really well, but I can tell she misses her babies... I wish I could get her inside to spend some time with them without worrying about her running off with them. She actually seems less skittish now which surprised me, after such an ordeal I'd think she would be terrified! The kittens are all doing excellent and alternate between formula and wet food and today I gave them some kitten chow. Some of them liked the dry food, but a couple of them took a few bites and weren't interested, they were the smaller "runty" ones. They are all using the litter tray now even the little guys. Today they went on a field trip exploring the house, running around getting in to everything, I'm sure they were glad to get out of the tub for a while again. I posted a for sale ad on Craigslist but so far no bites. I also got some flea & tick shampoo, but I'm not sure if I can use it on them since they are so small... anyone know if it would be okay?


----------



## Jeanie (Jun 18, 2003)

I would ask the vet about worming and flea and tick treatment. Don't use Hartz, though! Mother probably has worms and fleas and/or flea eggs, so she will need to be treated also. And if she had worms and fleas, the odds are the kittens do also.

Perhaps when Mother cat gets spayed, (and is asleep) an assistant will put a drop of Frontline, Revolution or Advantage on the back of her neck. If it's safe for you, I would do it myself, in case they charge. Do some price comparisons, because it can be expensive, and don't be afraid to ask questions about costs. Here's a discussion about flea treatments:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=52310&

Kittens should not be treated until they're 8 weeks.


----------

