Found a month old stray kitten and brought it home, now what?

IMPORTANT: If your cat is in any distress or discomfort, please consult your own vet as your first priority.
Joe_Danger
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 537
Joined: Sat May 31, 2014 9:04 pm

Found a month old stray kitten and brought it home, now what?

Post by Joe_Danger »

Image

Image

I thought Milla would take over being a mom and all, I've brought kittens home before and she'd at least groom them and stuff but does not care about this one.
Kala doesn't care either
Casper hissed and growled at it but ultimately forgot about it

I've raised kittens from birth alright but it was mostly their mom, Milla raising them.
This kitten is still wobbly on its feet, very much so but it seems to have good strong teeth.
It drinks water and ate some, tomorrow I'm going to buy it some wet food and some dry junior food but I think it needs a good milk supplement since it's so young, would goat milk work because I don't think we have specific milk suitable for kittens sold here, I'll check with my vet tomorrow.

I don't know if I'm keeping it or not, it's not my decision to make, it's the other cats, if they're cool with it sure, if not we'll try and find it a good home.

It has a bit of a runny stool, but other than that it seems fine.
Unless it's attached to a human being it meows looking for someone to cuddle up against, strangely enough it only wants human company and doesn't seem to approach the other cats and they seem to avoid it too.
It follows us humans closely tho.

Now my biggest concern if all else is well will be potty training it, I did put it in the litterboxes several times but it's too young to get the concept of a litter box yet and the lady who should try and take over her mom duties would rather not bother with that it seems :) I've never seen my cats show such low interest in anything ever.

Any advice would be helpful
thought I knew cats and kittens but I'm a tad stumped with this one
it's going to the vet tomorrow
User avatar
Kay
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 1961
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2014 2:50 pm
No. of cats in household: 1
Location: West Wales

Re: Found a month old stray kitten and brought it home, now what?

Post by Kay »

what a cute little scrap

it seems goat's milk is better than cow's milk for kittens, but not as good as special formula milk - and if he has a dodgy tum goat's milk could make it worse

can you shop on Amazon? there's quite a few kitten milks on there
Joe_Danger
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 537
Joined: Sat May 31, 2014 9:04 pm

Re: Found a month old stray kitten and brought it home, now what?

Post by Joe_Danger »

By time stuff from amazon arrives here it would be a month and fast postal services in my country cost an arm and a leg, they also don't ship food products and stuff to Macedonia.

But now we have a weird problem
Milla is hissing at Casper all of a sudden, she only does that when there's something different about him like that tear stain last year and such, other than that she loves her boy very much.
Guess he got the smell of the kitten on him and now she is ****.

Hope the kitten doesn't upset their balance too much, all three generally get along well

We'll see what the vet says tomorrow, I have a friend who raises and rescues strays at his neighborhood so if the other cats are too upset by this he said he'd take it.
User avatar
Mollycat
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 2705
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2019 10:58 am
No. of cats in household: 1
Location: UK

Re: Found a month old stray kitten and brought it home, now what?

Post by Mollycat »

For the kitten, if you google kitten milk recipes there are lots you can make yourself. If a 4 week old kitten can't handle milk then you have a severe problem. But there are lots of recipes for added nutritional value by adding either egg yolk, mayonnaise, or something else.

It's a little early for weaning but can you puree the food you give to the other cats and add something high calorie and nutritionally rich and give it to the kitten from a syringe or have him lick it from your fingers?
Joe_Danger
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 537
Joined: Sat May 31, 2014 9:04 pm

Re: Found a month old stray kitten and brought it home, now what?

Post by Joe_Danger »

I don't know the English terms for this stuff or rather they seem to be different foods there.

Since it has a bit of a runny stomach we gave it a bit Yogurt, now I understand in the US and maybe the UK Yogurt is a different drink but here it's more like sour milk, no sugar no nothing and it acts as a probiotic. Milla loves it a lot.

It also ate a bit of the cat food my cats eat on its own as well as some of it mixed in with the yogurt and before I realized it the thing went and ate Milla's sour cream(we call it Pavlaka here, Milla was rasied on it, it does no harm to cats, it's a dairy product)

It learned where the water bowl is and it goes and drinks there on its own

EDIT: It seems he understands his surroundings quite well, he went and ate some more of Mill's new sour cream on his own.
He does not know when he does his business tho, so if you hold him on your lap you better have a towl or something under him.

He has very sharp strong teeth and even ate a kible or two of the big ones on his own but doesn't seem to be a big fan of persian cat food for now.
They didn't have any junior wet foods or any cat wet foods in my local super market but they will restock tomorrow.

Also I'm 90% sure he is a boy

EDIT: So he goes and eats on his own now, he ate a bit of his ground and mushed dry food, then went and ate even more sour cream.
He does meow a lot tho, hope it's not a bad sign, I imagine he is just looking for his mom because if you hold him on your lap he generally is quiet and has a lil faint purr.

Now let's see how the other cats take to all this
So far they all eat normally but nobody has gone to the bathroom yet

Also I hope his runny stomach gets sorted out because he already seems like a very smart cat
he does poop very often tho, hi latest poop wasn't as runny tho rather normal actually.
Joe_Danger
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 537
Joined: Sat May 31, 2014 9:04 pm

Re: Found a month old stray kitten and brought it home, now what?

Post by Joe_Danger »

So far so good, the kitten is spending the night in Casper's carrier because it's so tiny I don't want it running loose in the house, I'm up all night so it'll get water and everything as needed.
Only issue I have for now is that it poops and pees without realizing it, like totally oblivious to it which is a bit worrying, it has strong teeth and nails, beautifully opend eyes and I believe by now it should have been showing a better understanding of this stuff.

Like it can pee and poop as it sits on your lap(I put a towl and apparently we still had these like sheet like diapers we bought when Milla had her kittens, but yeah it's totally oblivious to peeing and pooping, doesn't even look back to smell it or cover it up probably because it's way too young, I honestly can't tell how old this kitten is anymore :)
It's the size of my palm and seems very smart, that's all I can tell for now.
Joe_Danger
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 537
Joined: Sat May 31, 2014 9:04 pm

Re: Found a month old stray kitten and brought it home, now what?

Post by Joe_Danger »

The kitten is at the vet's now
We'll see what happens next
Either they're going to find it a surrogate mom because it definitely still needs a mom or something I dunno
I'm worried because man it still has diarrhea, hope it isn't anything too serious and it won't affect the other cats, tho they didn't have much interaction with him at all so they'll probably be fine.

This morning it wasn't as active and willing to eat or drink as last night and yesterday, it slept a good few hours over the night and it was kinda more lethargic when it woke up.
Hope the vet sorts everything out, if the kitten can be kept in the house with the other cats and is doing well I'm keeping it of course, if the vet says we should do something else like find it a surrogate mom which is very common or give it to someone with more experience in raising abandoned kittens then we're doing that.

My vets are really good and they genuinely care about animals, they also don't overcharge and even offer services and advise and stuff for free so whatever happens we know the kitten is going to be in good hands.

EDIT:

Mom just called, she had to go to the post office and the vet is right there, so she was the one to take the kitten to the vets.
Of course at the vet's it was fine, even the vet can't tell if it's a boy or a girl lol

So there's mostly good news
the vet gave my mom some kinda special milk formula for the kitten, it should not eat anything other than that

The diarrhea should resolve itself soon my mom was right to give it some probiotic yesterday

At the vet's it was drinking the milk she gave him just fine

The vets weren't too happy we picked up a random kitten from the street because it could potentially endanger the other cats and since the other cats are technically their family too (milla mated with their male) they worry about them a great deal. :)

So overall
the vet said the kitten is actually pretty healthy
waaaaaay too young to be on its own

What needs to sort out right now is the diarrhea because its bum is a bit swollen and red from it, so that could potentially cause some damage if not sorted out on time, other than that she gave the kitten a clean bill of health.

So yeah, this should work out
Oh and they gave him some kitten booster paste or something it's supposed to take for 3 days

EDIT: The kitten is back home
According to the vets it's 3 weeks tops, not even a month old and very well on his/her way to becoming a strong cat if all goes well for the next two weeks or so.
It's way too young, definitely not out of the woods just yet but it should be fine
User avatar
Ruth B
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 1998
Joined: Wed Jun 15, 2016 11:31 am
No. of cats in household: 3
Location: Wolverhampton

Re: Found a month old stray kitten and brought it home, now what?

Post by Ruth B »

Really glad to hear the kitten is doing well. I can't give any advice it is years since i had anything to do with kittens, i was in my teens and a cat adopted my family then a month later brought us her 4 kittens, but really my Mum and the cat Mum looked after them.

I'm sure the diarrhea probably has something to do with being without food or eating the wrong things for a few hours, and with proper formula from the vets will soon clear up.

As for your other cats catching something, i'm sure they will be fine, and worse case if they do pick something up you will have them into the vets quickly to get them sorted out.

Thank you for taking care of the little one, without your intervention they would certainly have died alone and cold. Whatever happens, and at that young age wiithout their mother they are not out of the woods, it will have known love.
booktigger
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 2664
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2014 1:36 pm
No. of cats in household: 3

Re: Found a month old stray kitten and brought it home, now what?

Post by booktigger »

I'm surprised a vet couldn't sex a kitten, it does look like it might be a tortie on that second pic, in which case it's very likely to be female. I'm sure you have said before about struggling to keep cats separate, but I would definitely try to with this kitten, in case it has been abandoned due to not being well (mum cats can sense things and will abandon sickly kittens), plus all kittens are born with worms, so I would treat yours for fleas and worms to be on the safe side, once he/she is a bit more stable, I would get some worming paste from the vets
Joe_Danger
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 537
Joined: Sat May 31, 2014 9:04 pm

Re: Found a month old stray kitten and brought it home, now what?

Post by Joe_Danger »

They all need to get wormed this year
haven't even gotten them vaccinated yet it should be around july/august

If its mom abandoned it because it wasn't well could that be why Milla keeps avoiding it?
Because the other cats don't care, but Milla specifically avoids the kitten, if she has to walk by it she walks real slow like and from as big a distance as she can.

She came and sniffed it a few times but that was it.
Maybe she is worried the mom cat would attack her as someone on a different forum suggested.

At times it seems like it's going to be just fine
at times I feel it isn't long for this world due to the diarrhea

I feel if Milla would just adopt it everything would be fine
but she isn't too keen on the idea, doubt spayed cats can even produce milk

EDIT: This one is fairly easy to keep separated btw, it just stays in one of the carriers.
Joe_Danger
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 537
Joined: Sat May 31, 2014 9:04 pm

Re: Found a month old stray kitten and brought it home, now what?

Post by Joe_Danger »

Wish we could figure out the soft stool bit and why it poops without so much as taking note of it.
Its stool is slightly more dense but it's still yellow and well typical cat soft stool/diarrhea kind of poop.
What worries me is that the kitten has very strong teeth and claws, it does try to eat dry food tho shows little interest in it, but it drinks its evaporated milk and vitamin formula just fine. I know evaporated milk isn't ideal but it's what we got in my county, there's no special milk for cats here as far as I know and have been told.

From my experience kittens his/her age should have tiny worm like poops, so this isn't ok but the vet says it isn't life threatening at all. The kitten likes to wobble around and explore, it's still not stable but it does move a lot faster now.
I have half a mind to start it on boiled chick breast since that usually stops diarrhea but I think it's going to keep having soft poops for as long as it drinks this evaporated milk thing and as long as it doesn't get wormed. Assuming it's not a more serious underlying issue.

I can't remember if Casper and Kala and the other kittens had their teeth come in by week 3, because this one sure has teeth and definitely doesn't look to be 4 weeks old.
At 4 weeks the kittens were well aware of doing their business and would even start finding spots away from the other cats to pee and stuff sometimes, that's also when litterbox training sort of started.

This one tho, is completely oblivious that it poops or pees, like it can do it while exploring and walking around, hope this doesn't prove to be a problem in the future.
Joe_Danger
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 537
Joined: Sat May 31, 2014 9:04 pm

Re: Found a month old stray kitten and brought it home, now what?

Post by Joe_Danger »

Since the Diarhea just wouldn't stop I decided to cut the milk completely and go with boiled chicken breast, that usually helps the other ones when they are like this.

As soon as I brought the chicken close to the kitten it started meowing
it went nuts and instantly started devouring it.
It ate a lot, so I hope it won't throw up.

My vet agreed to this of course
She also said she feels it's ok for the kitten to be wormed now that it eats on its own and everything
so we're getting worming pulls for all 4 tomorrow.

I don't know if this is going to stop the diarrhea, but the kitten has a great appetite so that gives me hope
but I still think its life is in danger as long as we don't stop the runs, that needs to go.

Also if it is lactose intolerant and at 3 weeks only what does that tell us about the kitten?
booktigger
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 2664
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2014 1:36 pm
No. of cats in household: 3

Re: Found a month old stray kitten and brought it home, now what?

Post by booktigger »

Hopefully the worming will help - the majority of cats are lactose intolerant, which is why they have cat formula and don't use normal milk - goat's milk isn't bad, as that has less lactose in it. I would watch how much chicken you give it in a go, it might devour it, but it might be too much for it's little stomach. Most kittens start toileting in random places, but putting it in the litter tray frequently (and maybe even putting a bit of the other cats poo in) should make it twig what it is, seeing as it doesn't have a mother to follow from.
Joe_Danger
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 537
Joined: Sat May 31, 2014 9:04 pm

Re: Found a month old stray kitten and brought it home, now what?

Post by Joe_Danger »

Thanks I'm careful how much I feed him, but she/he doesn't seem to be the type to overeat too

Also this happened earlier
Image

So guys I want to post pics of the kitten's bum
it looks very bad due to days of diarrhea, my vet says it should go back to normal in time, but if we can't make the diarrhea go away any time soon I'm afraid it might be permanently damaged

Here's what it looks like click the links at your own discretion if this stuff bothers you

https://i3.endoftheinter.net/i/n/2ba6a9 ... G_3187.jpg
https://i3.endoftheinter.net/i/n/2930ff ... G_3184.jpg

If the links don't work I'm going to reupload them somewhere else

it looks awful and I know it's painful but it is better than it was yesterday, yesterday it even had a bit of blood

EDIT: tho I am against bathing cats, we had to do it for this one, fortunately it enjoyed the blowdrier a great deal
give it a wash/bath
we are against it but the poor thing smelled of literal dog, that's one thing I forgot to mention
so now that it adapted to the house more, it had to be done

It STILL smells of dog a little XD
keeping it dry and warm now

Either tomorrow or the day after I'm taking it back to the vet with a friend of mine so she can check if his bum is better and to give him/her the dewarming pill
I THINK it's a boy but my vet had a hard time figuring it out too

Of course we didn't give it a bath all willy nilly, the vet suggested it
also the strong dog smell is probably why the other cats were avoiding it especially Milla
It's weird tho, it still smells of dog just not as much
Joe_Danger
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 537
Joined: Sat May 31, 2014 9:04 pm

Re: Found a month old stray kitten and brought it home, now what?

Post by Joe_Danger »

Dang, talk about progress, if we could only get its stomach under control
This morning the kitten completely independently went and drank from the big cats' water bowl nice and good.
When the chicken was being heat up it went nuts meowing and as soon as I placed it on the floor it wobble ran up to the food and started eating.

Since yesterday it seems to poop ever 2 hours on the dot, this morning it did it at 7:28AM and now at 9:27AM, tho now it was only two small watery sploges but they at least smelled of poop more now and now its poop is much darker brown as opposed to the light almost greenish color before (the vet saw the previous poop didn't think much of it)

I'm very happy with the overall progress of the kitten, it's astonishing actually, but the whole diarhea/watery poop is still a great concern to me, it is hydrated and well fed so that's a good thing.
User avatar
Ruth B
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 1998
Joined: Wed Jun 15, 2016 11:31 am
No. of cats in household: 3
Location: Wolverhampton

Re: Found a month old stray kitten and brought it home, now what?

Post by Ruth B »

I'm certainly no expert, but my thought is that a kitten with diarrhea unable to clean itself, and no Mum cat to do it for it, would naturally end up with a chapped and sore back end. Now even if it is still suffering from diarrhea it is being cleaned and dried afterwards which will give the skin a chance to heal, but as with anything it takes time. Hopefully with good food and clean water its stomach will start to adapt and the runs will stop.

As for bathing a kitten, sometimes they need it, you just have to make sure you don't use anything that would be harmful to them. I've had to partially bath a cat a couple of times, first time one had stepped in some type of thick dark brown oil or creosote, so i ended up ringing the vets about 15 minutes before the surgery shut for the evening for advice, thinking we could just about get over and pick something up if needed, they told me i was fine to use warm water and washing up liquid, The next time a different cat had managed to get dog poo all up his back legs, so once again we resorted to warm water and washing up liquid. Most cats may not like being bathed, but it doesn't do any harm in itself, some breeds, such as Sphynx, actually need to be bathed once a week. The main danger in bathing a kitten as far as I can tell is that they can't regulate their body temperature particularly well so you need to make sure they are warm and dry afterwards, which you obviously did.

One trick I have heard people mention is using a damp toothbrush (the old manual type not a powered one) to clean a kitten's fur, the size of the toothbrush is about the same as a mother cats tongue, and the bristles mimic the feel of it and can help clean the fur with out a full bath. Obviously don't do it where the skin is already sore.
Joe_Danger
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 537
Joined: Sat May 31, 2014 9:04 pm

Re: Found a month old stray kitten and brought it home, now what?

Post by Joe_Danger »

Thanks!!! The toothbrush thing might be something nice to try and quite calming. I'll give it a shot.

Now it popped after almost 3 hours and it wasn't much of a poop, just a few brown drops of poop like liquid, but nowhere near as much as it had yesterday.
It also peed in the litterbox since I placed it there right after it woke up and had some water, so that's a good thing.

I'm very concerned about the way it poops tho
it's as if it isn't even aware of doing it, tho now it does seem to be straining a bit more

but it is starting to play, to try and grab things, to kick with its hind legs when it's on its back
Everything is progressing so well, I just hope to God the pooping thing gets sorted out and I think it's going to be one
nice healthy cat.
STILL Can't tell if it's a boy or a girl, might be a girl who knows

My vet gave me this PuppyBoost vitamine paste, it's good for kittens too so she said to only give it for 3 days as it's apparently too strong a vitamin or something, so after the 2nd dose today it should be done with that.

It's really cool how it knows where the food and water is, where it likes to nap the most
such a little kitten but so sharp and observant
Joe_Danger
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 537
Joined: Sat May 31, 2014 9:04 pm

Re: Found a month old stray kitten and brought it home, now what?

Post by Joe_Danger »

Of course the kitten potty trained itself in the wrong spot despite my greatest efforts, but that's ok this happened with Kala at first too and with her brother Marco and I got them sorted out. Well that's as far as peeing goes.

Pooping is a whole different issue here and the situation seems so desperate and helpless I feel it's never going to sort itself out.
So everything about this kitten is progressing wonderfully, but it still poops or leaks rather every 2-3 hours.

If it's awake and moving about it's leaking :(
Sometimes it knows it's doing it and it strains, this is alrigt I guess
but sometimes poop water just starts leaking out of his bum and it's completely oblivious

like right now
It wobble bolted to the balcony door because there was some noise outside (we have a screen door) to check it out and as it was looking outside I noticed it was leaking yellowish liquid, very little but it didn't pay it no mind :)
Its bum is also very sore and it avoids sitting on it.

Guys, this kitten means the world to me, it's no different from the other three I own, I have to save it somehow
but vets here don't make that easy.

Tomorrow it's getting wormed, so here's hoping that solves whatever this is but I somehow doubt it
User avatar
fjm
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 1675
Joined: Sat Dec 23, 2017 6:11 pm
No. of cats in household: 1
Location: North West England

Re: Found a month old stray kitten and brought it home, now what?

Post by fjm »

Very young kittens need the trigger of the mother's licking to defecate, it sounds as if your kitten is slightly older than that stage, but perhaps it might be part of the problem. A warm damp cloth is usually used, and it might be worth a try:
"I have heard that kittens cannot urinate or pass motions without assistance, is this true?

It is necessary to stimulate kittens of less than two weeks old to urinate and defecate as they cannot do this without stimulation from the mother cat. The ‘voiding reflex’ by which urine and faeces are released, is normally initiated by the mother licking the kitten’s ano–genital region (the area under the tail). Where the mother is not available, urination and defecation must be maintained by the human carer for approximately four weeks or until the kitten is independent. It is quite normal for a distressed cry to be heard when the kitten needs to pass faeces, which should cease afterwards It may be useful to use fragrance-free wet wipes for newborn babies and soft tissue. Stimulate the ano-genital area gently both before and after feeding, as they feed better with empty bladder/bowels.

From three weeks of age, the reflex should begin to be triggered while the kitten is placed on the litter tray. Leaving a small amount of soiled litter within the tray will serve as a reminder to the kittens of where to perform."
from https://icatcare.org/advice/hand-rearing-kittens/
Joe_Danger
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 537
Joined: Sat May 31, 2014 9:04 pm

Re: Found a month old stray kitten and brought it home, now what?

Post by Joe_Danger »

yeah I do all that
I'm starting to think there's two things going on here

Diarhea which is probably going away
tomorrow morning it's getting wormed with an 8th of a pill
and the other thing, I think its anal glands are full due to being infected from pooping and not being able to clean itself don't know how long it's been like this
Worst case scenario is a nasty parasite that is going to infect all 3 cats
because as much as I try to keep them separated I can't keep the kitten
locked in a carrier all day it gets stressed and needs human contact and already has its favorite places in the house

The kitten still doesn't know how to clean itself except its paws and the big cats are too lazy to do anything these days due to the hot weather so it can't even observe them cleaning themselves :)


Here's what we know so far:

- the kitten is developing normally I believe
- It has infinite persistent diarrhea, it poops every two hours or sometimes as soon as it gets moved around/picked up, but it's just a little liquid poop, still it's brown and it's actual poop colored and smell now where as before it was white goop.
- There's a 2nd type of liquid which leaks even when it's asleep, this one is yellowish in color, it covers what appear to be its genitals maybe and it also does come out of its butt sometimes but im not really sure, when this liquid leaks the kitten is unaware it is happening
- When it's pooping liquid stool tho it does seem to strain sometimes

- The kitten's bum is inflamed and it hurts, so it avoids sitting properly, always keeps its bum elevated when it can
- It pees normally and even potty trained itself to pee in a certain spot...

- its bum or genital area, not sure, see pics, are swollen, big time, hence why my vet couldn't determine if it's a boy or a girl

- My vet said to clean the area with hydrogen, but as soon as we drop hydrogen there it stimulates it and it starts pooping even if it just pooped, which is weird
Joe_Danger
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 537
Joined: Sat May 31, 2014 9:04 pm

Re: Found a month old stray kitten and brought it home, now what?

Post by Joe_Danger »

Sorry if I'm spamming but I want to keep a log of this on this forum in case it might help somebody in the future if nothing else.
Brought the kitten in for a check up this morning.

Here's what my vet said:
- She can't seem to tell there's anal glands that need draining, she believes that the kitten just has issues digesting food because it was so abruptly separated from its mom, but given the kitten's overall behavior, alertness and everything doesn't think it's anything serious.
- The inflammation is pretty much gone completely and we just have to wait for the swelling to go down as well
- It's PROBABLY a girl but she still can't tell, it might be a boy
- The kitten is very skinny only 200g and it should start gaining weight asap, it does eat well. For example this morning it ate quite a bit of white chicken meat and then came back for seconds.
- The yellowish leaky thing is indeed poop but mostly undigested food and that's where the smell probably comes from, tho not the dog smell, that's something it either rolled into outside or was cared for by a dog as I suspect, it happens.
- She gave him/her two shots, a vitamin shot and an antibiotic shot - 100% free of charge, I know this is a foreign concept to most people from the 1st world I guess you could say, but vets here genuinely do often treat animals for free.

I hope there's no long term issue here or some kind of deformity or something
The vet thinks it's a very healthy kitten, we just have to sort this poop issue out somehiw
Also she gave it Whiskas Jr. and of course it gulped some of it down so that's going to clash with the all white chicken meat and chicken broth diet it's supposed to be on for a few days.
My vet also suggested some white rice or rice water too

Here's some general updates:
- Last night in 8 hours it only pooped once
- Ate like a champ this morning as always
- Even tho it had a dewarming pull an 8th of one, antibiotic shots and a vitamin shot this morning it still has soft/watery stool, but there's no redness anymore at least for now.

- The other cats really do want to spend time with it but as soon as they sniff the poor thing they get scared.
This morning Mila, the mom cat, came up to it purring and the kitten purred back, but as soon as she smelled it better
she ran away, this has been happening since day one pretty much. NORMALLY Milla licks and grooms kittens I've brought over or tries to. There's something about this one's smell.

- Mila has a habit of sitting by the carrier when one of her own kids is brought home form the vet until it's let out.
She did the same with the lil one this morning, they sniffed each other through the carrier. They've all rubbed noses with the kitten now, but when they smell it for longer/better they get scared
IMG_3210 (2).JPG
IMG_3212.JPG
So far so good, the kitten still seems to have weak anal muscles and can't seem to always shoot out its poop properly
but everything else is progressing as it should
User avatar
Ruth B
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 1998
Joined: Wed Jun 15, 2016 11:31 am
No. of cats in household: 3
Location: Wolverhampton

Re: Found a month old stray kitten and brought it home, now what?

Post by Ruth B »

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm loving reading these updates and really routing for this little kitten to make it. Its purely instinct not experience, but I feel the pooping problem will sort out with proper food and regular meals, it must take a while to transition from milk to solids and it sounds like it has been forced on this kitten a bit by it being abandoned, and you have no idea what it was eating before hand, even if a mother dog had adopted it, I would guess that dogs milk is a bit different to cats milk and perhaps it is still suffering the after effects of that.

I will say that when I adopted Saturn at 6 months old, no matter what I tried his poops were always rather loose for months afterwards. He always made the litter tray, but what he produced was more in line with a cow pat than a cat poop, in every other way he seemed healthy and happy and as long as they were in the litter tray I stopped worrying. Now he uses the garden all the time, so i've no idea what state his poops are in, I guess ignorance is bliss at times.
Joe_Danger
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 537
Joined: Sat May 31, 2014 9:04 pm

Re: Found a month old stray kitten and brought it home, now what?

Post by Joe_Danger »

Thanks for the support
this forum isn't as lively as it once was, I believe it's mostly due to that Bot Proof thing where you have to lick stuff before entering, it doesn't always work.
I fear we can't get the stool to normal up in all honesty
but I don't know what else to try, I live in a condo so my cats are strictly indoor pets.
I'm thinking of taking the kitten to this one clinic here that can maybe do ultrasound or whatever it is they do to look inside, not x-rays, maybe something's off in the kitten I have no idea.

If it was parasites it would've pooped them out by now
The frequency of pooping has definitely been reduced, the smell of the stool is more like that of normal cat poop now which is also good.

But the vets said that after the deworming pill, the antibiotic shot and vitamin shot the diarrhea should stop.
Not really sure if it can be considered diarrhea at this point, it poops every 3-4 hours today and it lasted all night without pooping just one more dense one so that's great.

TBH it starts pooping when you pick it up, mess with it a bit, so I guess when it gets stimulated
at least for now it doesn't seem like poop is leaking out of it in its sleep but it's too early to celebrate and I don't want to jinx it.

Sorry about the long posts, I get way too involved in this maybe :)

EDIT: I found a vet that MIGHT have cat milk, emphasis on might
so we'll see tomorrow when they open. Tho I don't know if I should introduce ANOTHER change to its diet now
Joe_Danger
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 537
Joined: Sat May 31, 2014 9:04 pm

Re: Found a month old stray kitten and brought it home, now what?

Post by Joe_Danger »

IMG_3232LR2.jpg
IMG_3230.LR2jpg.jpg
Every day the milestones just keep coming, the kitten is progressing amazingly well
I think it's a girl, but I'm still hoping against all hope for it to be a boy because I worry a lot when getting female cats spayed while with males the procedure is far less risky.

Also I'd have to argue with my vet, again, to get her fixed BEFORE she goes into heat which is something this vet refuses to do
and if I take her to another vet to get her spayed this vet would get super offended and realistically she has been the best out of all the vets I've had so far, it's just she is too old fashioned when it comes to some things such as when to get cats/kittens fixed.
booktigger
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 2664
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2014 1:36 pm
No. of cats in household: 3

Re: Found a month old stray kitten and brought it home, now what?

Post by booktigger »

Still looks like a dilute tortie to me
Joe_Danger
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 537
Joined: Sat May 31, 2014 9:04 pm

Re: Found a month old stray kitten and brought it home, now what?

Post by Joe_Danger »

Same
it's so strange, all my cats after my two childhood cats have been the same :)
So wow it seems it is almost potty trained for peeing in its makeshift litter tray, it watched Kala pee in one of the big trays, she jumped out of it without burying her pee because she does that sometimes and as soon as I placed it in its tray it did the exact same thing (yesterday it actually tried to bury it a lil :) )

Two times today it has been doing its peeing in its own litter tray, a lid from some box but it's nice and big and easy to get in and out of.

Pooping tho, now that its poop is mushy but normal and smells of poop, well it picked a random spot for that too except not in or near any of the litter boxes so we'll be doing that now, I'm going to have to see if there's room to put its litter tray somewhere near that spot :)

I love she/he is progressing it's incredible
in some aspects it makes more progress in a day than Milla's kittens did all those years back if you guys remember still and I thought they were progressing wonderfully.

EDIT: Went and pooped in the litterbox too, all by itself too
Woke up, went to take a drink of water from the big cats' bowl, got in the litter tray, did its business, got out like a boss.
Dang this kitten is smart
Joe_Danger
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 537
Joined: Sat May 31, 2014 9:04 pm

Re: Found a month old stray kitten and brought it home, now what?

Post by Joe_Danger »

Can't say that today has been a good day on the poop front but everything else is excellent

- Had one solid, normal poop during the night and another more mushy but still very good one
- Then starting 6:20AM it went back to watery stools every two hours, thought we were done with this but I guess not, still they look and smell of poop and not whatever weird smell they had before
- Other than that it keeps racking up milestone after milestone, from interacting with the other cats...sort of they're still scared of it but it wants to communicate to playing and responding when being called
- It's starting to lick itself better too
- Sadly for pooping it picked the same spot Kala used to pee in when she was his/her age, I blocked it off but it just goes as close to it as possible so I plopped its litter tray there hoping the other cats won't go there since it's just a lid/cover from a box.

Took the kitten to the vet and for now here's what she had to say:
- It gained 50g from the last time it was there like 3 days ago so it's 250g now and not 200 which is fantastic
- She doesn't think the diarrhea is an issue because the kitten is very alert, is very happy and agile and progresses at an alarmingly good rate :)

Still I am very worried about whether or not I can keep it
If the poop problem doesn't get sorted out we can't keep it with 3 other cats in the apartment/condo, a neighbor with a yard who keeps the neighborhood cats already expressed interest in it as well as a woman at my mom's job but I don't want to give it away.
If it doesn't take to the litterboxes properly it is also going to be a problem with 3 other cats in the house.

I have to consider the possibilities that I might not be able to keep this kitten which is heartbreaking but wherever it ends up I know it will end up being taken care of...still I want to keep it.
Joe_Danger
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 537
Joined: Sat May 31, 2014 9:04 pm

Re: Found a month old stray kitten and brought it home, now what?

Post by Joe_Danger »

I am very sorry for posting but I think keeping a log might help someone, the forum isn't very active anyway so I believe I'm not intruding on anyone.

- When it does its main pooping 2-3 times a day it produces well formed, softer but normal poop
in sufficient normal amounts for a kitten its age I think.

So what are these droplets of poop water it releases every 2-3 hours? It's actually well aware of doing them now and it strains like it's trying to poop but nothing comes out.
So every 2-3 hours it releases JUST droplets of watery stool even if it's normal poop has more or less normaled up now.

I don't think this can be considered diarrhea at this point because
1. it produces normal amounts of normal poop 2-3 times a day
2. It gains weight normally
3. it's active, has great appetite and is in every way shape and form healthy and normal
4. No worms or eggs or anything came out from the deworming

My vet knows all this and she just says "don't worry it'll be fine"
but she doesn't say anything about what this actually is, like why is it doing this so it's probably not a serious condition.
I mean if it keeps gaining weight, reaching new milestones every day and acting like a fully fledged kitten by now, it's all good....maybe.
Seems like something is inflamed inside or irritated and it makes it try to poop even when there is no need to, after Mila and Kala have softer stools they too do this for a day or so but that's it.

One thing this reminds me of is when Mila and Kala have the runs or soft poop, the next day or so they also do this, they run up to the litterboxes and strain to poop but all you get is watery drops or mush every few hours in small amounts, a day of probiotics and it goes away.
Probiotic doesn't seem to work on the kitten tho to make this go away but at least it helped form its main poop to acceptable standards I hope....we'll see
something is off but nobody can pinpoint just what yet.
Joe_Danger
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 537
Joined: Sat May 31, 2014 9:04 pm

Re: Found a month old stray kitten and brought it home, now what?

Post by Joe_Danger »

IMG_3295 - Copy.JPG
Starting yesterday
- 100% normal poops
- No more bowl movement issues whatsoever
- Uses the litterbox more and more often on its own
- Is very playful, much more stable on its feet

Hopefully we won't be facing any more issues
only issue now is for the other cats to accept it so it can stay forever
User avatar
Mollycat
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 2705
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2019 10:58 am
No. of cats in household: 1
Location: UK

Re: Found a month old stray kitten and brought it home, now what?

Post by Mollycat »

What a difference a week makes, all the best going forward.
Post Reply