malnourished kitten

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kmay5612
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malnourished kitten

Post by kmay5612 »

i went to my uncle’s house the other day and noticed that there was a severely malnourished kitten ... i bought kitten formula and gave some to her today but i’m wondering if only the formula is enough or if there’s another vitamin that i can give her or maybe a light food that will help her gain some weight. you can feel every bone of hers and they mentioned that all of her siblings had already passed because their mother abandoned them so she is the only one left. i’m going to feed her formula every three hours and wash her with a wet rag , but i’d like to know what else i could give her to make sure that she doesn’t pass away. i’ve read high protein wet food but i didn’t know if that would be too heavy on her stomach considering she is all bones and very weak with low energy ... please help me out .
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fjm
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Re: malnourished kitten

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Do you know how old she is? Very small, very frequent meals are best - I would try 2 hourly at first if you can manage it. A young kitten's stomach is about the size of an acorn, so one or two teaspoonfuls is enough at a time. If she is taking the formula you could try mixing a little high protein wet food into it if she is old enough, and gradually transition to just the wet food.
kmay5612
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Re: malnourished kitten

Post by kmay5612 »

I don’t know exactly how old she is , but she is still very tiny so I will feed her every two hours ... my sister is caring for her while I’m at work and I instructed her to feed her at a certain time ... I will gladly take the advice about the wet food ! Thank you very much ! I’m going to take her to the vet soon and hopefully everything else will be fine ... thank you so much for your help !
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Kay
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Re: malnourished kitten

Post by Kay »

you might want to check her for fleas too - in tiny kittens they can cause severe anaemia
kmay5612
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Re: malnourished kitten

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she has lots of fleas considering they left her outside ... i rinsed her and tried to get some off but she still has a lot ... i don’t want to bathe her too much becus i’m afraid to cause skin issues but i don’t know how else to go about them considering they have laid lots of eggs as well ... any advice ?
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Mollycat
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Re: malnourished kitten

Post by Mollycat »

Her teeth will help you determine her age http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pa ... tpage.html
Take a vet's advice on a safe and effective flea treatment appropriate for her age.
This might help if she doesn't have premolars https://www.google.com/search?q=flea+tr ... PveW24Ag24
You can follow the link for advice on feeding a good diet in the diarrhoea video.
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fjm
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Re: malnourished kitten

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I found a fine tooth flea comb worked well for defleaing very tiny kittens - have a bowl of water with a drop of dish detergent in it to hand, and drop the fleas into that. Wash bedding every day at a high temperature to kill any eggs and larvae.
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papa cat
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Re: malnourished kitten

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A proper flea treatment is the best solution but in the absence of that wash or bathe her in diluted washing up liquid In the same concentration as you would use for washing dishes. Rinse her off afterwards in clean water if possible.

It will kill the fleas but it won’t stop them coming back, whereas a proper flea treatment will inhibit that for at least a month.
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