kitty feeding

[annie]

I recently found an orphan kitty (now 15 days old) in my parking lot. I am thus playing mommy, but as a good one, I feel nervous about many things.
I got a baby bottle and milk from the vet, and the baby was more than happy. But since yesterday, the cutie seems to refuse the bottle. He keeps licking me and suckling on my fingers, so I take the bottle out. After 20 seconds of suckling, he lets go...
I've tried to change the temperature, to make a bigger hole in the bottle, to make him lick out of a small spoon, but nothing has worked very well (well, I've got some results with the bigger hole, but I'm not sure they are significant enough...
Any other suggestions?

Thanks!

[pukka]

Hi Annie !
How do you put the rubber nipple in the kittens mouth ? You have feed the kitten
in the side of the mouth and the hole must not be too big really . The kitten HAS
to suck by himself and you MUST stop letting it nibble your finger .Otherwise you will create
a big problem . ( the kitten will do this its whole life)
Sucking your finger means that the kitten is missing his mom , it is sad .
If this is a stray kitten it might be older than you think because a kitten less than a month
old , would not survive at all without the mom .
In that case , try to feed the kitten with hard food (add some boiled water ,room temperature
make it soft you can also add the milk a few times during the day from a saucer ,
never use a bowl for a kitten .
Hope it works ! Let me know how the kitten is doing !

[annie]

Hey Pukka,
actually the kitty IS 2 weeks old since it only opened its eyes last Sunday. Plus, I took it to the vet last Saturday, and he confirmed it. The thing is, and I felt quite guilty about it at the beginning, I think the mom was just moving the kitties, and that he was probably the last one to be moved. When I took the kitty out of instinct, I went back to see if there were more, but I saw a bigger cat (probably the mom coming back). So I took the kitty out again to give it back, but she was gone. We tried to leave the kitty out under surveillance for a while, but he fell asleep...So I guess that was it! Now I feel less guilty, for I saw the mom again all skinny and trying to steal trash.
I will make him stop nibbling, thanks for the advice.
The vet told me to force him just a little to make sure he drinks enough (he wanted to make sure the milk was actually coming out...). However, I will try getting the nipple through the side of the mouth.
He gained some weight this week, so I feel less stressed out than when I started the link.
Trust me, I really wanted to introduce hard food (or wet one at least to start him off), but he is way too young. Then, I tried to put some milk in a spoon, but his head is still a little hard to control for him; so you can imagine the messy kitty :)
Thank you so much again and I'll keep you posted!

[annie]

just for my pleasure :0
http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/6830/img2793vd4.th.jpg (http://img238.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2793vd4.jpg)
http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/2379/img2806td2.th.jpg (http://img130.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2806td2.jpg)
http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/8841/img2798eq5.th.jpg (http://img130.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2798eq5.jpg)

[Karen]

OMG he's so cute and SOOOO tiny. I can see why it would be so hard to give him back to an alley mom! Thanks for the picture, post more if you have them. I hope I can go meet him soon!

[Karen]

My friend Sonia has this to add via email:

I remember when my mom and I found the new borns, the vet gave us a karo-syrup egg-yolk formula that worked-- 4 out of 5 newborns survived. Not remembering exactly (it's been 20 years), I looked it up and found this, which seems right. We had to use a dropper at first, as it's hard for kitties to suck on the rubber nipples.

Mother's Milk Substitute for Kittens and Puppies
240 ml (8 oz) Homogenized (3.25% milk fat) or evaporated milk (if you use evaporated milk, dilute two parts milk in one part water). Mother's milk substitutes are also available at a vet's office.
5 ml (1 teaspoon) Canola oil
1 drop Multivitamins for humans (or for kittens)
2 Egg yolks
5 ml (1 teaspoon) Corn syrup

When I found Khmer Cat in Cambodia, he looked a little like the kitty in question now. Because his eyes were (sealed) shut and he was so scrawny, I thought he was younger, but he was likely 3-4 weeks. Lacking other options, I bought cartons of milk and using the attached bendy straw, squirted milk slowly in his mouth. This also seemed to work, as he grew very quickly and was ready for tuna in about a week.

Most important for a 2 weeker is that she stimulate his urine/bowels, as the mother cat would do. No need to use a tongue, a warmly damp cloth rubbed on the private areas should work.

peace,

sonia

[pukka]

just for my pleasure :0
http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/6830/img2793vd4.th.jpg (http://img238.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2793vd4.jpg)
http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/2379/img2806td2.th.jpg (http://img130.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2806td2.jpg)
http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/8841/img2798eq5.th.jpg (http://img130.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2798eq5.jpg)
HOW CUTE !!!!!!!!!!

I really hope that the kitten will be able to drink more now from the side
of the mouth . Even when you have to give the kitten milk from a spoon,
always give it from the side .
I know you know how to take care of kittens ;)
What did the vet advise about shots / worming treatments? Make sure
the vet won't give dogs' stuff to your kitten- many vets don't have deworming shots
for cats .Let me know .
I can't believe you are a cat mommy now , welcome to the club !:)