help us make it through the night

[rocking_chair]

around 8ish i was interrupted from my board browsing; my mum tells me that our neighbour thinks there may be a young kitten under our deck. our neighbour has been catching the strays in the alley and taking them to a refuge, she believes that the cat she caught today might be the kitten’s mother.

after about a half hour or so of me meowing and the kitten answering, we figure the kitten is either under my deck or our neighbour’s deck. at this point i’m trying to rip up the deck boards i can hear the kitten but can’t see it.

i try just groping around and luck on to the kitten. it turns out that the kittens eyes aren’t open yet. so i tell my neighbour i’ll keep the kitten for the night and head to the vets tomorrow. 2 hour feedings until 12 noon tomorrow. i’m hoping we will be able to reunite mommy and baby tomorrow.

just 13 more hours…

[Verrain]

That’s a very sweet and generous thing you are doing. Have a good night.

[Duck_Duck_Goose]

I’ve been sitting here looking at websites for “taking care of newborn kittens” and I don’t see anything about “feeding every two hours”. It depends on how old the kitten is, and how much it weighs. You can’t go just by whether its eyes are open or not. There’s a big difference between 1 week old and 2 weeks old–cats mature very quickly.

http://cats.about.com/pets/cats/library/weekly/aa061900a.htm

Tiny babies will need to eat four to six meals around the clock, so plan on 2 a.m. feedings.

“Four to six meals around the clock” means 24 hours divided by 4 to 6, which is feeding every 4 to 6 hours, not 2 hours.

http://cats.about.com/pets/cats/gi/dynamic/ offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.safehavenforcats.com%2Fnewborn.htm

(Sucky link, clickthrough from http://catlovers.about.com/pets/catlovers/cs/kittencare/ )

One thing that very easy to do but you must avoid is overfeeding. Overfeeding produces Diarrhea. It is far better to err on the side of underfeeding rather than overfeeding. Follow this chart and you should have no problems: ** 30 cc is equal to one ounce of formula.

At age 1 week weight should be approx. 4 ounces. Give 32 cc of milk replacer per day spread out over 6 feedings.

It depends on how big the kitten is (how much it weighs). This table doesn’t copy and paste very well–go look at it.

http://www.cats-and-diets.com/html/bottle.html

Age
1-7 days
7-14 days
14-21 days

Quantity
(General Guidlines)
1/2-1 tsp. of formula every 2 hours
1-1 1/2 tsp. of formula every 2 hours during the day and every 4 hours at night
1-1 1/2 tsp. of formula every 2 hours during the day and once between 11pm-8am

This is all from Google searches for “feeding newborn kitten”.

http://www.google.com

Looks to me like you don’t have to stay up all night, after all.

[rocking_chair]

thanks, so far so good. i was finally able to get some food into the little furface. the syringe i have is a bit to big. after a consult with the vet we are using the little plastic straw from a can of air.

the little one is sweetly sleeping in my polartec hat. next feeding 1am. i think i’ll get a lot of reading done this am.

[Duck_Duck_Goose]

I’ve never bottle-fed a newborn kitten, but I have raised three human babies, and the general rule of thumb for 2 a.m. feedings is, “If you have to wake the baby up to feed him, he’s not that hungry.” In other words, wait for the baby to wake you up. You get more sleep that way.

[rocking_chair]

thanks for the info, duck, duck, goose. from what i read in “the new cat handbook” the little furface is about 3-5 days old. apparently mommy cat just moved her so my neighbour didn’t know about the kitten until it was too late.

food for this little one hasn’t hit the ounce mark yet. the little straw isn’t momma. i’m hoping to keep her hydrated until we go to the vet.

[Duck_Duck_Goose]

Jeepers. :eek:

Well, best of luck. Hopefully some other night owls will be through here later, to keep you company.

BTW, all the websites also mentioned heat as being very important. Newborn kittens can’t regulate their own thermostat, so they need external heat.

Here’s another good FAQ website.

http://www.fanciers.com/cat-faqs/orphans.html

A newborn kitten is not capable of generating or maintaining body warmth and must depend on its mother (and now you) to sustain warmth and life. Keeping a newborn orphan warm (even on a warm day) is a priority, more important initially than feeding (do NOT feed a chilled kitten, by the way – you will kill it).

Bundling up the kitten will do no good; it has no body heat of its own to retain. And putting the kitten near a space heater or other heating element is neither sufficient for the long-term nor safe. Wrap a heating pad, set on low, in a towel or flannel and place it in or beneath the nesting box, leaving room for the kitten to crawl off the heated area as needed.

(Emergency, short-term measures: If you don’t have a heating pad, put the kitten on a wrapped hot water bottle or snugged against a tightly sealed and well stabilized jar of warm water. Better yet, put the kitten next to your body – next to the skin if possible. Then go out and borrow or buy that heating pad after the first feeding or take the kitten to the vet immediately if its condition is poor or questionable.)

Feed a newborn at least every four hours or on demand. Do not overfeed.

Notice that “on demand”. That means when it wakes up and starts to mew, not when the clock says 1 a.m.

Did anybody mention the importance of getting it to pee yet? That’s in this website, too.

[rocking_chair]

well, if the wet spot on my shirt is anything to go by…

i have a moist q tip and paper towel for clean-ups, and pee-pee encouragement. hardly wet 'cause i don’t want to get her wet.

so far so good. the web sites have been very helpful. if only i had know about the pedalyte (sp?) sooner. it would have been a bit easier.

i’ve only fed the little one when a complaint is registered. sweet sleeping mostly.

thank you so much.

[Lux_Fiat]

How are things? She still sleeping?

[rocking_chair]

nearly 6 am and all is well. some one let me get a few hours of sleep in. i think i can patent a new alarm sound.

[Chas.E]

*Originally posted by rocking chair *
the little one is sweetly sleeping in my polartec hat.

Check with the vet before donning that hat. The last stray kitten I helped someone with, it was crawling with lice.

[rocking_chair]

the hat was in the "give away "pile. we have moved on from the hat and now the little one is in a towel. a most wonderful, fluffy, warm,soft, black towel.

[Sofa_King]

Did ya make it? I hope so.

[Sue_Duhnym]

How’d it go?

[sub]I reallly hope there aren’t more kittens somewhere else.[/sub]

[rocking_chair]

we made it! home from the vet’s at last. the little one is eating like a champ and pee peed twice. now how do i get the tail dry?!? the vet is happy with how things are going. the eyes opened briefly at the vet’s.

the name so far is “little one” still no clue on gender.

no sign of siblings. we are hopeful we have an only. purring has started.

[Whammo]

Yea! …can I have it?

[rocking_chair]

tease not whammo, i’m heading out to ca. on the 23rd, someone may have to go with me.

[Hanna]

Wow, that’s great! I love cats (no big secret) :D, glad to hear a happy story and I hope everything goes okay and the little one stays healthy.

[Whammo]

Just stuff him in one of those padded envelopes and mail him on out here!

[rocking_chair]

little one is sweetly sleeping again. this should be an interesting week in work.