Abandoned kitten

pablohoney87

Hey guys. Theres been a kitten meowing by the back of my fence all say. ive taken a peek over and hes very near. Its only one kitten which seems strange if it was in a litter. By the size id say its about 3 weeks old but havent held it so cant be sure. its also strange that the meowing has only started this morning. Theres been no sign of a mother cat all day. Should I go and take it in?
Thanks.

washiskin

awww the poor little mite.

Personally, I would take it in as the weather is going to turn tonight according to the paper.

Since all of my adult cats are strays I can tell you that a rescued cat, especially a buck, is an eternally grateful cat.

In the event it doesn't suit, you can always put up a sign down the local shops.

pablohoney87

Thats my 1st instinct to go and get him. Still no sign of any mother. If it's as young as I think, does it need to be bottle fed or anything? Or is there anything I should feed it in particular. Im well used to taking in strays but not so young.

lubie76

Try the kitten on the Whiskas milk first. It may be able to feed itself. You can buy it in all supermarkets and even shops like Centra. If it can't drink the milk itself, ring your vet and ask where to get a bottle kit for feeding kittens. They might throw in a bit of free advice/health check.

pablohoney87

Thanks ill go get some and try that

irish1967

Any news?

pablohoney87

We have him in the house. Its too cold out there tonight for the lil fella/girl. Hes able to take the kitten milk by himself so things look good. Very vocal little kitten too:D

irish1967

and now the fun begins

crazyderk

any pics Pablo?
looks like you could be adopted soon!

The Sweeper

Age -

Weigh him - kittens tend to be around 100g for every week of life, so if he's under four weeks he'll be up to 400g.

Eyes - eyes change from blue to their adult colour from about four weeks onwards, so if he still has blue eyes he's very young, but if they're murky, or closer to green or gold, then he's older than four weeks.

Eating - up to four weeks he's mostly on his mothers milk. At around four weeks he will start trying solid food. If his eyes aren't blue you can try him with with mushed catfood to see if he'll eat it - just get a tin or pouch of whatever you can get, it's more important to get food into him than to choose a fancy brand at this point (though if you can buy something nicer than whiskas, do it )

You can also try him on some raw mince - beef or lamb mince, fresh stuff, stuff you'd eat yourself.

If he is younger than three to four weeks, you need to get him a kitten formula milk - whiskas cat milk won't cut it.

Four weeks or older, give him solids - try half and half raw beef mince and whatever catfood you can get at the store - and a saucer of whiskas milk and a saucer of water and see how you go from there.

You may find he's a lot older than three to four weeks - if you haven't been around a lot of kittens in a while, it's not uncommon for people to be way off in their age.

pablohoney87

Pics will follow. His eyes look like theyre between blue and green. Will let you guys know how he gets on through the night. Ive plenty of experience with kittens from about 8 weeks on and cats with newborn kittens but i tend to leave the mother to them. Thanks for the advice guys.

pablohoney87

Heres a lil video of the cutie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oVLF0lY1zc

boomerang

Awww, well done! Gorgeous kitty! Looks about seven/eight weeks maybe? Old enough for that all-important worm dose and can start vaccinations in a few weeks. He/she is definitely old enough for solids, can you pop out to the local shop for some kitten food? (Has to be kitten food - the dry adult cat food is too big and the adult tinned cat food would give kitty an upset tum.) Go easy on the whiskas cat milk as too much will give kitty the runs.

You're a star for coming to the rescue!

Whereabouts are you? Let us know if you decide not to keep him/her as I could foster and find a home for the kitten if you're not too far from me - I'm with Limerick Animal Welfare.

pablohoney87

Depending on how my sister reacts i think were gonna keep him(She can be alergic to some cats and not others, weird i know). Were really missing my cat that died a couple year back we had for 14 years. Im in dublin but am know the kildare animal sanctuary. Gotta kitten there with my gf but unfortunately we broke up and she will be keeping him.
The weird thing is that stray cats always come to me in the house. Happened with three different cats. Ive been living back in my house for 3 days now and this little cutie turns up.
Lifted my spirits quite a bit.

angelfire9

Awwww he's adorable
He looks to be 7/8 weeks at least though obviously it depends on how long he has been without mammy

Good luck with him

Heroditas

Congratulations, you've been adopted!

dan_d

Mwah, I want him/her!!!!!!!!

The cuteness! Best of luck OP, it's just adorable. Friendly too by the looks of it!Cats have a way of getting into your heart!

Shenshen

He looks absolutely adorable, well done you. The kitten got lucky to have found you.

Heroditas

pablohoney87 wrote: »

Depending on how my sister reacts i think were gonna keep him(She can be alergic to some cats and not others, weird i know).

Oh well, I guess if your sister is allergic to kitteh, you'll just have to tell her to move out.

PurplePrincess

Ah thats just so cute. Fair play to you for giving him/her a chance in life and I hope it all works out.

chucken1

Aw he or she is beautiful. Ive been adopted in the last few days too
Little guy was screaming his head off outside and all the neighbours were feeding him. The hubby decided it was a good idea to bring him in hissing and spitting (kitteh not hubby)..Well that was that,my heart was stolen.
His lordship is now happily asleep in his new bed and doing very well.
We think he may have come from a family of feral cats that live near us because he was very nervous,but hes fine now. All we need is a name for him now!

pablohoney87

Been a while. Rekon you guys deserve an update
Well she was a very quiet well behaved kitten for the 1st week

She was very vocal aswell but stopped meowing after about a week and has never meowed again. Dunno why it might be.
Had her in a shoe box for a few days.

She copped onto house training very quickly but since she wont meow to be let out we did find quite a few surprises on the floor.
She is a very nervy cat and doesnt venture too far. Normally just lies around our back garden. Had to dig a trail for her when we had the snow
We got her a bed which she loves:

And a scratching post

Shes quite playful when she wants to be and loves to be handled but at the same time is quite agressive and nippy while playing.
Been to the vet and all for shots fixing etc
Shes a very smart lil kitten actually. Already knows which doors open at a push and where to go to let us know she wants out when were not near tte door.
Came home last night to here welcoming me on the kitchen table

Oh and her name is Missy

franksm

Wow, she's gorgeous. Looks like a bundle of fun too

Dixie Chick

Oh she is divine!! A real looker. My two cats were strays as well and they are stilll a bit human nervy but completely spoilt and stubborn when its just me around them. Well done

Acoshla

She's gorgeous! On some of the things you mentioned, maybe she stopped meowing because she knew she was safe? The meowing could have been to find her mom, so when you took her in she had no need to keep meowing for help. We had a kitten once that was found under a house (Canadian raised house) and she was crazy loud for about 4 straight days, then she gradually stopped.

Also about the aggression when playing, my mom's cat does this, seems to have no sense of playful biting vs nipping, we think it is because she was abandoned at a young age she didn't have the interaction with her siblings where they learn how to "bite" when playing in a gentle way and defensive biting.

pablohoney87

Yeah ive heard bout stuff like that. Never learned the social skills.
On the meowing thing she doesnt even do it when hungry. We know shes hungry when she just goes psycho

Rochester

Thanks for the update, she is a gorgeous kitty alright.

Yogi_Bear

Don't you just love happy endings! Looks like Missy really landed on her feet...paws!

Ailishcrehan

what a stunner! Looks around the 6 week mark to me...don't know if this is of any use to you, but this link is to a range of pictures of kittens of all different ages..I volunteer with an animal rescue group and collected these images of some of the kittens that have come through our doors. Most important thing is a worm dose....most kittens/pups are born with worms so he/she will need to get wormed (some worm doses are specific to age, but parazol is really safe if you don't know the age of the kitten)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=31078&id=100000393638965

as someone has mentioned, kittens eyes change colour from blue to green at around the 5 week mark and if they are eating solids then you know they are def over 4 weeks old too.

What a lucky kitten to have come to your fence, love a happy ending!

pablohoney87

Yogi_Bear wrote: »

Don't you just love happy endings! Looks like Missy really landed on her feet...paws!

Ha actually funny thing bout landing on her feet. If she starts nipping at you and you go to put her down rather than go to land on her feet she will twist around mid-air in an attempt to get one final nip rather than land on her feet.
Thanks for all you guys help and kind words.
Gotta love boards

Miss Congeniality

Awwww what a cutie... and Missy is cute too!! ha ha ha

Seriously though - What a lucky kitty to find a nice new home.. she looks well settled in and seems to have ye well-trained. Well done on taking her in and best of luck.:)