Ready for Adoption

 

The orange litter

Let me introduce myself, I am a volunteer with Chatham County, NC animal shelter and CARE. My family and I take in orphaned kittens that need to be bottle fed or nursed back to health. We usually have kittens from April to November every year. I want to share their stories with you and to provide information on caring for infant kittens. We have 8 kittens that are now ready for adoption. the kitten above is part of a litter of 5 orange kittens that I picked up one Friday afternoon.

These guys were about 4 weeks old and covered with ticks. They also had an upper respiratory infection (URI). This is not unusual for kittens at this age that don’t have a momma; it just adds another facet to their care. The kittens wouldn’t drink formula (KMR) which made my job easier; can food takes a lot less time!

The kittens got around pretty good, at 4 weeks, they’re still pretty wobbly. The pale orange kitten was the only one to feel bad at first, all he wanted to do was sleep on the heating pad. He’s very active now and explores everything.

This little guy had pink eye (which can be a part of a URI). The infection calcified, damaging his eye. Dr. Gordon, my vet at Care First Animal Hospital, removed the mass. The infection is gone, the eye appeared to be intact but he is still only partially opening it. He goes back to the vet Wednesday to see if we can get the eye open. Having mono-vision has not slowed him down! He never seemed to feel bad. He’s the largest of the litter, has a great appetite and is always ready to play.

The last 2 kittens had several days of sneezing and recovered quickly.

 

 

The second litter

This group of kittens came to us when they were between 3 & 4 weeks old. They were very boney and messy. They should have been on a bottle but they had been given can food and like the orange kittens, wanted no part of the bottle process. They were so hungry that they didn’t have the patience to suckle so I continued with the can stuff. You can see what a mess they were!The kittens had diarrhea and were taking Albon for coccidia.  Coccidia are microscopic parasites that infect the intestines causing a yellow, pasty, smelly diarrhea. Their stools didn’t seem right for coccidia, so I took a stool sample to the vet for testing. The test was negative; since they were on Albon it wasn’t clear if the medicine was clearing things up or if coccidia was never the cause. We decided to worm them and leave them on the meds. They continually got worse. Only one kitten passed worms; her diarrhea became so bad that everything passed right through her in minutes. I gave her sub-Q fluids with the help of my son, but she became so dehydrated we lost the fight. Alarmed and frustrated, I rushed the others to the vet for a recheck. The stool test was still negative but the sample did show high levels of protein. The can kitten food contributed to this. I switched their diet to adult can food, changed their meds and increased the sub-Q fluids. I’m glad to say that the others recovered. Below are pictures of them before and currently.

All 8 kittens have been handled a lot and are rather spoiled. They have grown up with 5 adult cats and our Lab; they know how to handle themselves around other animals! Our guess is that they are around 8 weeks old. My son has his wisdom teeth out today so we have been rather inactive, lounging on the sofa and comfy chairs while the kittens romp and climb all over us until they get tired, then they snuggle up for a restorative nap!

 

Medical notes

If you find orphaned kittens there are things you need to be aware of. As we have cared for kittens over the last 15 years, we have run into a variety of issues and have found great resources and support in our vet’s office. You can also learn a lot about kitten care of the web. I will post some of the sites I refer to as I continue.

Mother’s milk has antibodies to protect her young from disease. Premature weaning (before 6 weeks) can put the kitten in jeopardy. Most of the kittens we get develop URIs or coccidia. They are very common and easily treated if you get to the vet right away. These ailments can cause dehydration and lead to death so it is important to get them started on treatment immediately.

Young kittens also need to be kept warm. They are so small that their bodies loose heat quickly. I keep a heating pad on low under a part of their bedding so they can move off when they get too hot. I can be overheating and they will be searching for warmth! So remember to give them the option of a heating pad.

It’s a good idea to keep litters separated until you are sure they are well; it’s no fun to pass ailments back and forth!