Orphaned kitten--advice on foster Mom cats?

[Lyric]

We found a litter of feral kittens under our neighbor's metal shed about three days ago. They were obviously newborn, as their umbilical cords and even a couple of placentas were still attached. There were six of them total, but only one was still alive. It looks like the mother must have been extremely inexperienced, because she didn't clean them or sever the cords, and after an entire day's worth of watching, she never came back. There was some rather icky diarrhea in the "nest" and all over the kittens, so I'm thinking that maybe Mom is/was sick? Anyway, we buried the five that didn't make it, and brought the last little one into the house yesterday evening.

It's a little girl, solid grey with lovely silver ticking. We have a Momma cat with a litter of 8-week-old kittens, so we were hoping that maybe she'd adopt this one and feed it. So far, the result is pretty neutral. She isn't aggressive toward the kitten, and she will occasionally lie still long enough for the newborn to eat for 10-15 minutes (especially if she happens to be asleep when we place the kitten with her) but she doesn't respond to its cries, she's only made a couple of half-hearted attempts to clean it/stimulate it to eliminate, and she really seems pretty uninterested in it. We've basically been following her around, and whenever we see her settle down to nap (or allow the older kittens to nurse, as she sometimes does) we place the newborn with her. So far, she's fed it maybe four times, but never for very long. We've been doing the cleaning/snuggling/help with elimination parts ourselves.

Has anybody else ever gotten a Momma cat to accept a foster kitten? Is there something we could do to help the process along? We're going to the store to get some KMR and a bottle, just in case, because although the newborn seems okay right now, she's going to get dehydrated if the only time she gets to eat is for a few minutes when we can catch Lily napping.

Obligatory pics of the orphan--we're calling her "Silver" right now. The slightly-wet spot on her back is from the drop of Frontline we put on her earlier, to get rid of the fleas she was covered in when we brought her in:







Edit: Clarified title of thread. :)

[DeepBlueC]

1. try scent transfer

I have heard that to introduce cats to each other one thing you can do is to rub a towel over one and then immediately use the same towel to rub over the other. It makes the new kitty smell familiar to the established kitty. Maybe the same thing would work with mom and kitten. But I think you are lucky if you got Momma to feed the kitten at all. You will probably have to supplement with hand feeding and that I think you have to do pretty often, every couple of hours, around the clock.

Do you have a vet you can call for advice? Or try calling the Humane Society. They might be helpful.

[Lyric]

3. Yes, we can call the Vet tomorrow.

I was just hoping that maybe someone here had some personal advice from experience, because tomorrow is still quite a few hours away. It's not really something to call emergency vet services over, unfortunately, so we have to wait for office hours tomorrow.

I'll try the scent thing. I bathed her when I brought her in to get the icky stuff off, and by now she probably smells a lot like me (because I've been holding her constantly) but maybe I could try gently brushing her with our cat brush? That smells like the Momma and the other cats.

[DeepBlueC]

5. if it's a soft brush

but she is so young that I still think a cloth would be gentler on her.

[GreenPartyVoter]

10. Yes, I'd try rubbing new baby with an older baby

[Arkansas Granny]

14. A trick that my Dad used to use when introducing new chicks or baby rabbits to another mother.

He would put a little vanilla on his hands before he handled the babies and make sure to touch the nose or beak of the recipient mom while he was doing the transfer. The odor of the vanilla confused the momma's sense of smell for a day or two and by the time it wore off, all the babies had the same "right" scent.

[DeepBlueC]

2. what's KMR, by the way?

[Lyric]

4. Kitten Milk Replacement - it's a baby formula for kittens.

They sell it at Petco, so when our ride gets here around 8:30-ish, we're going to get that plus a nursing bottle. I'm pretty sure she'll take a bottle; she's constantly trying to nurse on my fingers and fingertips.

[DeepBlueC]

6. that's encouraging

The waiting is a bitch, though. I hope you get her feeding tonight one way or another. You probably won't get much sleep tonight, but you're doing a very good thing. I hope it all works out.

[blondie58]

7. yep, I've been there

helped out with a cat rescue center. It is very important that the little one is kept warm. We had at one time a batch of three that we were bottle feeding and though we were warned that it might be too late for them, we were hopeful. But one by one, they succumbed to the slumber of permanent sleep. It was so sad. Now if you can get the little one to drink, that is great. You might consider posting this on the pets forum, as there are many experts there. If you can get little Silver to drink goats milk, she'll put on a lot of weight.

Good luck and keep us posted!

[Mz Pip]

8. I had good luck with bottle feeding

Someone left a kitten about this age in a box by the school where my son teaches. He called me and I picked up the little critter.

I got KRF and a bottle, though I had to make the holes bigger on the end of the bottle. The original holes were much too small to let any milk out.

At least you momcat isn't outright rejecting the kitten. I think the scent transfer is an excellent idea. Rub a towel over one of her kittens and then on the little one.

[applegrove]

9. Oh poor little kitty kat. You've done a heroic thing.

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

11. What an adorable little girl

Hope she makes it!

[DeepBlueC]

12. please keep us posted

[BrklynLiberal]

13. How sweet..what a cute little thing. Lots of good advice...

KMR, pet bottle, rub new one with older kitten, keep warm.

Thanks for the pics.

Please keep us posted.

too bad..the Mom must have been very sick to have abandoned the entire litter like that.

[Beaverhausen]

15. You should post this in the Pets group too

although I'm sure the vet had good info for you.

[meow2u3]

16. You might want to smear canned cat food--or tuna--on the kitten

The foster mom will be attracted by the delicious food and will likely accept the foundling kitty.