New-born, eyes closed kitten in my yard! What to do

[HamdenRice]

I heard this persistent crying coming from the side of my house which I thought was some sort of unusual bird. I finally went outside to investigate and found, in an ivy bed, a very, very young kitten, entangled in the ivy. I realized this was a distress call. I untangled the kitten, which has hair, but still has closed eyes and a shriveled umbilical cord, and put it in a shallow open plastic tupperware lined with handkerchiefs, hoping that now that it was safer, its calls would bring back mother. So far no luck. Is it possible to foster such a young kitten if mother doesn't come back?

[Beaverhausen]

1. That is so young. How long ago did you find it?

Hopefully mom will come get the baby - it's very hard to foster one so young but maybe a vet or a kitty rescue could find a nursing mom who would adopt it?

[Beaverhausen]

2. I cross posted this in the lounge so you can get faster response

[alstephenson]

3. I know I saw a thread on the Pets Forum about rescuing very young animals....

I'll do a search and see if I can find it!

[bluethruandthru]

4. I think that's only about wild animals.

Is there an after hours vet nearby? They may be able to help.

[alstephenson]

7. Yep, you're right. The thread was about wild animals.

Good luck - I hope you find someone who can help.

[flvegan]

5. Absolutely. Bottle feeding is common with young animals like this.

You'll need some Esbilac and patience. If you can't successfully do it, peruse the rescues in your area (Petfinder.com is a good resource). They can probably help you.

Good on you for saving that kitten.

[achtung_circus]

6. Short answer is yes.

If you feel up to bottle feeding and massaging every 4 hours for several weeks you can obtain Mammalac from a vet. Otherwise contact local SPCA or humane society. My sister in law has fostered several inside her blouse w/ Mammalac.

At work have a network through the shelter to handle this task- it is a task.

[achtung_circus]

8. If it still has an umbilical cord

it's less than 1 week old.

[bluethruandthru]

9. Here's some good info

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

[smokey nj]

10. Are you still in NYC? If so, here's a link to a 24 hour animal hospital.

http://www.amcny.org/

[seito]

11. Make sure to read the link about emptying the bowel and bladder

Young kittens can't go on their own and will die without assistance.

[blondie58]

12. I volunteer for a cat rescue www.angelswithpaws.net

and have much experience with kittens.

Being summer, it is much better for the little one. I fostered some three day old kitten's last fall and one by one, they all succumbed to permanent slumber. It really broke my heart. The people at the shelter told me that once the kittens body temperature is lowered (due to a missing mom body) it is almost impossible.

I would strongly recommend that you call a cat shelter. Ours will try to help in whatever capacity we can, be it an available surrogate mom, or a volunteer to bottle feed them. Just today, we had a lady bring in HER mother cat and babies, as she was having a problem with Mom not appearing to be feeding them and also picking up the kids by the front of the neck, causing serious damage. She had already killed one little cat.

You can do it yourself. There is a formula called KMR that you might be able to purchase at Petsmart, where they also sell the small bottles. I am not certain that they have it, but I'm sure that your vet could help, if not.

If you feed it, it needs to done very similar to a human baby- every two to three hours. And then you have to stimulate the bodily functions of the little one, which a mother cat does by licking them- YOU can use a soft paper towel instead of your tongue. :-)



It also wouldn't hurt to place a heating pad in the box or the area that you're keeping them.

I looked around and this seems to be an excellent website for your situation-

http://www.kittenbaby.com/

That is so strange- I know that sometimes that Mom will move her kids and she of course, has to do it one at a time, but who knows? Maybe Mom was hurt or detained in a garage or something.


I wish you the very best of luck. Keep us posted on the status of this little one. What kind of coloring does it have?

[AZBlue]

13. Take it to the vet first.

And then it will need to be bottle-fed. That's a very very young baby - luckily for him or her you heard the mews!!

[HamdenRice]

14. Update -- and thanks for all your answers!

The kitten continued to cry so a few hours later I went out to check on it and heard another similar cry about 15 feet away. This made me realize that there were at least two kittens, and maybe the other cries were coming from mother's nest, so there was a chance that mom was around and would follow the kitten's cries.

This morning there is mostly silence but I do hear cries every so often. So I hope mom returned and is taking care of them intermittently and they are crying when she steps away. I definitely wouldn't have the time to bottle feed and massage these kittens, so I think it's best to leave them with mom and hope for the best.

If they survive and reach weaning age, I will take them to the vet and (sadly) away from mom. There are a lot of stray and feral cats in my neighborhood and their lives are pretty short. This kitten was almost all black with white markings and if it lives, I am considering adopting it as a companion for my dog Teddy who seems to be fascinated by cats in general.

[blondie58]

15. that is so good to hear

Here in the Denver Metro area, we have an organization called Rocky Mountain Alley Cat Alliance http://www.rmaca.com/ that traps feral cats, alters them and then rereleases them, as a feral cat has a hard time being "owned".


There is such a need for it. One mama cat and her offspring will produce 500,000 more cats in the span of seven years.

But back to YOUR cats! I hope that mom is close and yes, she may be leaving to go get herself some food. Maybe you want to leave some food around for her?

And every dog should have a cat companion! It is so cute to see. I received a report back from a lady that adopted one of my foster kittens. She said that her dog and the new kitten were best buds. THey would take a nap together, then the cat would 'groom' the dog, then she would start to nip at the dog to induce some play.

Have fun.

[IndyOp]

16. If mom was with the kittens I don't think they would be crying at all...

Newborns are "programmed" to be silent unless they are in real distress - otherwise their crying will attract predators. If the mother cat was tending to the kittens and then "stepping away every few hours, the kittens would be silent so long as she was returning to tend them before they were desperate. Also, if the mother was tending the kittens she would've collected them into one location - they would not be separated.

There is a good chance that their mother was moving the kittens from one location to another and got hit by a car or attacked by a dog and isn't coming back. If the kitten you found is still in the same location today that you left it in last night then it is in trouble.

I encourage you to call a pet rescue group and get them to come investigate your yard -- the kittens might be crying less today because they are dying. If they don't have anyone who will relieve their bladder/bowels for them every 4 hours or so they can die.

I hope they are okay - IndyOp

[yellerpup]

18. Should have read the whole thread first

You have much better and more up-to-date information than I could offer.

[yellerpup]

17. I have fostered kittens from 2 days old

after mommy cat was shot to death. Keep them (him/her) warm and out of drafts. Check with your vet on a formula mixture. Back in the day (1965) I used diluted evaporated mild with a tsp. of liver blood and fed them at first with eye dropper and as they grew doll baby bottles. I don't even know if they make such things any more. Another important factor in their care was to very, very gently brush a warm, dampened washcloth across their little bottoms to help them poop. That's what mommy does with her tongue. I saved four kittens with this method and they were all GREAT people cats when they grew up. Good luck!

[HamdenRice]

19. Update: Mom is around!

The Mom must be around because the kittens are still alive and mewing this morning from the same spot in the ivy undergrowth. Also, I'm pretty sure I saw the mom yesterday -- a slim, small black cat who seems hardly much bigger than a kitten herself hovering around the spot where the baby kitten sounds are coming from. (The baby kitten I handled was almost all black too.) Something put the two babies together whose mews now come from the same place and it wasn't me!

[blondie58]

20. that is so good to hear- I was worried

although if you have an organization that traps feral cats, you might want to call them, as pet overpopulation is such a problem.

One mama cat and her offspring, will produce over 500,000 cats in the span of seven years.

Now, just another bit of cat trivia- yes, I am a cat addict- does it show? A mother cat can have up to five fathers. And yes, that could have been the mother even if she was young- they can reproduce as early as six months.

A friend of mom is doing foster care for my shelter and the mother gave birth last week to seven beautiful little kittens. Three of them are adorable little Siamese, one is a black tabby and the other three are brown tabbies.

I am writing this with an adorable little black foster kitten sitting in my lap. Ah, pet therapy- it makes me feel like all is right with the world.

[smokey nj]

21. Good news!!

[IndyOp]

22. Yeah! Glad to hear mom moved them together...

If you can call a local group that traps and neuters/spays feral cats that would be great. You could let them know that you would like to adopt one of the kittens and they should be willing to keep mama and both kittens until they are old enough to be neutered/spayed. Kittens will be adopted out and if mom is really feral - too wild to be adoptable - she will be released again.

:hi: