I need help saving kitten

[patriciakaye]

I found this adorable, but emaciated little kitten. its able to walk, but still to young to be away from its mother. it had a lot of fleas...but i've gotten rid of most of them.

another problem is that flys were landing on it and laying eggs...again i've removed most...still working on it.

i'm worried still and i don't know how to properly care for a kitten this weak. but i can't bare to let it suffer.


i need tips badly.

[tiffers]

...how did you get 'rid' of the fleas? And how are you getting 'rid' of the fly eggs?

Does this kitten have it's eyes completely open? Are the ears still flat on the head or sticking up straight?

You'll need to go to a petstore or something and buy some Kitten Milk. Try putting some on a saucer, see if the kitten will lap it up...if not, it will need to be bottle fed.

It is a lot of work, and will need your attention every two-three hours. If that'll be a problem with your schedule or anything...you may want to consider handing it over to veterinary clinic. Often times they'll have a tech or two that will nurse the kitten back to health, and then adopt the kitten back out.

[nanamouse]

The Walmart here now carries kitten milk replacer, but not the little bottles you'd need for one to small to drink from a saucer.

[patriciakaye]

i have all the time in the world. but i gave it a couple baths with suave shampoo...belive it or not it kills fleas. also i've been combing out the eggs with a fine toothed comb...and picking them out by hand as necessary. its eyes are open and ears are up. so far i've fed it with bread soaked milk.

[tiffers]

...a couple of things, Suave is a no go. Please do not use it anymore. Animals have entirely different skin makeup than we do. If you MUST continue bathing the kitten, use Dawn or a kitten shampoo...nothing flea related as the kitten may be too young. As far as food, you need to buy some kitten milk and kitten food. If the kitty is too emaciated, it needs nutrients far more than it needs food at the moment. Do you have any idea as to how much the kitten weighs? It's got to be older than 4 weeks if the ears are up, and it's a pound every 4 weeks until they're about 12 or so weeks old.

[uwllv88]

Are you giving him bread soaked with people milk? That will make him even sicker - most cats cannot digest cows milk - it will give him diarrhea - he needs the milk replacer sold in the cat department at WM or Pet store.
Dawn is safe to kill the fleas - He's also probably filled with worms which he has to be a certain age (not sure if it's 6 weeks?) before he can be dewormed - does anyone know a safe dewormer she can use? Can you afford to take him to a vet for advice?

[e1beth1]

The kitten may be just old enough to eat some mushy kitten food. My personal preference is Baby Cat by Royal Cannin because the pieces very, very small. You can either use water or the kitten formula to turn it into a mushy gruel. You may have to dip your finger in it and gently put some on the kittens mouth to get it to try it. As far as wormers go, the rescue I foster for will worm with Strongid as early as 3 weeks if they're in bad enough shape as will some of the shelters. You'll need to get this through a vet though. Please, please do not use store brand wormers on the little guy. I can attest to using Dawn for bathing, I've used it on more than one occasion on flea infested kittens and it works great. Depending on how emaciated this baby is, it may be a good idea to take it to the vet for at least some sub-q fluids (the fluids are given just under the skin instead of by IV) to help perk it up. Also, if you do not have some, buy a small bottle of Kayro syrup from the baking isle of your local grocery store. Many times when kittens are mulnurished their blood sugar levels will drop drastically and quickly. Just a tiny bit on the gums once a day for a couple of days will help as well. Please keep us posted.