Introduction Cat to Kitten...HELP!

[maherwoman]

Ah...and you're leaving next weekend?

 

[spoh]

Yes, Friday about 3:00 and we will be home Sunday probably noonish.

 

[maherwoman]

So by the time you guys leave, it'll be two weeks after her surgery...she should pep up by Wednesday...

Of course, she could also just be that kinda kitty...a snuggler. My Sunny girl is...

If she seems LETHARGIC, that's another story. Does she seem overtired? Just sleep ALL the time? Can you get her to play much at all?

Does she have any pain meds?

Did you get any sort of free first vet visit for her when you guys adopted her? If so, I would say get her checked out, that way you have peace of mind for your trip.

Kitties can be really scared of trips, but at her age, she might like it. Might try a ride in the car, and hanging out somewhere (like a friend's house, just in one room), and see how she does...

 

[spoh]

No, she was just spayed3 days agoso it will only be one week and a day.

I really think she is fine, she was found downtown in an alley and she had only been at the humane society for a couple of days so I'm sure it's just an adjustment and heck who wouldn't want to be cuddled and snuggled in a nice warm bed after being outside freezing your buns off since you were born. From what I have heard she still has a Mom and siblings in the alley but nobody can catch them. ALso she is the second sibling to have been caught and adopted out, from what they said the other kitten was just as laid back and is doing great. We are watching her close and I will definetly let you know if she shows any symptoms of illness.

Thank you so much.

Joy

 

[maherwoman]

OH!! With it being such a short time ago, and just recently being rescued...yeah...she's just taking some time to relax. No worries!

Don't worry...your baby is just fine..just adjusting.

She should be fine by the time you guys go.

 

[spoh]

Okay, thanks!

 

[maherwoman]

Oh, no problem AT ALL...just let me know if you need help with anything else.

:hug:

 

[spoh]

Well, the kitten is going to the vet in a little bit. Something just isn't right, she doesn't play, she doesn't run around, she doesn't do much of anything but sit. The paperwork that we got from the humane society says that she is three months old, I'm not sure how they can tell if she was found in a downtown alley. She can still pretty much sit in the palm of my hand, isn't that quite small for a 3 month old? I have noticed too that she isn't eating much at all and between yesterday afternoon and today there are only two little clumps in her litter box. Something just isn't right! I will let you know if we find out anything.

Joy

 

[maherwoman]

Joy -

You're smart in realizing that something's off. And you're right, for so few poops, so much inactivity and disinterest at such a young age...taking her to the vet is a good thing to do. And I agree, that's quite small for a 3mo old...I would think she was actually about a month in age (due to the fact that breed to breed in cats doesn't vary size enough for her to be able to be that small naturally).

Let me know the results of her going in...good move on your part, Hun...

Hugs to you guys,

Rosie*

 

[spoh]

Well, the vet put her at about 9-10 weeks old. Did all of the tests and labs, all came out clear...WONDERFUL. But she is very skinny, not eating or drinking much sowe need to get her eating and drinking. Right now we are looking at it being stress from being so young and having to go through so much already. If we can't get her to start thriving in the next few days the vet wants to do more tests. Not a good time to go away for the weekend. We asked about that, the vet thought it would be less stressful for her to go with us but we don't think so. Going with us to another new house, in the car for over two hours, little kids running around. etc. ..or being in a home that you are just getting use to where it is quietetc. My mom lives right next door so she will come over twice Saturday to snuggle with her. We aren't leaving until Friday about 3:00 and will be back Sunday noonish. I just don't know, what would you do?

Joy

 

[maherwoman]

Have you noticed if she's bonded a lot with you guys yet?

How did she do in the car? Was she relaxed, and chilled out? Or did she cry, or look stressed?

 

[spoh]

Rosie, my huband just came in and wants to go to the movie so we have to leave right now. I will get back to you about this when we get home.

Thanks for looking out for me,

Joy

 

[spoh]

Okay, so how do you get a kitten to eat and drink? She came home with whatever food she was eating at the Humane Society, although she didn't eat alot there. That is a mix of Nutra Max and something else. She isn't interested in it, we mixed in some Kitten Chow and she does like that better but she doesn't eat much. This afternoon my daughter brought homea chicken sandwich, well Pickle was all over that chicken but here again she didn't eat much of it but it was obvious that she was hungry. When we got home from the vet this afternoon she ate another tiny bit.



Just now (9:00) I tried to get her to eat some more, I even made her a chicken nugget (it's the only chicken that I have) a first she acted like she was going eat it all but just ate one tiny little piece. I have offered her the canned food that the vet gave us, nope doesn't want that either. I offered her some bologna, nope didn't eat that either. And doesn't seem to be drinking either. What the heck do we do? She is going to starve! The vet suggested giving her a small amount of Kargo syrup and water once a day to give her a little jump start, that did nothing.

I want so bad to offer her a bowl of milk but I don't want diahrea either.



Any suggestions? I'm not even going to think about whether take her or don't at this point, getting her to eat and drink is my number 1 think right now.

Joy

 

[spoh]

Well I don't know if this is good or not but I have gotten her to eat more than we have seen her eat since we got her, by adding some tuna water to her food. I do know that human food isn't the best for her and I wouldn't give it to her at all but she needs to eat. I would say that tuna water if much better than the chicken nugget I tried last night:biggrin2: RIGHT?

Joy

 

[maherwoman]

OK...I have a couple ideas for you.

The ONLY canned/wet food I've EVER gotten my Sunny to eat was the Iams Kitten food. Both my kitties REALLY liked it, and it has all sorts of essential kitten things in it. So try offering her that.

Also, adding 1cc vanilla extract (either imitation or natural...doesn't matter) to 32oz of her water might encourage her to drink (and it'll cut down on the ammonia in her urine...yay!).

So, try those two things, let me know if they work, ok?

 

[spoh]

Okay, I have to take my daughter to her riding lesson in a bit we will stop and get some of the canned food afterward. She didn't want anything to do with the science diet stuff that the vet get me. She does love tuna though so at least she is eating today which is a huge relief. I was pretty scared yesterday waiting for all of the test results.

Thanks,

Joy

 

[spoh]

maherwoman wrote:

OK...I have a couple ideas for you.

The ONLY canned/wet food I've EVER gotten my Sunny to eat was the Iams Kitten food. Both my kitties REALLY liked it, and it has all sorts of essential kitten things in it. So try offering her that.

Also, adding 1cc vanilla extract (either imitation or natural...doesn't matter) to 32oz of her water might encourage her to drink (and it'll cut down on the ammonia in her urine...yay!).

So, try those two things, let me know if they work, ok?

After going to three stores I finally found the Iams kitten. I mixed about 1 1/2 teaspoons in with a little bit of dry food, she ate about 1/2 of what I gave her while I was watching her. I sat with her for a bit, when I was leaving the room she was back at the dish. That makes three times that I know of that she has eaten a fairly decent amount today.She really liked the tuna this morning, I was hopeing that I could find tuna in theIams kitten but they only had chicken.

I had a thought about the water as well, I'm going to try it right now. I think it might be too cold, she was acting like she wanted to drink but as soon as she would get close to it she would back off, my daughters room is on top of the garage so it is a bit cool up there so I'm going to go warm up the water and she if that helps.

Thanks again,

Joy

 

[seniorcats]

spoh wrote:

Well I don't know if this is good or not but I have gotten her to eat more than we have seen her eat since we got her, by adding some tuna water to her food. I do know that human food isn't the best for her and I wouldn't give it to her at all but she needs to eat. I would say that tuna water if much better than the chicken nugget I tried last night:biggrin2: RIGHT?

Joy

The tuna water is an excellent idea and something my vet has suggested when some of my cats are off their food. You may want to try some of the kitten food, some of the little cans of Fancy Feast, etc. Mallory, one of my cats, will only eat Fancy Feast flaked fish in the pink or blue can. You can also mix in a little warm water with the canned food. Water can mixed with dry food, let sit and soak up the water, then fluff with a fork. Some of my cats love this and others ignore it.

The stage 1 and 2 baby food for himan babiescan also help stimulate an appetite. We usually have good results with the turkey, chicken and beef or the turkey and chicken with rice. None have touched the vegetable and meat mix.

Nutrical, from the vet or pet supply, is also very useful - check the label for amounts and ages. WalMart usually carries Iams kitten canned food at a reasonable price.

You may to try warming up the food just a little. Somethings having it warmed stimulates the appetite.

IMO it takes up to 2 weeks for some kitties to bounce back from a spay. usually our vet says to limit running, jumping and stairs for 7 to 10 days.

Good luck with your little girl - she is gorgeous! Oops, almost forgot, some cooked chicken or turkey is fine for kitties, Best to leave the skin off.

 

[spoh]

seniorcats wrote:

The tuna water is an excellent idea and something my vet has suggested when some of my cats are off their food. You may want to try some of the kitten food, some of the little cans of Fancy Feast, etc. Mallory, one of my cats, will only eat Fancy Feast flaked fish in the pink or blue can. You can also mix in a little warm water with the canned food. Water can mixed with dry food, let sit and soak up the water, then fluff with a fork. Some of my cats love this and others ignore it.

The stage 1 and 2 baby food for himan babiescan also help stimulate an appetite. We usually have good results with the turkey, chicken and beef or the turkey and chicken with rice. None have touched the vegetable and meat mix.

Nutrical, from the vet or pet supply, is also very useful - check the label for amounts and ages. WalMart usually carries Iams kitten canned food at a reasonable price.

You may to try warming up the food just a little. Somethings having it warmed stimulates the appetite.

IMO it takes up to 2 weeks for some kitties to bounce back from a spay. usually our vet says to limit running, jumping and stairs for 7 to 10 days.

Good luck with your little girl - she is gorgeous! Oops, almost forgot, some cooked chicken or turkey is fine for kitties, Best to leave the skin off.

I have noticed that she likes things warm, if fact I just warmed up her water and she drank it right away. She had some dry food mixed with canned still in her bowl and was sniffing it but then turned away until I stirred it up, then she ate it. Fussy little thing! She seems to really like the tuna and the Iams kitten so hopefully just mixing the two of those in with her dry we are getting her to a good place. Thank you so much for the advice.

Another thing that the vet told us yesterday is that these kittens that are spayed so young seem to not do as well for their first year, after that first year they catch right up and are fine. I don't know if it is standard everywhere but here the Humane Societies and such spay them at 1.5 pounds, it's all about population control which I do understand but still they are so tiny. Pickle weighs just 1.7 pounds. She does seem to be a bit more lively today but still not even acting like she wants to play or anything. If we even try to play with her with a string or somethings she just looks at us like " what the heck are you doing?"

Thanks again,

Joy

Joy

 

[spoh]

Update! Pickle is doing so much better, I weighed her a few days ago and she had gained 3/4 of a pound at that point. For those who feed canned foods, how much and how often? My daughter is very fearful of her getting fat like our Belle so she doesn't want to over do it. Now that she is eating better she has been mixing some canned food in with her dry once a day, the rest of the day she had just the dry. Is that good? I have noticed that if her bowl is full of dry food and she isn't showing an interest if I dip my fingers into her water dish and sprinkle some water on the food it must change the smell enough to make her want to eat it.

Anyway, her is an updated pic. Thanks for all of your help! Joy