my first kitten and...your help please!

Blackpitts

I've just got my first kitten yesterday, an adorable tabby female of 5-6 weeks old
unfortunately she is cold (sneezing a lot) and her left eye is closed because of a bad conjunctivitis
we are thinking to bring her to the blue cross tomorrow, so the vet can have a look at her. Do you have any suggestion for me in the meantime? what should i do to make her feel better?
she has picked her place where to sleep, a tea table! we have put a cover so she can sleep on it and she is spending most of the time there, she is very quiet and sometime i take her with me for lots of cuddles (which she likes).
the problem is that she hasn't used the toilet yet, the litter is there but she hasn't been peeing yet, is this normal? she is only 5 weeks old and what she had for drink yesterday were just 2 spoons of cat milk from the bottle.

sorry for asking too many question but this is my first pet and i really don't know what to do.

thanks

The Sweeper

hallo.

Blackpitts, at five weeks, your kitty is very, VERY young to have been taken from its mom. Kittens are born with eyes closed and helpless. After the first week, eyes open, but they're still reliant on mom's milk. Between four and five weeks, their eyes will change colour, and they will start to sample mom's solid food.

For whatever reason, you have this kitten now - barely weaned and very small indeed. Yes, take the kitten to your vet asap.

With conjunctivitis and a cold, your kitty sounds like it may have cat flu. If you have any other cats in your house, isolate the kitty from them, because it's highly contagious.

Between now and your vet visit, keep your kitty warm and hydrated. You can use a hot water bottle to supply warmth, but make sure you don't overheat the kitten - give it space to move away from the heat source, and always cover the hot water bottle with a towel.

To hydrate your kitty, if you have a syringe barrel in the house (a syringe with no needle on it) you can hydrate the cat by gently syringing a little water (NO COW'S MILK!!) into the corner of its mouth. If you have no syringe, use a teaspoon and dribble water into the corner of the kitten's mouth.

Get it to the vet asap. It will need veterinary care for the conjunctivitis and sneezes.

Blackpitts

The Sweeper wrote: »

hallo.

Blackpitts, at five weeks, your kitty is very, VERY young to have been taken from its mom. Kittens are born with eyes closed and helpless. After the first week, eyes open, but they're still reliant on mom's milk. Between four and five weeks, their eyes will change colour, and they will start to sample mom's solid food.

For whatever reason, you have this kitten now - barely weaned and very small indeed. Yes, take the kitten to your vet asap.

unfortunately the previous owner couldn't keep her longer, she was the last one left, all the bothers and sisters were already gone and adopted.
today is bank holiday otherwise i would have brought her to the vet already.

The Sweeper wrote: »

Between now and your vet visit, keep your kitty warm and hydrated. You can use a hot water bottle to supply warmth, but make sure you don't overheat the kitten - give it space to move away from the heat source, and always cover the hot water bottle with a towel.

To hydrate your kitty, if you have a syringe barrel in the house (a syringe with no needle on it) you can hydrate the cat by gently syringing a little water (NO COW'S MILK!!) into the corner of its mouth. If you have no syringe, use a teaspoon and dribble water into the corner of the kitten's mouth.

Get it to the vet asap. It will need veterinary care for the conjunctivitis and sneezes.

she was already being fed with solid food so we bought a couple of can of the same plus some cat milk in small bottles.
I'm going to prepare the warm bottle and buy a syringe for the milk, thanks for the suggestion.

The Sweeper

Blackpitts, keeping her warm and hydrated is really all you can do until you get her to the vet. Whatever the owner told you, it's not in her best interests to be separated from her mum this early.

Basically - this will sound rough, but as she is your first pet, please don't feel bad if she gets sicker and dies. It happens, with small kittens, and when separated from their brood this early, and ill to boot, it's relatively common. Keep an eye on her, try to keep her comfortable, and take her to the vet at your earliest opportunity.

PaulieBoy

Your local vet should be open this morning. Go now!!

Blackpitts

PaulieBoy wrote: »

Your local vet should be open this morning. Go now!!

my local vet is closed, the blue cross too..any idea where i can try?

Lexie_Karas

Does your vet not have an emergancy out of hours number? Where abouts are you located? Someone might know a local vet that has an emergancy number.

Even if you only call them for some advice, they wont mind you calling and asking them if you require to see a vet asap or whether they think the kitty will be ok till tomorrow. I know my local vet would rather I call the on call vet if I was worried rather than leave it till opening hours.

alanajane

yes i agree with everyone above 100% way to young to be seperated. we have 5 kittens 7 weeks old they not leaving us till next week.
kittens that age cant poo or wee they rely on the mother to well lick their bums to encourage them to go so i would suggest you get some damp cotton wool (lukewarm) and gently wipe their bums to encourage 'flow'.

JKM

Oh wow, 5-6 weeks is way to young, the poor little thing. At least she's with you who obviously gives a crap about her. I doubt the same could be said for the previous (very irresponsible) owner. What on earth is someone, who obviously can't/doesn't want to care for kittens, letting their cat have kittens for! Drives me mad. :mad:
Anyway OP, it's not your fault, you have her now and she's better off for it. The absolutely best thing you can do is get her to a vet ASAP. Sounds like she's going to need a jab for cat flue. She's so young she could easily die from this. My cat ollie had this at about 12-13 weeks and nearly died, thankfully my vet's are IMO one of the best in the country and there's no such thing as out of hours with them!
Have you tried ringing your vets? They often have a message with a mobile you can ring in case of emergencies. Even if they won't call out or meet you at the surgery, a vet may be able to give you advice over the phone.

Acoshla

I recently had a kitten here with me for a few days who was found alone at 4 weeks old, this is the only situation where I think it is acceptable to take in such a young kitten, the previous owner shouldn't have given them away so young, if your cat has kittens you should be obliged to keep them until 8-10 weeks, you'd think common decency and morals would make people do it.

But anyways, my point is, the kitten I had was so healthy and energetic even after being abandoned so young, able to use litter tray and had a fair stab at eating adult cat food when it was first found, very tough little thing. This is not common, young kittens are very vulnerable and dependent, definitely keep your kitten warm and hydrated until you can see a vet as soon as possible and keep a close eye on her, if she's lethargic, etc. As already mentioned if the kitten is that sick so early in it's life it may get worse, kittens don't do very well when separated so young.

Blackpitts

as i said, this is my first pet ever,i took her home yesterday, i had no time to see a vet yet as i was planning to do it after the bank holiday, so i have no number to ring except those i can see on the web.
I didn't know that 5-6 weeks was too early, the previous owner of the cat gave all of them away even earlier, anyway it's time to see what can i do for her now.
I've rang blue crosss, dspca, 3 local vets and they are all closed.
the guy from dspca gave me a number of the UCD emergency hospital, so they would be able to give me some advice but if you have any number pls PM me.

tnx

flowerific

Even 8 weeks it too early, any vet I know say 12 weeks is best as they are still learning social skills from their siblings and mother.
I'd nearly send the ISPCA round to the orignal owner :mad:

Lexie_Karas

Any pet being under the weather can be worrying, it must be even more worrying when its a new pet and your a first time owner. It's great to see that you are trying to find advice on how you can help your kitten, I'm sure there are plenty of pets out there who's owners wouldn't worry or care enough to try

The UCD emergancy hospital might have a list of other other on call vets this weekend, maybe they'd be able to suggest someone near you. Where abouts in the country are you located again?

ISDW

Blackpitts wrote: »

as i said, this is my first pet ever,i took her home yesterday, i had no time to see a vet yet as i was planning to do it after the bank holiday, so i have no number to ring except those i can see on the web.
I didn't know that 5-6 weeks was too early, the previous owner of the cat gave all of them away even earlier, anyway it's time to see what can i do for her now.
I've rang blue crosss, dspca, 3 local vets and they are all closed.
the guy from dspca gave me a number of the UCD emergency hospital, so they would be able to give me some advice but if you have any number pls PM me.

tnx

Look up vets in your local golden pages and give them a ring, whereabouts are you based, maybe someone on here could recommend a good vet that has an out of hours service.

Blackpitts

Lexie_Karas wrote: »

The UCD emergancy hospital might have a list of other other on call vets this weekend, maybe they'd be able to suggest someone near you. Where abouts in the country are you located again?

i'm in D8 and all the vets around here are closed, i've left a message on the voicemail to a couple of them but still waiting for a call :rolleyes:
i've rang the UCD vet emergency and I'll be heading to there soon although it's vey expensive.

JKM

i've rang the UCD vet emergency and I'll be heading to there soon although it's vey expensive.

One of the joys of being a conscientious pet owner i'm afraid. You'd better get used to it. Vacinations, microchipping and nuetering won't come cheap either. Never mind food, toy's etc. etc.
I had two of mine in out of hours within days of each other lately. €70 a pop for consultation and antibiotics injection! They're worth every penny though.

Blackpitts

just back from the UCD vet ER, she might have the cat flu but the temperature is good.
She got an antibiotics injection and some cream for her eye, we have to visit the local vet tomorrow for some prescription.
i think she already feels better now, so do i (although i have 100 euro less in my pocket )

Lexie_Karas

Sounds good I'll keep my fingers crossed that she perks up soon enough. Be sure to keep us updated!!

PaulieBoy

Blackpitts wrote: »

just back from the UCD vet ER, she might have the cat flu but the temperature is good.
She got an antibiotics injection and some cream for her eye, we have to visit the local vet tomorrow for some prescription.
i think she already feels better now, so do i (although i have 100 euro less in my pocket )

And worth every penny!
Glad to hear all is well :-)

Dixie Chick

Good for you to take on the poor kitten, the previous owner was very careless to rehome them so young. Hopefully she will come to full health now, fair play to you for getting her seen to. Do she have a name?

Test For Echo

Blackpitts wrote: »

just back from the UCD vet ER, she might have the cat flu but the temperature is good.
She got an antibiotics injection and some cream for her eye, we have to visit the local vet tomorrow for some prescription.
i think she already feels better now, so do i (although i have 100 euro less in my pocket )

The lucky thing's found a good home & owner - fair play :cool:.

Was in a very similar situation to you a few years ago. I took a very young kitten home after it was abandoned because their 'hiding place' had been disturbed on a bank holiday weekend.

Was 5.30pm on a Friday and I just managed to catch the local vets before it closed. I knew nothing about cats but after the vet suggested the kindest thing would be to PTS, I took her home. Had to feed her by syringe every few hours and... fast forward 4 years... she runs the feckin' place