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I was wondering if anyone had any advice for helping a foster beyond what I am already doing. Yeserday took a litter of 6 off the local shelters hands, to be raised for a few months until they are old enough for adoption. At the moment I'd say they are 4 weeks old - they can walk (although a bit wobbly), eat wet food, and their eyes are open (but have not turned colors). Five of them are developmentally where they should be, with size, weight, and growth of teeth. The sixth is not. He is about half the size of the other cats, and his teeth are very small. The first day I got them, he barely moved and would not eat wet food. So I went and bought some kitten milk replacer, and last night was able to get him to lap it up in small amounts by dropping it on my finger (the dropper was too large for his mouth). His body temperature is good and warm, and today he drank about a tablespoon worth of milk replacer over a half hour. Since then he is a little more active, at least crawling and standing a little bit. I think when the shelter has him the kittens just had wet food so he had not eaten anything in at least a day or two. Anything I have missed to help the little guy?
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May 18, 2016 18:26
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| # ¿ May 3, 2024 23:41 |
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My best guess for his weight is in the range of 4-5 ounces. He is quite little. Right now I am using hartz Kitten milk replacer. He absolutely won't eat from a spoon/dish - it has to be either from a dropper with a nipple (bought him one recently which he kind of understands, although its a tad large for his mouth) or he will lap it off a hand/finger with vigor. He doesn't need encouragement eating once he starts really, he just goes slowly. He ate about a teaspoon's worth for breakfast this morning (for a four ounce cat the can recommends 2 teaspoons a day in total) so he must have been pretty famished. I just hold him in my hand while his siblings eat on the floor. I put a warm water bottle in the cage, and he sat near it while napping earlier. When i got home from doing errands he got up and walked over to the front door of the cage, which is the longest i have seen him really walk/stand so far  I'll try to weigh him later using one of my old shop scales.
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May 18, 2016 21:07
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The runt of the litter continues to do well. She weighs in at 5.71 ounces and for the time I have nicknamed her Giant. Her mouth actually is fine for the nipple, it seems like the first day she was just too lethargic/confused to open her mouth willingly for it. Now when she wants food she opens all the way and goes right for it, eating eagerly. She has some more energy and is up and walking around regularly. I am pretty optimistic she will grow up to be a very pretty cat - manx with long fur and a tortoiseshell pattern.
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May 20, 2016 00:51
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Fostering an adult for the local shelter, poor guy probably has the 2nd worst case of ringworm i've seen in many years of fostering.
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Jan 8, 2019 13:02
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