Kitten left alone, what do I do?

Question

My mom noticed some cryin about a week ago, and when I looked there were four baby kittens inside our porch. The mama cat took three but left one. What can I do for this kitten, don't think it's had any nutrition since.

Answer 1

If you're deciding to keep the kitten, bring it into your house, give it a warm small bedding to sleep on, and feed it kitten milk formula every 2-3 hours (as much as the kitten wants to drink). You also need to bring it to the vet for a health check...he/ she should be able to advice you on how old the kitten is, and other necessary immunizations and care techniques. Especially important is if the kitten is lesser than 3 months old, and doesn't know how to urinate/ pass faeces yet. You need to manually stimulate the tummy, urethra, and anal area to help with excretion and urination. Keep the kitten warm at all times, especially if it's cool/ cold on your side, as young animals have no means to regulate their own body temperatures and can suffer from hypothermia easily. You can do this by giving it a warm water bottle (not hot) under its bedding to keep it warm while it rests/ sleeps.

If you're not deciding to keep it, bring it ASAP to the nearest animal/ cat shelter, and there should be people to take it in and care for it till it's adopted.

good luck.

Answer 2

The best thing you can do for the kitten, if your not sure what to do, is take it to a shelter. Depending how old it is there is a lot of work to get the little one through the next few weeks. When I had a young kitten given to me to care for 12 days old, the Vet said if I hadn't done it before then its chances weren't good. (She was raised to happy healthy adulthood)
Are its eyes open? If so that would make it over 14 days old. If not, then it is even less. Not a good thing. Is it walking - not wobbling - around? Then its probably 3 or more weeks old.
I have raised kittens from this age but there is a lot of work, including 3 - 4 hourly feeds (day and night), with an small animal feeding bottle and formula (not the "Pet Milk" they sell in supermarkets). Then the kitten requires its bowels and bladder emptied each feed. To do this you need to rub the genital area with a warm moist tissues, to imitate the mother cat licking it clean. This has to be done until the kitten is around 5 weeks old.
Then it needs to be kept warm, not too cool and not too hot. A hot water bottle topped up each feed, and wrapped in a towel, should be enough.
At around 3 1/2 to 4 weeks it could learn to lap, (drink from a bowl) but would still require animal formula.
About 4 weeks old they will start to require some form of solid food, usually its formula thickened slightly with some form of cerial.
By 5 weeks it should be able to start having solids - canned cat food or softened dry food - but still requires milk.
At 6 weeks it should be weaned off the formula, be drinking some water and eating well. Then you can decide if you want to keep her or pass her onto another family to love.
Good luck, whatever you choose.

Answer 3

You could try bottle feeding. Go to a pet supply store and get KMR formula or another formula meant for kittens. If the kitten is very young you'll need to get a bottle there as well (bottle for kitten or small animal). If it seems a bit older, you might try letting it lap the formula out of a bowl first. You can always return the bottle to the store if the bowl works.

If the stores are closed you might try Walmart, Walgreens, or CVS as most of those stores are open 24 hours. Walmart would certainly carry it and I think Walgreens/CVS would (though you might want to call first).

Good luck and God bless you for trying!

Answer 4

If you can, take it to your county's animal control. They will be able to care for it and give it the proper medical care until it's old enough to be put up for adoption.

If you can't take it right away, do as the others suggested; go to a pet store and get some KMR powder (kitten formula), and a kitten bottle. Feed it and keep it warm.

You should also stimulate the end region with a warm, damp cloth every now and then to get it to go to the bathroom.

Answer 5

what ever you do DO NOT!!!! feed it human food or cow/goats milk. VERY harmful...i cared for a baby kitten since its birth...if it has its teeth feed it soft food then hard food mixed in then plain hard food but make sure the soft adn hard food are the same brand...if it has no teeth at all, go to ur vet and ask for vetalac or somthing to that effect, and a bottle and bottle feed him every 3-6 hours if he has his umbilical cord if not then feed him every 6-8 hours...my kitten is now 2 months old and is thriving although its a little small...but good luck happy kitten raising!

Answer 6

This has happened to me more than once and if momma cat
hasn't accepted the baby after putting him/her back with the
family, you'll have to bottle feed this little angel on a regular basis. For instance, I once had a momma cat who give birth
to 4 babies. She died because she bled to death. I ended up
loosing all but 1 baby. He was 12 hours old & I bottle fed him
on baby kitten formula that I found in the animal section of
Wal-Mart. He was fed EVERY 2 HOURS - 24 HOURS A DAY- FOR 2 MONTHS!!!!! This was sheer determination &
a whole lot of answered prayers from the GOOD LORD up
above. He grew up to be a beautiful orange & white, semi long haired kitty who was very, very affectionet and loving.
His name was, "KITTY BOY"! Best of luck to you. Remember
to say some prayers.

Answer 7

milk from a bottle, go to pet store for kitten's milk an just like a baby, feed it through bottle. Not sure how old it is? Keep it very warm...maybe a box with blankets, try keeping it on top of something like a cable box or something that is warm all the time.

Answer 8

there should be an animal center nearby. If not go to your pet store and grab some grub for the little suckas. Post an add on craigslist. there are always some lil youngins lookin for a free kitten.

Answer 9

Go to your local pet store, they make milk just for kittens who were weaned too early. You can buy a little tiny bottle in the same department. If you can't find it, just let one of the store employees know what has happened and they'll know exactly what you need.

Have fun with your new kitten! :)

Answer 10

i nursed an abandoned kitten on pet formula i got at petsmart. when it got big enough to eat solid food i found it a home. you can get the formula and a little bottle to feed it with. you can even show it a litter box after it eats and it will catch on that it needs to use it. cats have such good instinct that they will thrive with just the most basic care