How to care for my stray kitten?

Question

I just adopted a stray kitten from the wood mill in our town.
We're fairly certain it's female, and probably 6-9 weeks old. Her mother abandoned her after become pregnant again.
What do I do to care for her? She's been living off deep fried food, and cow's milk at the mill, which is a terrible diet I think, but comes from hanging around the canteen there. In the two days she's been here, she's been eating two meals a day, these meals are small dishes of raw chicken. She's also been drinking water, and lactose-free milk.
How do I care for her, as in food/sleeping/environment/play?
Also, how to go about training her (litter tray, and commands such as sit)?

Why no raw chicken?

On the sit thing - My parents had a cat when I was a baby that responded to 'sit' and 'come'. They didn't train her, she was also a stray, but had obviously been in a loving home in the past.
Basically, this cat is going to be living in a household of dogs, so if she can pick up on commands, all the better... She sits with guidance, so I'm hoping if I train her this young she'll get the hang of it before the attitude kicks in lol.

Thanks for the info on the raw chicken. I've never owned a cat since I was a baby so I didn't know. Though I should point out that I absolutely refuse to feed any of my animals canned food. She's booked in for a vet appointment on Monday, and my vet is very much for herbal remedies and fresh diets, so I'll discuss a meal plan with her then. For now I'll cook the chicken.

Answer 1

first off why the hell are you feeding her raw chicken? you want her to get sick and die?

get some quality kitten food I recommend natural choice complete care indoor kitten. get some kitten replacement milk or cats milk if you want to give her milk for a treat once in a while.

Get her to the vet this week and get her started on her vaccinations etc, the vet will be able to answer all your questions.

Answer 2

Yes it is a terrible diet, she won't live for long on that!! Raw chicken is also not good - aside from the fact cats can't live on chicken alone, raw stuff is likely to give her salmonella eventually.

You just need to buy some proper catfood for her. Catfood has all the nutrients she needs. Try to stop her getting at the cow's milk - cats cannot digest milk, it gives them diarrhoea. She really needs to be eating proper kittenfood until she's about 10 months of age.

Is she going to be living in your house (hopefully) ? She will find her own place to sleep, but you can provide her with a box or basket lined with towels and she'll be quite happy with that.

The most important thing is to take her to a vet to find out what sort of state of health she's in. Almost certainly she will have fleas and worms. To do the job properly, she should really be vaccinated as well - and getting her neutered at 5 months of age is absolutely essential. Plus you need to find out if she's a boy or a girl! You can get all your questions answered at a vets as well.

If you can get a shelter to round up the mother and other kittens, PLEASE do. It's so sad when there are areas with stray cats everywhere. Try to break this cycle so kitties find good homes and continue adding to the overpopulation!

Chalice

EDIT: Do not rub the kitten's face in it's pee! That is mean, and will do absolutely nothing to litter train it. Cats are natually clean - if you place a litter tray in your house, somewhere private where it knows where it is, it will use it - if there are any accidents, just put the poo in it's tray to remind it. If you see her squatting, put her in a her tray. And cats are not dogs - they do not respond to commands, so don't even bother trying to teach her to 'sit', she will not be impressed!

Answer 3

Cats are instinctively carnivoires, so be sure that you give her cat food in which chicken is listed as the first ingredient. Don't fall for the "peas, rice, and chicken" ploy. Make sure she has clean water, and hold back on the milk, because cow's milk will give most cats diarrhea and/or worms.
Cats will sleep anywhere, but they prefer something soft, usually elevated.
As far as litter training goes, after she eats, take her to the litter box, take her foot and scratch the litter. She'll more than likely sniff around in there, then jump out, but just keep coaxing her that way and she'll get it. That's about the only training a cat will stand, I've never in my life seen a cat that responds to "sit" training or anything like that, hehe. Anyways, good luck with your new kitten!

Answer 4

buy some kitten food and water, you may want to get some wet food too. she can sleep anywhere you let her preferably inside near you so she knows shes safe. Play get some toys or take some sting and tie a bunch together she'll let you know how she wants to play. And litter training - when you see her starting to do her buisness take her and put her in the litter box, and if you dont catch her tell her "no" firmly if its pee rub her nose in it and then put her in the box if its poo put the poo in the box then her, eventually shell associate the box with her buisness. and generally just love her. Good luck and no more raw chicken its bad for her and no more deep friend stuff and NO tuna out of a can.

Answer 5

I would try to put some wet catfood in with the raw chicken and add more wet catfood and less raw chicken everyday.Put a it in a clothes basket witha blanket a soft stuffed animal to snuggle up to and put a clock in there because the ticking og the clock is spose to remind it of it's moms purr.with my kitten when he was a little thing i put him in my bedroom with a babygate on the door so he counldnt get out you could bring the kitten outside and watch it just in case.And get it some fake mice or some of those balls with bells in them