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Crossposting from the Cat FAQ/Megathread.Dr. Gitmo Moneyson posted:The kittens have both been caught and are in a pet carrier with food, water, litter, and towels for bedding. They’re still scared but we’re hoping they’ll settle down soon. btw there’s now three kittens. also Dr. Gitmo Moneyson posted:Third kitten has been found and is now safe with its siblings. So I guess I’m looking for advice on adoption, finding good shelters, and how to make these little guys happy, healthy, and comfortable while they’re here. Also whether or not to catch the rest of the litter plus the mother before we take them all to a shelter, or if it’s okay to take them in separately. I. M. Gei fucked around with this message at 22:43 on Sep 21, 2018 |
# ¿ Sep 21, 2018 22:39 |
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# ¿ Apr 18, 2024 00:49 |
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sneakyfrog posted:hi I’m not really sure. They were born outside; their parents are part of a group of stray (maybe feral or semi-feral?) cats that’ve taken up residence in our backyard. There’ve been stray cats living out there and having kittens for a few years now (we feed them and leave our garage open for them), but recently we heard a rumor that somebody in our neighborhood is trapping and shooting kitties, so now we’re trying to catch as many of them as we can to take them to shelters (or at least have them spayed/neutered). Anyway the kittens are all venturing out of their carrier now, they’re eating the food we’ve been giving them (both wet and dry, though they seem to prefer the wet) and using the makeshift litter box we made for them, but they’re still terrified of people. Any time I try to touch them they run, and at least one of them hisses at me whenever I get too close. I’m not sure how much longer they’ll be here but hopefully not too long. There’s a few more kittens outside that we’re still working on catching, but we’re not really sure how to do that since Mom caught these three by grabbing them off the kitchen windowsill and I don’t think the others have ever been up there. If anybody has any tips for trapping/catching kittens, I’m all ears. Lord Zedd-Repulsa posted:It's actually better to keep them separated from their mom so they can be properly socialized in preparation for getting a new home. Google your nearest major city and either TNR, feral cats, or outdoor cats, and you should be able to find a group that'll help you find foster homes for them if you don't feel comfortable doing so yourself. PM me if you have trouble and I'll help look. Alternately, looking for no-kill rescues or cat-only rescues could help you find support. We don’t have any Kitten Chow. We’ve been feeding them the same wet and dry food we feed our other cats because it’s what we have. We also don’t have any non-clumping litter, although our cats never had any problems with the clumping litter we buy when they were kittens. How is clumping litter dangerous for kittens? I’d love to read that effortpost if you ever get around to writing it. I need all the advice I can get. I. M. Gei fucked around with this message at 19:20 on Sep 24, 2018 |
# ¿ Sep 23, 2018 23:19 |
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EDIT: Nevermind
I. M. Gei fucked around with this message at 08:56 on Sep 24, 2018 |
# ¿ Sep 24, 2018 08:46 |
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I am also crossposting from the Cat FAQ/Megathread because this thread may be better equipped to deal with feral stuff. My dumbass idiot dad left a door open, and now our 3 feral kittens have escaped from the room we were temporarily keeping them in into the much larger adjacent room. This is a problem because that adjacent room is big and has a toooooooooon of good hiding places for scared kittens, which makes the task of scooping them up to take them to a shelter much more difficult (the room we were keeping them in has almost no hiding places for exactly this reason). Please tell me how to lure scared feral kittens out of hiding so we can catch them. Somebody in the other thread said “food and time,” but I don’t know if that’s gonna work in this case because this is a seldom-used room that we’re not likely to be in when the kittens come out to eat. Plus, y’know, it’s big and full of hiding places. Am I gonna need a trap or something for this?
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# ¿ Sep 25, 2018 21:34 |
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sneakyfrog posted:lol. This is the only other good photo I have of them. I’ve been meaning to take more, but it’s hard to get one where they’re not hiding or cowering in fear. sneakyfrog posted:better just use food and psychology put a litter box in a nice dark place and food in a different nice dark place. put a blanket all close, electric if you have one There wouldn’t happen to be a faster way, would there? I was hoping to take these guys to a shelter before this weekend. I’m not sure they’re gonna warm up to people enough to come out of hiding around me by then (especially that siamese-looking one; it hisses anytime someone gets close to it). I. M. Gei fucked around with this message at 23:05 on Sep 25, 2018 |
# ¿ Sep 25, 2018 21:58 |
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I. M. Gei posted:feral kitten stuff UPDATE: This has been a goddamn loving nightmare. We haven’t been able to find anybody willing to take these kittens in or give them a home. I called around early last month and apparently EVERY SINGLE loving NO-KILL SHELTER AND RESCUE IN THIS loving REDNECK COUNTRY SHITHOLE REGION is full and isn’t accepting new cats right now, and there’s no sign of that letting up any time in the foreseeable future. And nobody on my Facebook has shown any interest in them. So for the past two months we’ve been caring for the kittens inside our house, giving them food and water and litter and planning to get them spayed and neutered. ... until this afternoon, when my mom decided we couldn’t keep caring for them inside and opened our front door to let them back outside. gently caress. Meanwhile we still have an army of feral cats in our backyard, and they’re still loving and having more kittens, and I need to trap them and get them spayed/neutered, but there’s zero free TNR services in my area (unless you literally live below the poverty line, which we technically don’t), and the one or two “low-cost” options I found would cost us several hundred dollars to fix all of them. Just gently caress. I should also mention that the reason we took those kittens in in the first place was because we heard that somebody in our neighborhood may be trapping and shooting cats, and I still have no idea what the gently caress to do about that. Anyway I’m just loving upset as gently caress right now and I need this thread to tell me I’m not a complete loving monster for not being able to do more for these kittens. And to give me advice for TNR-ing outdoor ferals, preferably without going broke. Also if anybody wants to take another crack at searching for open rescues and/or actual free TNR services in my area, please be my guest.
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# ¿ Nov 10, 2018 23:10 |
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I. M. Gei posted:... until this afternoon, when my mom decided we couldn’t keep caring for them inside and opened our front door to let them back outside. So here’s something. We left the door open for 6 hours and not a single one of the kittens left. We put their food in front of the entrance and everything. One of them stepped outside for a couple of minutes and then turned around and came right back inside. I have a few theories as to why this might be. 1. It was too cold outside for their liking (it was in the 50s, which is the coldest temperature they’ve ever been exposed to). 2. The kittens aren’t as familiar with our front yard as they are with our backyard, which makes them apprehensive about going out there. 3. The kittens have all decided that staying in a warm rain-free indoor shelter with free food is a pretty sweet gig. We’re gonna try opening the door again probably sometime in the next few days, but we need to figure something out soon, because we’re starting to get attached to them. I already want to keep at least a couple of them. Lead out in cuffs posted:This is a rough situation. Have you considered putting up a GoFundMe (or doing some other kind of fundraising) to get the ferals spayed and neutered? I mean I guess there’s no particular reason I couldn’t try that, but I gotta be honest, the thought of begging for money makes me a little uncomfortable. I have no idea how to fundraise, and I worry that if nobody on my Facebook payed attention when I talked about adopting the kittens, they’re not gonna pay attention to a GoFundMe either. Could I maybe ask a mod for permission to post a GoFundMe here? I. M. Gei fucked around with this message at 23:44 on Nov 16, 2018 |
# ¿ Nov 16, 2018 23:13 |
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Guess I might as well crosspost this too.I. M. Gei posted:Well this sucks. Today I found a couple of the ferals that live in my yard dead with no obvious signs of injury, and I’m starting to suspect that one of my next door neighbors may have poisoned them. I’ve been suspecting that someone in my neighborhood has been killing cats for awhile now, but this is the first time I have an idea of an exact home address to point the cops and/or ASPCA to. I’m just not really sure how to get them to give a gently caress, or whether I need hard proof that the cats were poisoned. Unfortunately I don’t think I have enough money to autopsy them, so if I need proof they were poisoned then I’m kinda SOL. I’m also worried that this neighbor might try to hurt me or my family if I call the cops on them, since they’ll know for sure that the call came from my house. I’m still gonna report them, I just don’t want the situation to escalate.
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# ¿ Feb 3, 2019 04:10 |
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One of the female feral cats living in my yard is extremely pregnant, and has been for several months now. She’s been that way for so long that we’re starting to wonder if something is wrong, or if we might need to take her to the vet. Only problem is, we’re not really sure how to catch her. Would trying to coax her into an open pet carrier with a can of tuna be a good strategy to try? Should I be worried at all?
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# ¿ Feb 25, 2019 08:08 |
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sneakyfrog posted:My suggestion would be make a shelter, somewhere warm and dry, with some towels or small blankets you dont mind getting trashed. hell maybe make it in a pet carrier for the whole 2 birds one stone thing. tuna or any stinky wet food is usually a good enticement. try not to get bit, cat bites are no joke and sometimes worse than a dog bite. Update: I think the mother gave birth this afternoon. I didn’t see any actual kittens, but I did hear tiny kitten mewing under the table in our storage room behind some boxes, and mom was back there staring at me. I really hope they’re all okay. I don’t want to get too close to them since I don’t want to scare mom, but the last time this particular momcat gave birth, this happened.
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# ¿ Feb 27, 2019 04:13 |
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sneakyfrog posted:miss frog photoing some weapons grade cute That is an extremely Good Dog 10/10 would pet EDIT: I should probably start getting pics of the cats in my yard I. M. Gei fucked around with this message at 05:02 on Mar 5, 2019 |
# ¿ Mar 5, 2019 05:00 |
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I just found another yard kitten. It looks like it was just born, and there’s no other kittens around it. I’m not sure if that means the mother has abandoned it or not, but I hope she hasn’t. It’s crying outside my window right now and the sound is absolutely breaking my heart, but I have no formula to feed it with. I’m afraid to take it to the vet because for all I know the mother might still come back (and because its eyes aren’t open yet and I was always taught never to handle kittens until after their eyes opened). I might at least try to get some formula for it just in case, but I don’t have much money right now and I’ve never bottle-fed a kitten before. What do?
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# ¿ Mar 27, 2019 19:02 |
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^^^ Can I feed that to a kitten that was born possibly less than an hour ago?sneakyfrog posted:get thee to a drugstore/petstore It’s pretty warm out right now. I think the temperature is in the low 70°s or high 60°s at the moment. I’ve already picked it up a little bit, but only to lift it out of the pile of leaves and dirt in the overturned plastic planter I found it in/under/next to. It was pretty decently hidden there, which I take to mean the mother may’ve hid it there either for protection, or to keep us from finding and saving it because she abandoned it and wanted it to die. Again, I know nothing whatsoever about bottle-feeding newborn kittens, so what is this warm water bottle business? The crying outside my window is starting to subside, which I hope does not mean I’m gonna go outside to find a dead kitten. sneakyfrog posted:moms gonna be hungry and thirsty and chances are you have yourself a kitten nest in your storage room. if this same cat keeps breeding you might want to see if there is a local organization that does spay and release for ferals. or you are going to be an eternal kitton host. I didn’t reply to this post earlier, but we did actually look into this awhile back. Unfortunately there’s no free spay/neuter or TNR programs within at least a 2-hour radius of me* because I live in a country redneck shithole, and the few “low cost” options I found would cost us several hundred dollars to fix all of the cats in my yard. I’ve been told I should call some of the places I did find to see if they can offer us a deal due to our situation. I still need to do this. * There is technically one free spay/neuter program, but only if you can show physical proof that you live below the poverty line, which I (un)fortunately do not. I. M. Gei fucked around with this message at 19:30 on Mar 27, 2019 |
# ¿ Mar 27, 2019 19:23 |
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Welp guess I better start makin’ some phone calls.
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# ¿ Mar 27, 2019 19:32 |
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Update: Just took the kitten to the vet for a checkup and feeding. - Kitten appears to be fine and healthy - Kitten is female - Kitten is about 2 days old We just put out food for the rest of the cats in our garage, which is where they all gather to eat twice a day. We put the kitten out there too because the mom is certain to see her when she comes to eat. If the kitten hasn’t been claimed after about an hour and a half, then...... I guess I’m just gonna have to bottle-feed it myself for the next five weeks, although that’s really not a prospect I like since I’m unemployed and trying to find a full time job at the moment, plus all the waking up at night to feed it and wipe its bungholes. But I’ll feel like poo poo if I don’t, so
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# ¿ Mar 27, 2019 22:14 |
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I got a day’s worth of pre-mixed formula, a bottle, and a couple of eye-dropper syringes. If the mom doesn’t come back I’ll have to buy some powdered formula tomorrow. I really hope the mom comes back. I’m loving terrified right now. EDIT: God I can still hear it mewing out there. Hopefully Mom will take it, it’s only been there for about half an hour and I can’t go back out there until then because I’ll scare Mom off if I do. I. M. Gei fucked around with this message at 22:30 on Mar 27, 2019 |
# ¿ Mar 27, 2019 22:23 |
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sneakyfrog posted:you will be fine friend. i wouldnt be able to find a kitton outside like that without making a dumb decision a lot sooner than you, pm me if you need me to send you formula or paypal you something if you are put in an uncomfortable position. i never mind being foolish for a good cause. I may need to take you up on this. Hell, my mom died a couple of weeks ago and I may have to set up a GoFundMe for that. sneakyfrog posted:and hey other than the absolute grim-dark worst case scenario (which is still possible so start girding your loins in the back of your head just in case) the other worst case is that you have a super pal I can’t take in another cat right now, especially one from outside. We have 3 cats already that we don’t want getting sick. Best case, I’ll have to care for this kitten until she is old and big enough to be spayed, after which point I’ll have to put her back outside. I’m not thrilled at this possibility, but I’ve been told that every cat rescue in my area is full, so I’m not really sure what else to do. sneakyfrog posted:also do you have a scale for Yes I have one.
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# ¿ Mar 27, 2019 23:05 |
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Okay I didn’t see a lot of the cats at feeding time tonight, so I moved the kitten back to where I found her, thinking that’s where her mom will come to find her. My dad is telling me the best thing I can do right now is just leave the kitten alone and pray that the mom comes back for her. The sound of her mewing is absolutely killing me though.
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# ¿ Mar 27, 2019 23:25 |
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Awesome news! I found somebody on Facebook who’s willing to take this kitten in. I just fed her and wiped her bits like the vet told me to. I’m worried I might’ve accidentally overfed or underfed her, but I’m pretty sure the formula at least went in her. When I warmed up the formula, I overheated it and started over twice; I poured the overheated stuff back in the original bottle with the rest, which I’m hoping didn’t ruin it. Right now, the kitten is in an isolated room, in a big cardboard box with a hole cut in the top, a big towel laid down at the bottom, and one more big towel she can wrap herself in if she needs to. My house temperature is in the low 70°s and I’ve got the heater set to 76°. I don’t know that we have a working heating pad, so I’m hoping this setup will work until my friend comes to pick her up. Is this good? Did I do good? Should I give her another towel just to be safe? EDIT: Another pic. I. M. Gei fucked around with this message at 00:39 on Mar 28, 2019 |
# ¿ Mar 28, 2019 00:35 |
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sneakyfrog posted:you did loving stellar pal. keep it warm and safe. you are doing tops as gently caress. One of my old high school teachers, and yes she’s good. She has fostered and bottle-fed tiny kittens before.
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# ¿ Mar 28, 2019 00:51 |
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Kitten is picked up and hopefully on her way to a good foster life. I don’t know that this lady can care for her beyond kittenhood, but I’m sure she’ll find a good home for her if she can’t. I think my main fear now is what if she has birth defects the vet missed? I. M. Gei fucked around with this message at 03:38 on Mar 28, 2019 |
# ¿ Mar 28, 2019 03:35 |
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The lady that adopted the kitten texted me last night. The kitten is alive, healthy (as far as we know), being fed every 2 hours, has access to a heating pad, and appears to have grown some. She also had a little red scratch on one of her legs that they got antibiotics for and is looking better now. Also her name is Lizzie. I. M. Gei fucked around with this message at 01:40 on Apr 1, 2019 |
# ¿ Apr 1, 2019 01:37 |
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spookygonk posted:You are a good person, and this news has cheered me greatly today. The lady sent a few photos, but I worry that if I post them she’ll be able to reverse image search them and find my SA account. My goonhood is something I try to keep secret. Though I suppose I could post a couple that don’t show her face. EDIT: I. M. Gei fucked around with this message at 21:55 on Apr 4, 2019 |
# ¿ Apr 4, 2019 21:50 |
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Here’s another kitten photo. This one is part of a litter that was born a few weeks ago and is just learning to walk and eat solid food. So far I’ve counted 3 of these guys: this one, an all-orange one, and another white one that may or may not have something wrong with one of its eyes (I just caught a quick glance as it was running away from me). It’s tough for me to get these pics because the kittens normally run before I can get my phone ready. In the next week or so, I need to see about setting up a GoFundMe to get all of these yard ferals fixed so they don’t keep breeding out of control.
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# ¿ Apr 6, 2019 02:43 |
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Got another text. “Mizz Lizz” is 12 days old, 5.5 oz, and still a squirmer. EDIT: HER EYES JUST OPENED!! LITERALLY JUST NOW!! I. M. Gei fucked around with this message at 17:58 on Apr 6, 2019 |
# ¿ Apr 6, 2019 17:48 |
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I. M. Gei posted:EDIT: HER EYES JUST OPENED!! LITERALLY JUST NOW!!
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# ¿ Apr 6, 2019 18:01 |
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Lizzie is 8.8 oz today!
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# ¿ Apr 12, 2019 19:47 |
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sneakyfrog posted:Oh my God I knoooow she has a little Got Milk mustache.
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# ¿ Apr 12, 2019 21:27 |
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Mizz Lizz is a hungry gal.
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# ¿ Apr 13, 2019 15:29 |
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sneakyfrog posted:how is the little gal doing? like movement and whatnot? As far as we know she’s still healthy and moving around a lot. I’m told she has a LOUD voice when she’s hungry though, which checks out.
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# ¿ Apr 14, 2019 19:59 |
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I SO wish I could take a pic of our outside kittens laying on top of our lawnmower bag. There’s like 6 of them and they love to pile up on that bag in a pile 2 or 3 kittens thick and just lay there together like it’s their personal kitten hammock. It is SO PRECIOUS but every time I get close enough for a pic they all try to run but OH GOD Also Lizzie is 3 weeks old and seems to be doing good. I got a little video of her that I’m trying to figure out how to post here without sound.
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# ¿ Apr 19, 2019 20:53 |
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sneakyfrog posted:youtube pal.. That’s the thing though. Whenever I get close enough to take pics of them they run away. And I don’t have a webcam.
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# ¿ Apr 19, 2019 21:48 |
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Goober Peas posted:She's so purty!
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# ¿ Apr 20, 2019 19:00 |
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Mizz Lizz is 4 weeks old and weighs about one pound EDIT: And just like her King of the Hill namesake, she has a little demanding streak I. M. Gei fucked around with this message at 20:44 on Apr 25, 2019 |
# ¿ Apr 25, 2019 20:36 |
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I got a Lizzie update today. She is 8 weeks old, about 2 pounds, loves playing with toys, and has given up the bottle.
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# ¿ May 22, 2019 04:49 |
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Happy (almost) First Birthday to Lizzie aka Mizz Lizz! She is about 10 lbs now and pretty much runs the whole house, including her two big brothers.
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# ¿ Mar 28, 2020 03:31 |
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I just found 3 new kittens in my backyard. They were pretty well hidden in a thick patch of ground-cover jasmine ivy. They were also soaking wet, as it just rained a ton at my house. I can’t tell if they’re abandoned or not. One of the feral cats living at my house (interestingly, the only one that lets us pet them) has been holing up in a box in our garage watching over a new litter of kittens for about a week now. I haven’t gotten a close look at those kittens, and I don’t know whether these 3 are from that litter. They’re sitting in a box on a bunch of towels and a heating pad right now. The heating pad is the pale blue thing under the white towel in the photos below. Questions: 1. How hot should the heating pad be? I forgot. 2. How many towels should be between the heating pad and the kittens? 3. How do I know if these kittens are abandoned or not?
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# ¿ Apr 23, 2020 02:00 |
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I cannot tell if I am feeding these kittens properly. Right now I’m feeding them milk replacer formula I got at my local vet. It’s all I have until PetSmart opens in 7 hours. Two of them keep refusing to let me get the feeding syringe into their mouths, which is making me wonder how much food they’re actually getting, or if there’s something wrong with what I’m feeding them or how I feed it to them. I do not have a bottle, or any nipples to put on the syringes. I checked PetSmart.com and the the store in my area doesn’t appear to sell them. I also can’t tell if I’m burping or poop-wiping them right. Please help, I’m scared. I. M. Gei fucked around with this message at 07:49 on Apr 23, 2020 |
# ¿ Apr 23, 2020 07:45 |
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^^^ Thanks! It looks like a couple of them have finally figured out the suckling thing. The calico one still doesn’t want to do it, so I’m kinda getting it into her mouth whenever she opens it to meow, which I’m not happy about but it seems to be going in at least 90% this way. I’m really hoping I’m not harming her too much by doing this, and that she figures out what’s going on soon. I’m still not sure if I’m doing the burping thing right (I’m loving sleepy and haven’t checked those Youtube videos just yet, but I will!). The wiping seems to be going okay though; one of them actually pooped, and I didn’t even gag or dry-heave at all!
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# ¿ Apr 23, 2020 16:31 |
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# ¿ Apr 18, 2024 00:49 |
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Well the two gray kittens are suckling like champs. The calico one seems to be getting the hang of it too, but she only ever wants about half a syringe-full of food (which is 1.5oz; the syringes hold 3oz each), after which she starts squirming away from it. As of 30 minutes ago she weighs about 3.7oz; the other two weigh 3.85oz and 4.3oz and each take a full 3oz of food with no fuss. I’m feeding them all about once every 2.5 to 3 hours. Should I only give the calico kitten as much food as she wants and then stop, or do I need to give her the full 3oz? I’m worried that 1.5oz isn’t enough for her per feeding.
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# ¿ Apr 23, 2020 22:32 |