Expert: Ali - 10/27/2008

Question
We brought a kitten home from a farrell litter that was abandoned from the mother at (we think) 4 to 5 weeks. I had her check for aids and leukemia. She's clean. I have her on kitten food as well as supplemental kitten vitamins. She is about 90% litter box trained. Her accidents consist of peeing on our bed in the middle of the night. During the day I have found her trying to pee or poop in the corners of the hallway. Is she too young to remember where the box is? When I had her tested at the vet, she weighed 1 pound and they thought she was between 5 and 6 weeks. Are her bathroom habits hindered because she was taken away from her mother too soon? What should I expect from a kitten this young?

Answer
Corrina,

Congratulations on your new arrival! I suspect that this kitten wasn't feral because of the fact that she is willing to cuddle up in bed with you, this suggests that she has been socialized to see people as basically good. There is a significant difference between a stray cat and a feral cat. Stray cats and kittens have had human interaction at some point, in your kitten I suspect that she was abandoned by human caregivers prior to you finding her. Since this kitten is comfortable with human handling I suspect that she was actually handled quite regularly throughout her first few weeks of life. Sadly there are far too many people that believe that it's okay to abandon young kittens, adult cats, or even elderly cats. Many misguided people believe that domesticated cats can survive on whatever they can catch, sadly many cats starve to death as a result of this cruel practice. Unfortunately other people assume that someone else will take pity on their discarded feline and provide them with a permanent home. All too often these abandoned cats and kittens live tough and short lives on the streets. Sure, there's a percentage of cats and kittens that are lucky - most succumb to poisoning, dehydration, hypothermia or heat stroke depending on the season, and of course starvation. Tragically some of these unfortunate cats end up becoming silent victims of animal cruelty. I believe that if a society's level of civilization can be judged by how we treat the most vulnerable lives (whether the life belongs to an animal, a person in this world then I think most people would agree that we have a very long way to go prior to being viewed as a highly evolved culture.

Feral cats are very different than stray cats. A kitten that is born into an environment where he/she doesn't become socialized with human beings and accustomed to appropriate handling will grow up to be terrified of people. Cats are naturally wary when it comes to things that they haven't yet experienced. From your description I would be quite comfortable assuming that your new fur baby was abandoned recently by the person who cares for her mother. I suspect that the mom wasn't abandoned with her babies so it's really quite lucky for this little girl that you came along when you did and decided to offer her a home. Since you are able to handle this kitten comfortably and she is relaxed enough to sleep on your bed with you it sounds as though this baby was in a home where she wasn't mistreated up until quite recently. I suspect that your new baby girl was either taken to another area away from her first home and dropped off to fend for herself or her mom may even live in the area. Unfortunately there isn't much that can be done to find the person that discarded this baby and prove that he/she is responsible for doing so...

Choosing a species appropriate, nutritious food made from high quality ingredients has become quite a difficult task because of recent issues with the safety and quality of food being produced by the pet food industry. Recently Menu Foods recalled a large number of products after receiving complaints from pet parents and veterinarians that animals were becoming sick and dying after ingesting the foods produced by their company. Extensive testing revealed that melamine was present in at least one ingredient in these foods. For several years some pet guardians and veterinarians have expressed concern about the safety and quality of commercially produced foods, the Menu Foods recall and other similar situations confirmed the suspicions of many people and instilled fear into the hearts of countless pet parents. Cats and dogs that ate the recalled foods developed acute kidney failure, a number of pets died, others currently require daily supportive care and medications that help to keep them alive and healthy. Recent press reports suggest that the death toll of the Menu Foods fiasco isn't finished rising quite yet.

I believe that there are a few options for kitty caregivers who want to feed their four legged feline the highest quality diet and ensure that their companion stays as healthy as possible for as long as possible. Just because the packaging of a pet food says that it includes high quality, premium ingredients doesn't mean that it's true. The regulations within the pet food industry are shockingly minimal and many unsafe, garbage pet foods are being fed to pets daily while their caregivers are led to believe that they are providing good quality nutrition. In the case of many 'premium' pet foods on the market today the quality leaves much to be desired. Just because a particular brand of food is recommended by a pet supply store staff member or a veterinarian doesn't mean that the ingredients are high quality. Put simply much of the pet foods on the market are garbage, many contain slaughtered animals deemed unfit for human consumption, euthanized animals, sawdust, tumors, pus, and harmful chemicals. In many cases even prescription diets aren’t free from low quality, species inappropriate ingredients. In terms of nutritional information found on labels it’s important that you realize that what you see isn’t necessarily nutritionally available for your kitten. I recommend that pet parents seriously consider feeding a high quality, holistic pet food made from human grade ingredients. These foods may have a higher price tag initially, however in the long run they will ensure that your cat is healthier and requires fewer veterinary visits due to ill health. As with anything quality counts, you can pay now in the form of whole, nutritious food with high quality ingredients or you can pay later when your kitty develops serious health problems from being fed a substandard diet. I have been doing some research recently as my oldest resident cat is one of the surviving victims of the Menu Food scare. My baby girl MC (short for Miracle Cat) has ongoing renal issues and requires daily fluids to support her kidneys and keep her healthy. I was feeding what I believed to be a high quality food based on the literature, recommendations from pet supply staff, and even a veterinarian...Obviously since she was perfectly healthy prior to this scare and she became ill during the heart of it I feel that her diet was responsible for her sudden decline in health.

Such a young kitten is just learning about the litter box. Normally starting about about this age her mother would be teaching her where to go to the toilet and how to bury her waste. Given the tender age of this little girl I would recommend that you consider providing her with a commercially available weaning formula such as KMR, because this baby wouldn't yet be weaned if she was still with mom. You can mix the weaning formula with pureed meat (chicken is usually well received, if you can feed hormone free and antibiotic free chicken I would suggest that, failing that it’s best to use the higher quality cuts of the chicken such as breast meat and you will save a bundle if you cook and puree it yourself….Alternatively you can opt to feed your kitten a commercially prepared raw diet or a good quality, holistic soft food and add a tablespoon or so of organic, unsweetened, full fat, plain yogurt. The reason that I recommend that you add yogurt to the mix is that the active cultures found in yogurt will help to maintain a healthy level of beneficial bacteria normally found in a mammal's digestive tract.  

As for the elimination problem there are a few suggestions that I routinely make. First, in a kitten this young it's wise to have a kitten sized litter box in each room, in larger rooms you'll need two litter pans. This will allow the kitten to always be close to a litter box, kittens this age are somewhat similar to toddlers starting to be potty trained. Essentially these babies will be playing and not realize that they have to go to the toilet until the accident is about to happen, sometimes they know that they have to use the toilet but it's just too far away and they don't manage to get there in time. If you or another member in your household happens to be home for most of the day you can help to get this baby's potty training on track. Potty training a kitten involves patience, consistency, and persistence. You need to be able to observe the kitten's behavior when she is up and running around, if she suddenly stops and looks like she's sitting odds are that she's having an accident. This baby should be placed in the litter box after every time that she eats, drinks or wakes up from a nap. When you place her in the litter box during those times the idea is to be gently persistent, the kitten should be gently placed back into the box every time that she leaves it and spoken to softly until she goes to the toilet. When she urinates or defecates in the toilet praise her, pet her, tell her she's wonderful and brilliant, you can even give her a treat if you'd like.