Expert: Ali - 11/29/2008

Question
Good afternoon,

I have rescued a one month old kitten yesterday.  She is adorable and seems very happy.  Her bowel discarge is tiny spots that are very watery, a bit like diarrhoea, not solid.  Is that normal?  The vet told us she is fine, but in the middle east, I am not always certain if I can be comfortable with their advice, it's not like the UK or North America.  Please give me advice to give her the best care possible.  The place we rescued her from was a horrid place where they treat animals like... animals.  I have seen too many horrendous acts of treatment during my short visit.  Please give me advice in the best way to care for my new kitten.  I naturally want her to live a long, happy life and to forget all she has encountered in her young life.  

Thank you,

Grace

Answer
Grace,

God bless you for taking this tiny friend in from a horrible place. This kitty needs a few things and I really don't know if you can get them in the Middle East. This kitten sounds as though she may be quite sick or just fed inappropriately, to rule out illness I will give you a few tips and hopefully the kitten will be fine after this. This kitten can eat a mixture of full fat goat's milk, unsweetened full fat plain yogurt, and finely minced or pureed chicken breast. The yogurt will help to replace the beneficial bacteria naturally present in a mammal's digestive tract and this kitten should have at least a tablespoon daily. Goat's milk is not my first choice but given your location I highly doubt that you will be able to get ahold of kitten milk replacer or a kitten weaning formula, so it's important to make sure that this kitten gets as much as she will take from an eye dropper several times daily. Be sure that the goat's milk is body temperature to avoid the kitten's system rejecting it. The chicken breast should be pureed with goat's milk and served at body temperature using a new oral syringe or having the kitten lick it off of your fingers until she is full.

It's important that the kitten stays warm and has lots of physical contact as she is way too young to have been separated from her mother. Your kitten may have intestinal parasites or highly contagious viral or bacterial infections - right now we are going to pray that forces beyond us have chosen to spare her these horrible possibilities. If your kitten develops distemper there isn't much that can be done but to keep her comfortable, I would strongly recommend that you have her vaccinated as soon as humanly possible. If you can get ahold of veterinary supplies or find a place to order them to the middle east maybe you can convince a veterinarian to send you dewormer, kitten milk replacer or weaning formula, vaccines for the next several weeks, some liquid amoxycillin with dosing instructions and some meat and broth baby food in a jar. These would be ideal things for you to have at your disposal to insure that this kitten will survive and not contract any serious viral or bacterial infections that you aren't able to prevent or treat. These are temporary measures and I sincerely hope that you aren't planning a long term stay in the Middle East where there are minimal resources at your disposal, for the sake of this kitten.