Expert: Ali - 2/21/2010

Question
A friend of mine just gave me a kitten. She has the mom and other siblings. And even though I havent had him a full day yet he hasnt stop meowing and wont leave from under the couch. From what my friend told me the mom detached herself from the kitten after her kids began touching him. I'm sure he's missing his family and that's probably why he's meowing non-stop. But is there anything I can do to win him over, and get him to try and adjust? He also hasnt eaten anything yet. I just dont want to harm him.

Answer
Merari,

Unfortunately it sounds to me like this tiny baby has been somewhat traumatized by weaning and separation from mom and littermates that happened way too early. My recommendations at this point to help minimize this baby's anxiety and stress would be as follows:

- It's best when you have a traumatized and anxious kitten to avoid giving that baby too much space so I'd strongly suggest setting baby's food, water and litter boxes (he should have at least two kitten sized boxes now to help reduce the likelihood that he'll soil outside of his litter pans and they should be upgraded when he outgrows them). Set this baby up in a box that's been turned upside down and had a small door cut into it, this will be a cozy hideout for your baby and may help him to calm down somewhat. In that box place a thick towel, a really soft stuffed animal and if at all possible a watch or small clock that ticks loudly wrapped in a towel near the stuffed toy. The box should be large enough to comfortably accomodate a fairly large towel and a stuffed animal that's bigger than the kitten and allow the kitten to comfortably move around enough to get comfortable. You may have to bribe baby with food to get him to come to you so you can introduce him to the box.

- To help ease anxiety for this baby you can gently rub Bach's Rescue Remedy (a blend of flower essences designed to calm and reassure) a drop at a time into his ear flaps as often as necessary. I'd say that 3-4 drops each time you give him the remedy should be sufficient based on his small size and young age. Due to the fact that Rescue Remedy's flower essences are preserved in a grape alcohol solution be very careful to avoid getting any of the drops into your baby's ears because it's likely to sting.

- If this kitten is younger than 5 weeks he should really have some kitten milk replacer added to his diet in order to ensure that he's getting enough fat and nutrients to allow him to grow and develop properly. Along with the kitten milk replacer (which he should be willing to lap from a plate with a bit of patient coaxing, I can describe how this is to be done if you need that information) the kitten should be placed on a high quality diet that's species appropriate. You can make your kitten's food at home with readily available ingredients with a bit of information which I think is probably the best possible option for most cats. To learn more about making a high quality balanced raw cat food at home for your kitten please check out catinfo.org (the site my own vet recommended to me when I asked about making a high quality homemade diet for my cats) and catnutrition.org. If you like the idea of feeding a high quality raw diet but you'd rather not make it yourself I'd recommend checking out www.felinespride.com, these folks make a great raw food that's perfectly appropriate for cats and they ship their product frozen with the guarantee that it will arrive mostly frozen provided that you are there to sign for the delivery when UPS shows up and that you immediately unpack and refrigerate/freeze the food. There are more than a few myths about proper pet nutrition, there's a great article that I've seen on a variety of sites that helps provide pet parents with good information about typical commercially produced diets. To read this article go to http://www.halopets.com/pet-education/pet-articles/pet_food_what_you_need_to_kno... I must caution you that this article is not something you want to read at mealtime if you have a sensitive tummy because some of the content will surprise and disgust you.

Finally this baby will require plenty of TLC, patience and when he's ready lots of cuddles to help him overcome the premature separation from his mom and littermates. If you have any further cat related questions please don't hesitate to contact me again, I will do my absolute best to help you out to the best of my ability.