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Help educate me about kittens!

Carina
December 29th, 2004, 07:15 PM
I've had cats all the time, but it's been 11 years since I have had a kitten!

OK. Her name is Egg. :) (I dunno, it just fit.) She is a muted Siamese color with very faint tiger-striping and blue eyes. She was born without a tail, so she has a cute little brown dot where her tail would be, not even a stub.
I didn't quite plan this....but someone down the street was going to take 4 adult cats and 4 kittens to the pound the next day "because they were moving." :mad: :mad: :( :sad:
So when I brought her home 10 days ago, she was only 6 weeks old - but she seems to have no fear of anything, is quite social, and hasn't cried for her lost littermates :( or done the suckling thing young kittens can do, or anything. Parentage on her father's side is unknown, of course.... so anyhow, she is a marvellous little kitten, and has grown noticeably sturdier since I've had her.

Here's my main issue right now - and it's probably minor. I took her to my vet for a check up, and she had worms of course; she was wormed. She has had some intermittent diarrhea and her poor little rear end gets a bit...icky! She's getting better about cleaning herself, but is there a gentle way I can clean her off? She really hates that. When I got her, she had some inflammation there. That is pretty much gone - vet gave me cream - but I'd like to be able to help clean her up better. I am going to take in another fecal on Friday morning if her intermittent soft stool doesn't clear up.

Related issue: she is mostly really good about using her litter box - I actually have two for her, in different rooms. But she still sometimes goes randomly on the floor - is this a kitten thing? Is there a way I can help her be more consistent with her litter box?

Sheesh, I am more used to puppies! :)
So my two questions are, litter box training, and how to get those last stubborn little crusty bits :confused: off her rear end without it being really unpleasant for her.

Karin
December 29th, 2004, 07:29 PM
Try soaking a paper towel with hydrogen peroxide and gentley wipe the butt cakes off, or use warm water. Her poor tushey must be sore!

Sometimes kittens with no prior healthcare need to be dewormed 3 days in a row to get a good grab on the situation. Having another fecal done is a good move.

Litter box habits will get better in due time.

She sounds beautiful!....When can we see a picture?

Lucky Rescue
December 29th, 2004, 07:32 PM
Carina's got a kit-ten!! :p

This baby is so young that when she needs to "go", she needs to go NOW - no time to get to a litter box. Having diarrhea and being way too young to hold anything in is a guarantee she will go on the floor. Kittens never need housetraining in the way puppies do, as their mother teaches them about the litterbox.

I strongly suggest you confine her in a dog crate with her litter box when you can't watch her. With cats, it's much easier to prevent bad habits than to try and fix them, believe me! You should have taken two kittens, then you could have kept them confined to a small room until they were completely reliable with the litterbox. ;)

As for cleaning her bum, use a soft cotten ball just moistened with warm water.
Karin, I do not agree with using hydrogen peroxide on a tiny kitten's backside and paper towels are much too harsh.

Pics?

Carina
December 29th, 2004, 07:43 PM
I need to get my digital camera software loaded on my new/used computer! I moved like a month ago, and I am still living out of boxes...I have taken pics, but they're still in my camera.
Trust me, she is adorable!
OK....good point on the needing to go thing. Like puppies I guess. Darn...no hydrogen peroxide...LR she hates the soft cloth & warm water thing! I've been doing that.
Karin..."butt cakes" LOL! I got 1% cortisone cream from the vet & her poor little tushie isn't inflamed any more.
But LR see I knew you would say that about crates. :) The only one I have is a Dane-sized Midwestern crate, and she walks in & out of it. But on my way home I stopped at a friend's & picked up a large airline-type crate to borrow. Little stinker can't get out of that; she'll be in there tomorrow 'cause I have to work. Will she be OK for a 7-8 hour day in there? I've been leaving her closed in a spare room with all her amenities...
Well that, and I have these two Rottweilers....did I mention she has NO FEAR!? And she is such a teensy little baby thing, I don't leave her with free roam of the house with the dogs. She might hurt them. :D

Karin
December 29th, 2004, 08:00 PM
Rotti's are the best babysitters, I will trust Ciara with kittens and newborn goat kids before I will trust my neighbors. Ciara mothers baby birds also. (Not too sure they like the licking though, I have to curtail that)

She was given a stuffed kitty toy that "talked" when it's belly was nudged, she licked it's butt & whined for two weeks before I finally took it away.

We need a cat too. (not a kitten, we are looking for an older cat right now)

Fiesty Acres & Fortunate Felines are a frequent stop for me every week.

Carina
December 29th, 2004, 08:20 PM
Well Daphne is still acting a bit predatory when Egg does her kitten zoomies, so she is still on "moderate."
Both dogs have spent the last 3 years living with a cat (Cooper was raised around them, Daphne is a rescue.) Yesterday I had Coop on a downstay while Egg climbed over his back. Poor Cooper just looked at me like "Ewwww! It's touching me! Do something about this!" :yuck:

Lucky Rescue
December 29th, 2004, 08:40 PM
Chloe sends her sympathy to Cooper. The endless foster kittens I've had here have tortured her mercilessly.:(
http://pic10.picturetrail.com/VOL320/1047157/1960669/56305230.jpg

glasslass
December 29th, 2004, 09:19 PM
That pix of Chloe with the kitten is priceless. At first, I admired Chloe, than I realized the kitten was there and LMAO! :D

Carina
December 29th, 2004, 09:22 PM
Chloe sends her sympathy to Cooper. The endless foster kittens I've had here have tortured her mercilessly.:(
http://pic10.picturetrail.com/VOL320/1047157/1960669/56305230.jpg

ROFLMAO!!!!
I just spit tea all over my monitor, thank you very much!
And yes, that's the Look - though Chloe looks more resigned to her fate than Cooper.

chico2
December 29th, 2004, 09:57 PM
Poor Chloe,the look on her face is priceless....bad,bad kitty :crazy:

glasslass
December 29th, 2004, 10:11 PM
Carina, if you want an oriental version of the name "Egg" - it would be "Tomago". We hosted a Japanese student one summer and she fell in love with Den-Den3, who knew all his toys by name. She mailed "Tomago" to him for Easter and it became his favorite toy!

CyberKitten
December 29th, 2004, 10:47 PM
That photo of Chloe and the kitten is adorable - love her face! It's like "I've seen it all kid". Sooo cute!

Congrats on the new kitten - look forard to a photo. My little one only needed her butt washed seriously once and I used warm water and cotton balls and that worked fine but it was an acute thing. As long as her little butt is not sore now, sounds like you just continue what you are doing. She is lucky to have found you - and your rotti!

I would think a dog crate would work well too - with her litter box inside. I once hand reared kittens and belive me, litter training with no other in house felines was fun, NOT! I set up a litter box and essentially placed the kittens in it and scratched for them with their paws. Then I massage the "butt" area with a wet wipe. They very soon get the hang of things. Your kitten is very young so she just needs some reminding from time to time. You could feed her at regular times and even bring her to the litterbox.

Good luck!!

Carina
December 30th, 2004, 07:10 AM
Glasslass - Tomago, I like it! :) Cute photo.

CyberKitten - many years ago I hand raised an orphaned kitten from a few days old. I agree - it was a TON of work!!

I gave Egg's little heiny a quick wash last night...doing that encourages her to clean herself after. Last night she used her box like a good little girl.