Newborn Kitten help

[mamabear]

Newborn kittens were dropped off at a petstore(i was given this info through a pm I received.) The unbilical cords were still on the babies, two were taken from an employee the other from the other employee, there are 6 total. I gave the person who requested information and this site the link at the left about kitten care and said htey need to go to the vet asap.

Question: Is there anything other than what they will read and of course me telling them to get them to vet, that I need to tell them?

[Traci]

Get them out of the pet store immediately and to a vet....pet stores are notorious for not having aseptic premises, they are a breeding ground for infectious disease, parasites, inexperienced staff, etc.

Where's the queen? Most importantly is the kittens nursing from the queen because they need:

1) vital colostrum from the queen's milk in the first critical 48 hours of life - colostrum helps provide some immunity for the newborns

2) warmth from each other and the queen (they do not have a shivering reflex until a week or so after birth, can suffer hypothermia very rapidly)

3) being able to feel/hear the queen's heartbeat

4) the queen grooms/cleans the newborns regularly, stimulates them to urinate/defecate, and also usually chews the umbilical cord herself (but human intervention can achieve this, best to have vet do so)

Yes, kittens need a vet immediately, if the queen is unavailable/not found etc, then bottle feeding must ensue immediately....vet can examine them, provide kitten KMR, bottles and nipples, help with providing warmth etc and instruct owners on how to care for them at home.

[E's]

Oh how sad - and the poor queen herself, if still living, needs vet care too!

[Tambrey]

I also received a PM from the same person...directed her to give the people in question this site, and advised an IMMEDIATE trip to the vet!!

I also gave detailed instructions as to how I cared for Munkie, for her to forward to the person asking for help....

[mamabear]

Tambrey and I received same PM, they know we both come here.

I was informed that the kittens mother was not with them when they were dumped there. People didn't even have decency to show their face, sneaky idiots!!! Only thing I can think of is the queen died and someone got scared, at least that is what I'm telling myself so as not to get upset or cranky.

The person that asked us is responding to a post on another forum, she doens't the poster personally but wanted to make sure she was able to help by giving her accurate information. I do they listen and get kittens to vet asap if they havent already done that.

Thank you for your quick response. Oh Tambrey it was fun to be reminded of Munkie and what you did for that little one!!!!

[Cindy]

What are the odds of helping such young babies to survive? Someone called the shelter last week saying they were bringing in a 4 day old kit, Mom run over by a car. They never came, leading me to believe the baby did not make it. I have been wondering if it would have made it either way? My last orphan was already about 3 or 4 weeks old by the time I got him.

How old was Munkie?

[Tambrey]

Munkie was 4 hours old when I rescued him....his mother never was a good mama, and she usually self aborted before she delivered...she was a totally wild feral that I never could get near to...however, she gave birth to Munkie and a sibling, that was crushed/smothered in a tipped flower pot at the side of my house...

The only reason I even knew about her labor was because I was walking by to turn on the water to water the gardens, and she growled and hissed at me from inside the flowerpot...I left her be, but kept peeking in...after a while, she left and I could see one in there....I waited 4 hours and she never returned, so I picked him up...that is when I discovered the other one

It would be another 2 hours before i could get to and return with KMR formula to start feeding him...I set my kitchen timer on my pillow for every 90 minutes to get up and feed him...he went to work with me and I bottle fed him there...for about 8 weeks we did this....of course, as time went on, I could increase time between feedings!!

http://www.cathelp-online.com/forums/vi ... ght=munkie

[momPaws]

You must have a special bond with Munkie...you are his Mom..does he favor you?

[Tina B and crew]

I think what often happens is people find a litter and the queen is not with them so they assume something has happened to her, which may be the case, but often I think people jump the gun and grab the kittens thinking they have been abandoned. In many cases it is probably best because if they are feral it at least gets them a chance to be tamed and cared for. Even if people didn't show their faces at least they dropped them off at a place they would be taken care of instead of just leaving them...then again, it could very well be it was THEIR cat who had the kittens and rather than do the right thing and take care of them they abandoned them..but again, at least they "abandoned" them somewhere they would be taken care of instead at a dumpster or on the side of the road.

I wish those taking care of them the best of luck!

[Cindy]

well that's encouraging!