New Addition

Greetings Animal Lovers,
On Thanksgiving Day I was approached by a neighbor who clearly knew how passionate I am about animals.  She had rescued two kittens from the street and asked would I take one, and in true animal lover fashion I couldn't pass up the chance to save an innocent life.  For the purpose of this post I wanted to highlight some tips and techniques someone could and should use when taking in a kitten, especially if he/she is under the age of 8 weeks (as mine is).

First things first: You need to find out the level of eating your kitten has accomplished.  Many times kittens are taken away from their mothers too soon, not knowing how to eat whole cat food whether it be wet or dry.  If this is the case, sticking your finger inside kitty's mouth will result in them trying to suckle your finger.  If this occurs you should purchase cat milk replacer, which can be bottle or bowl fed depending on how young the kitten.  If your kitten doesn't have the urge to suckle you can go right to feeding it wet cat food, which can also be accomplished for younger kittens by mixing in the milk replacer.  This is what I found beneficial for my nearly weaned kitten.  Once the kitten gets used to wet food, you can start mixing in dry food (which is way cheaper), or try soaking dry food in a little water to soften it up.  Sooner or later you'll be able to feed kitty majority dry food, with the wet serving as a treat or once a day occurrence.

Provides the nutrients kitty would normally receive from mother's milk

Next: When rescuing animals from outdoors or unclean environments, you will almost always encounter the flea problem.  A lot of times the kitten is too young for flea treatment, or even the flea collar so the only option is to give kitty a Dawn dish liquid bath. I learned from calling the ASPCA that Dawn original kills fleas after 2.5 minutes of the application.  BINGO! We all know cats don't like water, so this task could prove difficult, however kittens are so small their a lot easier to get clean.  Make sure all areas of the body get a fair amount of Dawn, especially the face which you will find the fleas flea to during the bath.  Scrub the skin of the kitten in order to lather up the soap, don't forget the butt which often is smelly in young cats.  On top of killing fleas the bath is cleaning your kitten, so don't forget their ears and underside. Try your best to remove all fleas with your fingers during and after the bath, they should be dead but its probable that some survived the wrath.  

Try not to take too long during the bathing process, and use warm water so kitty doesn't fall into hypothermia.  After thoroughly rinsing him/her I found the blow dryer (on a low setting) was very beneficial to the drying process.  Keeping your kitten wrapped up in a dry towel after the bath will soothe and help keep it warm.  

Stay tuned for Part 2 of the New Addition post, which will help guide you in completing the necessary steps to making your kitten comfortable in it's new home!