Kitten update: Xeric and Xiang

At 7 weeks old the kittens are looking so much better! Their kitty colds are gone and their eyes have almost returned to normal.

They've been putting on good weight and when they hit 2 lbs they'll have their surgeries and be ready for adoption!

These little fluff balls are going to find homes so fast! 

Xiang and Xeric - Gruel Babies!

At 6 weeks old Xiang and Xeric are past due to be eating on their own; kittens can be introduced to gruel as soon as their teeth come in which can happen as early as 2 weeks old. Xeric and Xiang both have healthy strong teeth but have showed no interest in eating solo.

Xiang has shown a little interest in gruel-on-a-plate but does NOT want to eat it if a syringe gruel meal is available. 

Now that both kittens weigh at least a pound I can start to try and convince them that they need to eat on their own. For both their 6am and 10pm feeding they will get syringe gruel since those are the meals with the longest time between Feedings. At 10am, 2pm and 6pm however, they will get only a plate of the gruel. I make a fresh plate for each meal and even sweeten the deal with turkey baby food. 

They will probably fight me quite a bit for the first plate meal and won't want to eat it, however once their midday meal is due they'll be hungry and more likely to try the plate gruel. 

(Note: this was a post-in-progress from Tuesday morning!)

UPDATE!

Both babies are eating off the plate right now! I was right about them getting more hungry after not eating off the plate earlier and with some gentle persuasion I got them both chowing down on their own!!!! FANTASTIC!

Xeric and Xiang; 1 lb GIANTS!

Both of the babies have officially reached a pound in weight. 

HOORAY!!!

To celebrate this milestone here are a few pictures of Xiang showing off her chubby little tum tum.

Xeric and Xiang in the pen

I posted pictures about a week ago that showed off the nifty little kitten bin I rigged up for Xeric and Xiang.

I LOVE the bin, and it's great to have a way to securely contain the babies overnight, but during the day they need a little more space to play.

Soooooo I rigged up a play pen!

Since I don't own one of those nice baby play pens I decided to use a readily available (and FREE) material. Cardboard!

I hopped in the car and checked out behind a few stores nearby and voilà! Cardboard boxes from large flat-screen TVs.

I made sure that the edges were tall enough that neither of the kittens could hop out. They have food and water, a small litter box, a heat source and some toys.

Play pen project success!

Xiang and Xeric are all cuddles!

My sweet fosters are starting to recover from their upper respiratory infections. Their nebulizer treatments and antibiotics have paid off and the little babies are acting more like normal kittens! Here's a quick little video of them tussling in their hammock while I was cleaning out their bed.

Gruel baby meal time!

After food comes playtime with Xeric and Xiang!

Both of the babies got a little more playful after their Feedings. I was super excited to see them wanting to play! This means that their health is starting to improve. Hooray!

This is where the babies get to stay until they get better and bigger. They've got a heating pad, toys, and food and water. Their little litter box was becoming too much of a problem (they kept sleeping in it) so I take it out during play time.

Cuties!!

Info: Kitten Feedings

Rise and shine!

It's 5am and time to feed the babies! They haven't eaten since 8pm so they're ready for their food!

So, how do you know how often you need to feed your babies? And how much?

Kittens Feedings, as well as the type of food, are determined by the age of the kitten. 

The amount you feed your kitten is a constant: they need to eat 5% of their weight per feeding.

(The best way to guarantee they eat enough is to weigh them both before and after each feeding.)

A newborn kitten with a mother around will nurse almost constantly. Due to their size and weight they eat very little at a time, usually only 5-6 milliliters of milk. Their little tummies can't hold any more than that so you need to constantly be giving them chances to eat. 

A bottle baby needs to be fed every 2-3 hours.

Once the kittens have their first set of teeth grow in it's time to switch them to syringe gruel. Syringe gruel kittens should always be encouraged to eat their gruel off of a plate first. Most kittens take a while to figure out just exactly how that works.

Syringe gruel kittens need to be fed every 4-5 hours.

Teaching the kittens to eat on their own is a long and messy process! New gruel babies will practically swim through the food on their plate while they mash their whole face into the food. I like to put my babies in a big plastic bin with their plate of food so I can easily clean up the mess afterwards. 

Gruel kittens need to be given fresh hot gruel every 7-8 hours.

During all stages of learning to eat you should provide a small bowl of each water, crunchies, and gruel. Even if your kitten ignores them it is important to have them available. Clean out the bowls at least once every 8 hours to make sure bacteria doesn't start to gather and breed.

Meet Xeric and Xiang!

My two new fosters came home today. 

They're also medical special needs cases.

Both kittens have eye infections and upper respiratory infections. They're both extremely congested and that has caused them to loose interest in food and become lethargic.

Xeric and Xiang will be getting treatment for their eyes three times a day and will have a nebulizer running constantly in their enclosure.

Despite their sickness both babies settled happily into their new home and were enthusiastic eaters during their first meal!

This is the little buff boy Xeric.

This is the tortie girl Xiang.

Welcome to your new foster home babies!

After Ringworm: DECONTAMINATION!

This weekend after Elliot left us for the cattery I was faced with my next fostering challenge; I needed to decontaminate our entire house to remove all traces of ringworm spores!

This may sound like a daunting task, but it is actually not very hard to do. Bleach kills ringworm spores on contact even in a very weak solution!

So how do you start?

You only really need three items to complete this task.
1. A squirt bottle
2. Bleach
3. Water

First gather up all cat toys, bedding, and supplies and spray them with a 10-to-1 solutions of bleach-water (10x water to 1x bleach). This strength of solution is color-safe but you still may want to do your own color test before dousing all your belongings.

Next throw everything that can go in the washing machine in and wash on HOT. Add a cup of bleach to the  bleach tray. The machine will automatically release it slowly so it will not ruin your fabrics.

Items that cannot be machine washed like bowls and hard toys should be soaked in hot water and bleach and then run through the dish washer. If they are not dishwasher safe hand wash them.

Once the cat items have been cleaned you have to focus on your surroundings. This is the more intensive part of getting rid of ringworm spores. You will need to spray down EVERY SINGLE SURFACE that the cat has had access to. This means your carpets, beds, couches, walls, cabinets, window sills, counters, etc. You will need to spray your bleach-water solution over just about every inch of your house.

I prefer to do this in shifts one room at a time. I also take LOTS of breaks.

For animals fosters who are going to be bringing non-ringworm animals into the area this is the MOST IMPORTANT PART of decontamination. However if you would rather not have to undertake this cleaning ordeal you can simply continue to foster other ringworm-positive animals, in which case this entire process would be unnecessary!

If you are not going to be bringing another animal into the area you may choose simply to let the ringworm spores die out on their own which takes about three months. I know plenty of fosters who just let the spores die off naturally; they would rather just take the chance that they might get an itchy spot or two and will buy the inexpensive topical cream to deal with it.

Elliot: Clean bill of health!

As of Friday at 4:30 pm Elliot has been completely cleared of all health issues! The ringworm which had been stubbornly hanging on is FINALLY gone and Elliot has been given a spot in the Austin Pets Alive cattery at the Town Lake location.

Elliot will now hang out with the other kitties waiting for adoption. You can visit him from 11am - 7pm in the cattery!

Here's a little retrospective of my very first foster baby:

5 1/2 weeks old and only 220grams. He was on antibiotics three times a day and had to receive injections to keep him hydrated. He was on medication to try and stimulate his appetite. He was riddled with ringworm.

8 weeks old and 1.5 lbs. He had to undergo 2x weekly baths in a lime-sulfur dip to try and kill off the ringworm. He had a bad allergic reaction to the dip and lost most of his fur. He got put on another very strong antibiotic cocktail.

12 weeks old and almost 3 lbs. Elliot came down with an upper respiratory infection and had to start another round of antibiotics. He was congested and sneezing. His fur started to grow back in but he still had to wear sock sweaters for warmth.

4 months old and 5 lbs. Elliot's foster brother Flint got cleared of his ringworm and was adopted out to a wonderful foster family. Elliot's ringworm was STILL pestering him and he had to undergo another two weeks of oral medication for the pesky skin condition.

5 months old and 7.5 lbs. Elliot gets a clean bill of health and is awarded with a new home in the cattery! He will be viewed by dozens of families daily and will be scooped up and adopted any day now.


Elliot has made an amazing recovery from the sick, malnourished  baby that first came to stay with me. I'm so happy that he was able to bounce back from such a very rough start. I will check in on him at the cattery today and see how he is adjusting to this new surroundings.


I love you sweet boy!