[Tiki]

Well, orphaned by tying them in a plastic bag and throwing them out at the dump!

I was in the feed store last Monday and a guy came in with a little box holding two teeny, tiny, little kittens. He had been to the dump that morning and found the above mentioned plastic bag by the crying coming from it. They were about 2-3 weeks old and the littlest one was stone cold. I agreed to take them and got kitty baby bottles and kitten milk replacer. The girl at the feed store donated a bottle of pre-mixed milk replacer so we could get something into them right away. My girlfriend held them inside her jacket to try to warm them and bottle fed them while I drove. We were off on a long day to buy and deliver feed. I named them Tiny and Bruiser, as in "He's a tiny little thing and the other one is a big bruiser - by comparison". Tiny weighed 5.5 ounces and Bruiser weighed 8 ounces.

They were clean and their eyes were clear. Must have just been dumped that morning when the dump opened. If the people who dumped them didn't want kittens, they should have spayed their cat, but oh well. I have them now and they are absolutely adorable. They are waddling around, following me everywhere. The sleep in a cardboard box with a heating pad under a dog bed and some towels so they stay warm but not fried. In the last couple of days, when I set them down on the floor to learn how to walk and gain strength, they waddle - on their own - over to a kitty cube and kitty dome I have on the floor, climb in, and go to sleep. Bruiser is a tabby with a LOT of white and is starting to play and wrestle a bit and He's actually starting to take baby steps in washing himself. Tiny is black with white paw tips and a teeny bit of white in a drizzled stripe on his belly. Tiny is very fuzzy and may be a med or long hair. Bruiser is a DSH.

OK, here's the question. How on earth do you train these little guys to use a litter box? They're probably too young right now anyway, but they don't pee right after their bottle. It seems to be completely at random, so you can't just put them in a litter box after they eat. They are drinking more each day and gaining weight well, and, did I say - they are ABSOLUTELY AORABLE! I also hope they will start drinking milk from a bowl pretty soon. It's not easy bottle feeding 2 very hungry kitties at the same time when they first wake up in the morning.

[cowboymom]

Are you rubbing their bellies and privates to make them pee? They need external stimulation to pee/poo until they're old enough to handle it on their own. Obviously if they have gone a week you're either doing that or they have managed without it... stimulate them and then put them in the box.

Getting them to use the litter box is the easiest part of raising orphans, just put them in the box often and when they start to go. They naturally want to be in the box and when they're old enough to sense they have to go and get to the box in time they will do it.

You can start giving them some very smushed up canned food when they are about 3-4 weeks old... and they don't need to eat fifteen times a day even though they want it to be that way...

[sk_pacer]

You will need a flattish container for the litter because babies that size cannot manage a normal litter pan. There will be accidents even after they know where the litter is and what it is for....they are like little kids and get busy and forget then whoops, too late.

I agree with cbm about the tinned food, preferably kitten food, and even better than mushing it up, mix it with the milk replacer to a thickish soup.

Now, we need pictures...........lots of them

[Zu Zu]

Jingles & AO for these kittens ~ bless you for helping them ~

[Nootka]

gEEEZ anther thread about cute babies


WITH no DANG Pix!! GHAHHHHA!!H!HH


I am going to start my own clique

Hitler about baby pix clique

[jen-s]

gEEEZ anther thread about cute babies


WITH no DANG Pix!! GHAHHHHA!!H!HH


I am going to start my own clique

Hitler about baby pix clique

Can I join your clique? Seriously!

[Nootka]

The more the merrier!

Maybe we can get our point across?

LOL

[BasqueMom]

Congrats! and Kudos for taking them in.

I have a flatish baking pan, glass and very heavy, that I use for kittens just
starting to figure the potty thing. The sides are only a couple of inches high, if that, and the weight of it keeps them from turning it over. If you have other cats and litter boxes, put a spoonful of used litter in with the regular litter.

When they get a little bigger, there are smallish plastic litter pans....you might want to scatter several around their walking around area. Sometimes small kittens that are out and about get a sudden urge and can't make it back to their box, especially if they are some distance away or exploring new areas.


Also, buy the plainest litter you can find....non clumping, no crystals, plain old
kitty litter. It might be time for a bigger box so you have room for a litter pan in it....you will probably find they figure it out on their own.

And yes, pictures, please!

[Tiki]

They're sound asleep in the kitty cube right now. I will get you some pictures. I think I have a photobucket account that I haven't used for a while. Will check. Their eyes have already changed color, so Tiny is going to look like a little black fuzzball with black, shiny eyes. They are adorable!

[tikihorse2]

Another "Bless you!" for taking the babies in! I'm so happy they're doing well. And I'm invoking all the horrible COTH curses on the asshat who put them in a plastic bag and dropped them at the dump like trash!

Now, of course, add me to the list of those who want pictures!

[Tiki]

Hopefully this link works for the pictures. They're not great for 2 reasons - the kittens are very wiggly, and I took them with my cell phone which doesn't take the greatest pics.

Now, just a couple of days later than my original post, Bruiser is using the litter box regularly, is lapping a bit of milk, but not enough to go without his bottle, and Tiny just started today to use the litter box, but hasn't learned to lap yet at all.

Tiny seems to be a couple of days behind Bruiser in development. He's about 1/2 - 2/3's the size of Bruiser, but both kittens have doubled their weight and size in just over a week with me. They . are . adorable!

http://s559.photobucket.com/albums/ss40/frec8les/

[jetsmom]

They're adorable!

[Swale01]

Tiki, thank you so much for taking them in. Seeing those adorable photos, it's just absolutely heartbreaking to think that someone could put them in a garbage bag to die...what is WRONG with people??!!?

[Tiki]

Tiny has a fuzzy little face with spikes of fur sticking out all over. He has absolutely the softest fur ever. I think he's going to have longish hair, but I'm not sure yet if he will be an actual long hair. They are starting to follow me all over the place. If they go into their kitty cube and dome for a nap and I go out to do an errand, when I come back and find them up and about, they sit for a minute watching to see who came in, and then, when they recognize me they come running and talking to me.

I wonder if they're actually more active than typical litter kittens because they're handled so much and don't have mom to keep moving them away from people.

To think - I retired from the Service a month ago, was an hour late getting to the feed store, an in comes this guy with kittens he found in a plastic bag at the dump. Serendipity that I got them.

[Anne FS]

God bless you! How adorable they are. Bruiser looks like quite the character already, but I warn you, little black cats with white tips like tiny are DEFINITELY characters.

I cannot believe people do the things they do. How COULD they? But then I hear about people like Tiki....

[JumpQH]

What is WRONG with people??? How could anyone put ANY living creature in a plastic bag and leave them in a dump? There are so many humans that can't be less human.

On a positive note, thanks for saving these babies! I was so happy to see the pics!

[cowboymom]

Aw Bruiser looks exactly like one of the orphans my mom raised this summer!

Good for you saving them and stepping up when serendipity spoke!

[spaceagevalkyrie]

Please mail Tiny to me at your earliest convenience

[Anne FS]

Please mail Tiny to me at your earliest convenience

Looks like he'd fit in an envelope, too.

[Nootka]

Awwww they are so cute! Little babies