Down Mulberry Lane

Guess what dropped in to visit?

We have a new kitten on the farm.  It wasn't by choice.  Dh brought home some rams from another pasture and later that morning we found a tiny kitten in the chicken barn, about 50 feet from where the trailer was parked. 

I estimate the kitten to be between 3-5 weeks.  The kitten is so small.  He also has such gooped up eyes.  We called the guy who has the pasture and he says it is likely their kitten, and said we could bring him back or keep him.  We were all very willing to take him back to the farm, but my daughter with such a heart for sick animals wanted to keep him... at least until he gets well. 

After cleaning his eyes, it is apparent there is an infection of some sort.  His inner eyelids are red and swollen.  His left eye may be blind...it is really hard to tell at this point, because the inner eyelid on this eye is SOOOO swollen.  But Today it appears rather gray and cloudy compared to the other eye. 

We are giving him a round of pennicilin.  The shots are soo small, it seems rather a waste of the effort, but he is so tiny.  We also got a bottle and some milk yesterday as he wasn't eating regular cat food very well.  I also picked up a bag of kitten food that was much smaller in size so he could try to eat.  Well, last night we gave him his first bottle and the kitten was sooo happy.  He purred for the first time (we had had him a day by then).  Since then, he continues to eat from the bottle at 3-4 hour intervals.   He eats a whopping 2 teaspoons of milk.  Once he had about three feedings in his tummy, he finally felt ready to discover the kitten food and ate about a teaspoon of that as well. 

We are washing his face about every 2 hours.  I know I should have some eye drops of a sort, but have no idea what to put into his eyes.  I also will be looking at buying another nipple to get us through another week.  He's about chewed this first one to pieces.  But he isn't very good at lapping milk just yet... he loses his balance and falls in... which then gave him a runny nose as well.   One thing I am happy about is that he is using the litter box.  His little wets make up a nickel sized spot.  If he stayed this small forever and made these small messes , I might consider an indoor cat!  LOL 

My daughter with the loving heart went a traveling for a couple days with her older sister to see some friends and to bring a friend home to visit during her home leave from academy.   I will be glad when she returns home to do the nursing of this poor little kitten. 

Any ideas for the kittens eyes?

Warmly, ~Melissa

Untitled Comment

8:45 PM, October 11, 2008 .. Posted by gabbie427

How sweet of your daughter to want to nurse this baby kitten to health!!!

God's Blessings,
Amy Jo

Sick Kitten

11:42 AM, October 13, 2008 .. Posted by Anonymous

Ok - I do not know if this will help you or not but when we first got our kittens they had some kind of eye infection and we got some medicine from the vet. Here is the name of the stuff we got:
Neobacimyx-h opth. this is what was on the bottle and then I will type out what is on the actual tube.
Neomycin and Polymyxin B Sulfates, Bacitracin Zinc and Hydrocortisone Ophthalmic Ointment USP
It says it is RX only but maybe ya'll would be able to find something similiar. I hope this helps.

Lisa in Texas = o )