25 day old kitten(approx)

Question
QUESTION: Hi I found a kitten two weeks ago.Zak, as he is called is a silver tabby and at that time he must have been about 10-12 days  old with his eyes just open. Here in India we have no formula kitten milk and I gave him puppy formula milk, something that has worked well with my friend's new born Persian kittens. Because I work about 10 hours a day, another friend was feeding him during the day and I suspect she has over fed him and he has a bad tummy. I have stopped the formula and I am giving him soup make from a mash of Royal Canin kitten food. He is very weak now and cannot drink from his bottle and is fed with a ink dropper. Yesterday I rescued a mother cat and her three kittens and put Zak with them.He has been accepted by the mother and she is grooming him and trying to get him to drink her milk. But Zak is not able to suckle at all and is only getting the soup. However he has improved maybe because of bonding with a mother cat and the stopping of milk. But i do not want him to die. Please do tell me what I can do to push up his strength. We also run a cat help blog here in Bnagalore, India, do have a look http://catsofbangalore.blogspot.com. email claireyasmine@gmail.com
thanks so much
Yasmine Claire

ANSWER: Hi Yasmine, Well it sounds like you have a very ill kitten on your hands. I would first off take him away from the mom cat that he is with and only leave him with her every few hours  for 10 minutes so that she can clean him and stimulate him. When a kitten is failing sometimes the mom cat or in this case foster mom will take things into their own hands. Hopefully that is enough of an explanation for you?
So, I would have him in a quiet box and make sure he is being kept very warm. Then I would start feeding him the puppy milk again. It is possible his fluids have dropped because of the change to the royal canin or that he has had some diarrhea because of the change which has made him dehydrated. You also need to get some sugar into him asap !!
Do you have some corn syrup or honey?? Put some onto the tip of your finger and rub it onto the roof of his mouth to get him to take it. I would do this 4-5 times today and then ease it off as he gets eating again. But this may save his life so that you will be able to even get him eating again !
What do you mean when you say that he had a "bad tummy" ?? And was your friend just bottle feeding him?? usually when bottle feeding it is impossible to overfeed... Please tell me more details and then i will try to get back to you with some more ideas.. but get that corn syrup out right away !! 1/2 tsp would be good per dose
Teresa

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QUESTION: Hi Teresa,

First to answer what you asked me, Zak came back to my house ( he was with my friend during the week) on Thursday(18th october) because she told me he had diarrhea. When I saw him he was very dehydrated and I gave him an ORS and only then the Royal Canin cat food mashed into a soup. He was given the sugar/ors the next day and the soup but when i came home in the evening(19th october) he was too far gone and all i could do was to hug him and keep him warm till he died.

If you could tell me what can be a good substitute for mothers's milk for a new born kitten ( in india there is no kitten formula milk) apart from puppy formula milk it will be great.

thanks again for your help!
Yasmine

Answer
Hi Yasmine, I am really sorry to hear that he didn't make it. These little ones have such a tough time if they slip behind.
This is what I use for my own kittens when I need to hand nurse them.
1/2 cup evaporated canned milk
1/2 cup boiled then cooled water
1 egg yolk (raw)
1 tsp of corn syrup
couple of drops liquid vitamin B (optional)
Mix it all together when it is cool and then just slowly warm up the amount you need for each feeding. Always throw any formula out after 24 hours and start a new batch and always throw out any that has been heated. Do not pour it back into the original mix.
I hope this helps you for next time! And I hope you are able to buy the evaporated milk there. It is not the sweetened condensed milk it is the evaporated milk in a can. Usually it is whole milk but if you can't get that then just use the 2%