Sick kittens, no mother?

You may be able to save the sick one. Keep her warm with a heat pad set on low covered with a towel or a hot watter bottle covered with a towel. You may need to tube feed her with a 1 cc syringe. Just suck the milk up in the syringe and hold her so she is upright (not so she has a possibility of drowning in the milk), and very slowly sryinge the milk into her mouth. See if theres an emergency vet in your area that can give her sub cutaneous fluids.

To clean the kittens use an old washcloth and warm water for the body cleaning. To clean their poopy butts use a cotton ball soaked with warm water, warning they may go the same time you are cleaning since the mothers 'stimulate' the babies to go the same way, but with their tongue. They are too young to use pet shampoo on, try a very very mild liquid hand soap, like a milk soap (walmart has milk and honey soap) if they get really stinky.

I worked at a shelter for almost four years and hand raised quite a few litters. Feel free to email me with questions.

The heating pad will help the healthy ones too, just be sure to cover it so if they potty you wont have to toss the bottle or heating pad. You can try litter too, even at this age. Use a very shallow cardboad flat (like you can find holding the pet canned food at the store) and just lightly cover with litter, use a non clumping kind at this age or they will get it all over themselves. PetSmart may give you some food flats if you ask.

Blood in Stool - One of my cats has produced a soft stool with fresh blood. What causes this?

Blood in Stool Response -

We are not veterinarians and cannot give veterinary advice, care or treatment. Our information is meant as a resource. Your first resource should always be your veterinarian.

Blood in a cats stool is usually not a serious condition unless it is a lot of blood or lasts for more than a day or two. Blood in the stool can be caused by several things such as; eating sharp blades of grass, bowel and stomach irritations, parasites and anal glands. The first two conditions usually will clear up on their own in a day or two, unless you cat has developed an irritable bowel condition usually caused by stress. Parasites such a coccidia and giardia can cause runny bloody diarrhea and gets worse over time and should always be seen by a veterinarian. Other types of worms can also cause bloody stool and should be treated by a vet. If your cat is an outside cat and drinks from outside water sources, it may have picked up a parasite. Anal glands can also cause bloody stools. There are two glands on each side of the anus and they can sometimes become impacted. If this is the case, you may see your scooting. Below are links to more information on these subjects:

http://www.peteducation.com/parasites/coccidia.htm

http://www.peteducation.com/parasites/giardia.htm

http://www.peteducation.com/cats_dogs/anal_glands....

http://www.peteducation.com/cats_dogs/inflam_bowel...

Since the first sign of illness in a pet is any change in behavior, appetite or bowel movements, we recommend you take your cat to the vet for a complete check-up.

Sorry about the sick one, sometimes it's just out of our hands. As for washing you can wash them like normal cats with a tear free kitten shampoo, hold them by the scruff of the neack and dip them in a sink full of luke warm water, suds them up and rince under the faucet. Dry them with a towl ( this works best as a two man operation, one kitten at a time one washer one dryer) all should go well as long as you don't drop them in the water.

Clean them with a warm damp wash cloth. You can always call a vet and explain they are usually good about giving advice of things you can do at home to help a sick animal.

blood in feces sometimes is a sign of worms and will cause bloody stools ....... take them to a good vet... at 3 weeks still a bit young for worming but vet will know what to give and how much.

Most vets have after hours hotlines in their voice mail message. You might want to call. The blood concerns me. It could be anything! :( I would call asap.