HELP!!

[Rawr]

Ok, so I'm being a little dramatic but I still do need help. I found a kitten last night and have NO IDEA how to take care of it. She was walking around outside at 1am(I was walking my dog at the time) and make supper loud crying noises. I put my dog away and went back outside and sat down and she came right up to me, so she's really friendly, and sounds like a motorboat when ever u get close. I got a towel and picked her up and spent half the night keeping my dog away from her( I think she's got the idea that the kitten is not a toy) and petting her cuz she cries when ur not there. I think she's weened because when I fed her some kitten milk stuff I bought at the store she began to bite the sides as she licked it up. So any suggestions? She is currently attacking an old towel I will post pictures when my phone is done sharging

[Palladiamorsdeus]

What do you need help with, exactly? So far it sounds like you've got it under control. I'd ask around your neighborhood though, it sounds like she just got lost.

[Rawr]

I'm not sure what to do next....I've never had a cat before, when can I feed her solid foods or is canned better. And how do I litter box train her, I can't have her as an outside cat, she'll get eaten. AND WHAT SHOULD I NAME HER!!!

[Vephriel]

Solid foods are much more nutritious, but from how young she sounds I'd start with some wet food as it would be easier for her to eat and digest.

Don't overdo the kitten milk, and see if she'll eat some canned food from a plate. If you plan on keeping her the first thing I would do is get her to a vet. You have no idea if she has fleas/worms/etc...best get that checked out immediately.

Cats take to litter boxes pretty naturally, as long as you keep her in a room with one she'll probably figure it out on her own. Place her inside so she can feel the grains under her paws, instinct should take over from there.

Make sure she's warm, perhaps set up a box or a small solitary room with some towels/blankets and a hot water bottle beneath them so it mimics a warm body.

[Palladiamorsdeus]

Get a box, put some liter in it. Put her in it. Make sure she know's where it's at. If she does a number on something, put her into the box. They tend to get the hint pretty fast. Just make sure she can get into it fairly easily.

If she's teeny, soft cat food for now, and then in a month or so start weening her to hard cat food. If she's three to fourish months, start off with soft but shift her to hard in the next week or so. She'll still want soft, but don't give in. *Laughs*

As for a name, I am sure the community will give you plenty of ideas.

Also, what Veph said. I'd forgotten about the vet because it wasn't something my family had the money for back in the day.

[Vephriel]

*nods* Pretty much after she starts eating the wet food on her own you can get dry food and soak it in some hot water to soften in, and wean her onto that from the canned food. Eventually she won't need it softened in water.

[Siliverin]

aw poor thing good for you taking in the poor thing she is lucky. well its gonna be hard since u dont know her age normally around 8 weeks they get weened onto normal food. on hard or canned its all preferance mine eats both. also she might be a fan of hard food and not soft or vise versa. cant tell till she is ready to eat big kitty food. I would ask the neighbors if they lost a kitten if not, take her to the vet to get her checked out and they can also give u a rough guesstimite on how old she is then go from there. litter training is pretty easy from my experiance, they seem to take to the litter box fast. I wish you all the luck though

[Rawr]

The vet seems the only thing I might have a problem with. Both my boyfriend and myself are in college and money is tight(we already bought new computers so we are drained atm) But when we have them money I'll have to do that. The rest seems doable I got the kitten milk and some dry food that says to wet it for 2 to 4 weeks then try to feed her it dry. I have to get a litter box, but she seems good for now, shes currently sleeping on the towel she was attacking

[Vephriel]

If you can't take her to a vet right away then just keep a close eye on her. Inspect her stools for blood, worms, anything unusual. Check her ears and eyes for excessive goo or little dots. Make sure her breathing sounds alright (no bubbly noises or anything), and then see if she puts on weight.

[Rawr]

Nose is wet, eyes are clear, no mites in ears(I had rabbits with that) and she seems very active when shes a wake and her stomach isn't distended, and she doesn't seem itchy. The only thing I can see wrong is her nose has a scrape on it. Hey how long do kittens sleep for in a day?

[Vephriel]

She sounds in good health then, that's excellent. ^^

Kittens can sleep for very long periods, especially after having their bursts of hyper energy, so just let her sleep and relax and get used to your home.

[Palladiamorsdeus]

Veph beat me to it. *Laughs* She'll be awake and very active for a while, then she'll sleep. This'll happen on and off through the entire day. And night. *Laughs*

[Rawr]

Sweet, I hope my boyfriend lets me keep her, he didn't like the idea of a cat until he saw her, I had a hard time getting her back after that Thanks guys I think I should be good now

[Teigan]

.

[cowmuflage]

Oh don't just fully feed her only dry food. mix it up with canned thats what i do 2 spoons of canned a handfull of dry etc. Cats do get bored if you feed them the same thing over and over and the older they get the picker they gte about food (my cats 20 plus so i know XD like he wont eat the same flavor of jelly meat 3 times in a row but if you mix things up he forgets about it )

Oh and get her to the vet as soon as you can cos she proberly needs her shots and stuff (don't skip those shots they are life savers)

[Epicfail]

Congrats. I used to be a dog person, but as I married a cat person, I've become one too. We have three now, 1 8yr old house cat and 2 1-2yr old rescues.

One of the rescues my wife picked up outside our apartment over the course of a couple weeks. My wife took her to the animal shelter for a checkup and I'm not sure how exactly its sorted, but she got the check up done free as long as we took her in as a foster owner. With the number of abandoned pets increasing (too many mouths to feed), I'm sure they just want people who care more than anything else.

I know the first inclination is to keep her, but I'd wait a couple weeks before calling her your own. I'd put up a couple signs nearby that you found a kitten and post a pic. Kittens usually don't get abandoned, but that doesn't mean she wasn't "born in the wild".

There's a lot of good advice already about the food. Again, I wouldn't name her anything more than "kitty" at this point, since you don't know if her owner isn't terribly sad she's missing (or that such a person exists). After a couple weeks, if nothing, then name her and get her fixed up with the vet. There are ways to do it less expensively.

[cowmuflage]

oh yeah forgot to put about looking to see if it is not someone elses thanks Epicfail XD
yeah cos for all you know it could be someones cat that got lost and it would be mean to you know just keep it for your self cos you like it ya know?

[Siliverin]

Sounds like the "good advice" people have this covered! One thought I had that wasn't covered...and since we don't have an age for the kitten...have you observed the kitten make a bowel movement yet? When they are very young, they often can't "go" on their own and need some help with that. Their mothers accomplish this by licking (they're cats, it's natural!) that "area" to stimulate them to go. If she isn't going on her own, you can accomplish this with gentle application of a warm, wet cloth. If she is, don't worry about it. If she's handling semi-solid food and has a few teeth, she's over that stage. Hopefully, she is.
Good luck and may the Goddess smile on you for helping the kitten.

teigs brought up a seriously good point, i totally forgot about that o.O!

what color is she