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Maintaining the Rescue

Why is monitoring so important for fosters and new owners? It’s because domestic cats are fairly unique in nature, in that they are small, solo predators in a world filled with bigger or pack structured predators. As a survival technique they have the ability to hide any disease until practically the last moment. If they revealed that they were weak or sick out in nature they would be picked off by the first larger predator.

This solution works great in nature but hinders us in fostering because cats are so good at hiding their disease. That’s why you’re going to see a ton of directions to seek medical attention. It’s always best to be on the safe side. Most of the time it will be nothing, but prevention is always our goal.


Four conditions are necessary for each and every cat:

     1.   Warmth

Although not as important in cats over 6 weeks, this is CRUCIAL to babies! We cannot overemphasize the need for warmth in young kittens. If there is nothing else you can do or provide for a munchkin, THIS IS IT! WARMTH. Babies are used to their mom providing a nice 103 degree environment for them, and we must duplicate this the best we can. In the bottle-baby section we will explore this further.

Warm also includes providing a non-drafty environment. For an older animal, all you need do, is make sure it has a nice warm, cozy spot to retreat to. For younger pets (less than 4 months) the entire environment should be draft-free and a refuge (box/crate/closet where there is barricading against drafts and retains heat) for them is mandatory.

If you are having trouble keeping the kids warm and comfy, please contact your vet.

     2.   Cleanliness

This may sound like a big ‘DUH’ instruction, but it’s not. No animal can stay healthy if it isn’t clean.

Really though, we should use the word IMMACULATE. Each and every animal should be in pristine, beautiful coated condition, constantly. It’s certainly rougher when you have some sick kittens, but still they need to be perfectly clean as soon as you are done with them.

The criteria should be: Can you kiss the kitten/cat over its entire body (including rectum) and not gag? That seems silly (and we’re certainly not going to ask you to actually do this!) but it forces you to take a good hard look and find those little ‘goobers’ stuck in the fur.

Why is this so important? Glad you asked! There are several crucial health concerns that need to be addressed.

  • Cats and kittens both groom themselves and each other. If you have feces, old food or mucous stuck in the hair, the animal could ingest them and make themselves ill.

  • Guck on the fur can irritate the skin and make it much more susceptible to ringworm infection.

  • Feces, urine, milk and food left on the skin can cause burns or scalds that are difficult to treat and tap the body of vital energy.

  • Kittens, especially, learn to groom themselves from their mom. If they are left dirty as kittens, the kittens accept this and become poor groomers their entire lives. We need to set an example for them so they can carry on the habit the rest of their lives.

  • Although intangible, we all know how we feel if we’re dirty and grungy. Certainly cats/kittens seem to feel the same way. Just as we would want any human baby immaculately clean at all times, we want our fosters the same way.

  • And, let’s face it. Who wants to cuddle and love up a dirty ‘icky’ kitty. They’ve got to be clean so we can snuggle ‘em up!!

     3.   Hydration

Okay, this sounds intimidating, but it’s not. Hydration is basically how much water we have in our system. Since water drives all of our metabolic functions, you can see why adequate hydration is essential.

Checking hydration is a lot simpler than trying to spell it. If you pull up on your own skin, you will see the skin snaps right back down. This is called skin turgor (how well it snaps back). A well hydrated animal will have quick skin turgor.

For healthy kids with no signs of illness, just check skin turgor once daily. It should be quick and immediate, if not, seek medical attention.


     4. Normal Stool and Urine

Let’s summarize and say: Poop should be brown and formed. Urine should be yellow.

 

The Scoop on Poop

Color:

  • Bloody - Actual red blood seen in stool. Could indicate panleukepenia. Grossly abnormal, must be seen ASAP.
  • Mucous - yellowish/white/clear slimy substance. Indicates severe bowel irritation. Grossly abnormal and needs immediate care.
  • Black - True dark black color to stool. Usually indicates bleeding high in the bowel. Severe sign, needs immediate attention.
  • Brown - Normal color. Be happy!
  • Orange - Usually indicates way too much bile in stool, can occur with reflux. Seek medical advice.
  • Yellow - Almost always indicates bacterial imbalance in the bowel. If has diarrhea also, usually related to coccidia. Seek medical advice.
  • White - Grossly abnormal color, usually indicates, severe bacterial imbalance and severe infection in the bowel. Kitten at risk of dying, needs medical attention, ASAP.

Consistency:

  • Dry/hard - Abnormal, usually indicates dehydration. Seek care, promptly.
  • Firm - Normal, be happy.
  • Formed but soft - Low range of ‘normal’. If stools change from firm to soft you should seek medical advice.
  • Toothpaste - Still has somewhat tubular form but falls apart once touched. Abnormal, needs medication.
  • Cow-patty - Never formed but thick enough it falls into a ‘cow-patty’ shape. Abnormal, animal is at significant risk and needs immediate attention.
  • Liquidy - Just fluid that falls out of rectum, thin and may have mucous. Abnormal, animal is at severe risk and must be seen immediately.
  • The ‘Squirts’ - Animal has no control over bowel and watery fluid squirts out of rectum. Grossly abnormal, animal in danger of dying, must be seen immediately !


Hydration

Skin turgor:

  • Immediate snap back - Excellent hydration. Watch however at this stage for over-hydration.
  • Quick snap but not immediate - Hydrated. Monitor other signs to be sure the kitten is overall (full body) hydrated.
  • Snap back within one second - Adequate hydration. However, if ANY other signs, this animal is at risk and needs constant care.
  • Within 1-3 seconds - Dehydrated. Needs immediate attention.
  • Stands up on own - SEVERE dehyration. DYING. Must be seen immediately!


Urine color:

  • Red/Dark Orange - Severe sign. Severe at-risk, must be seen immediately.
    •
  • Dark yellow/almost brown - Extreme dehydration or bilirubin in urine. Either way it’s BAD! Needs immediate aggressive treatment.
    •
  • Intense yellow - Concentrated urine. Animal is not getting enough fluid for total body hydration. Needs immediate care.
    •
  • Yellow - Mildly concentrated urine. Monitor closely and if ANY other signs, seek care immediately.
  • Light yellow - Mildly dilute urine. Overall body hydration should be adequate if no kidney disease. With sick/injured or at-risk animals, this is the color we shoot for.
  • Pale yellow - Dilute urine. Hydration should be excellent if no kidney disease. With any significantly debilitated or severe risk animal, this is the color we shoot for. Be aware however of possible over-hydration and keep urine this color, only if under medical care.
  • Almost clear - Severely dilute urine. Risk of over-hydration. Urine should only be this dilute if under constant medical supervision.


Cats Over 4 Months

This category includes anybody over 4 months of age. We need to remember that even though they are healthy, they’ve had a very stressful life lately and most are just out of the pound. Just like us, after extreme stress like finals or a big presentation at work, it’s not until we’re done and relaxing at home that we come down with a cold or the flu. The same applies to the cats.

Introduction into the house

For a week or so, try to keep the new kid in a bathroom or spare room, separate from your other cats. Even if you don’t have other cats, if the kitty should break with a cold we don’t want the rest of your house contaminated. The bathroom works great because you’re in there a lot on, well - your own ‘business’ which involves significant ‘sit-down’ time. Plenty of opportunity to socialize with the kitty and love it up.

Why seven days? Because most cold and flu viruses have a 3-6 day incubation period. Therefore if it doesn’t show signs of illness with 7 days, it’s probably free of anything it picked up at the pound and we can allow it to start mingling with the rest of the household.

Another advantage of isolation of other cats is for socialization purposes. It sounds strange that we should keep cats apart, so they get along better, but it is absolutely true.

When cats first meet, it seems they take an insta-matic picture of the other cats response. If their first meeting includes: arching, hissing, and spitting, it’s not going to be a pretty picture. They seem to carry this image of the other cat around with it and hold a grudge, sometimes life long. It’s as if each time they come into contact with the newer cat, they pull out the picture (even if the newer cat is being nice and calm at the moment) and say ‘see, I don’t like ya and I never did!’.

If, however, you let them introduce under the door first as they sniff each other, you have a far greater chance of getting them to accept each other. They may hiss and spit at each other, but since they can’t see each other, they don’t take this ‘grudge’ picture. Usually within their 7-day isolation period they will stop aggressing towards each other under the door, you can let them see each other, since they have already gotten use to each other’s smell. If either cat starts acting cranky, just shut the door and try again later. It’s that simple.

This technique is especially helpful if you plan to foster sequential, (different) cats. If each time you bring a new cat into the household and (in your resident cat’s opinion) the new cats are always spitty, hissy buttheads, your resident cat is going to resent any visitor and could get stressed out. So we must make sure your resident cat feels:

    1. They are the king/queen of the universe
    2. This new cat is only a minor inconvenience to their lifestyle
    3. The new cats really aren’t thaaattt bad, they just smell a little funny.

If these introductions go well, resident cats usually adopt a nonchalant (read: kitty arrogant) approach to these new invaders and simply ignore the peons. Which is exactly what we want. If they want to make friends and be buds, that’s cool, but most older cats will simply be tastefully disdainful and ignore the newcomers.

Feeding

Feedings should be twice daily with the food left down for about an hour (ex: put it down when you first get up, then pick it up before you go to work and do the same around dinner time). The benefit of twice daily feeding over free-feed systems (leaving the food down all the time) is that you absolutely KNOW the cat’s appetite every twelve hours. Most cats will run to the bowl, eager to eat. In this way we can gauge its appetite very carefully.

If we allow free-feeding, it can takes sometimes days to figure out if the kitty isn’t eating enough. Which, as we discussed earlier, is important since cats hide their illness very well and it is extremely important to catch problems as early as they arise.

Watering

No, put the sprinkler away. We’re talking about putting water out for the kitty. This may seem way basic, but the water bowl should be cleaned out and re-filled with fresh water twice daily.

Some foster cats may be a tad, shall we shall, eccentric. Some cats will only drink from glasses (human type glasses and sometimes only if it has ice and dash of lemon!). Another favorite trick is to only drink from running faucets. To these individuals, we usually cater. Just be sure everybody has the fresh water they crave (condiments are optional ), at least twice daily.

Litter pan duty

The litter should be scooped twice daily. This way you can check stool consistency and be sure the kitty is urinating appropriate amounts. Most cats will defecate once to twice daily and urinate 2-3 times daily. Each amount of urine should be about the same size and color. If the kitty is urinating frequently (either large or small amounts), you may want to consult your vet.

If the cat ever cries, strains or spends an inordinate amount of time in the litter box, your vet must be notified IMMEDIATELY. Especially with male cats. We use high quality food and urinary tract problems are rare, but can happen so we must be alert for them.

Anything other than nice normal brown, formed poop and nice yellow urine, should be noted and addressed.

Warning signs to watch for

If the kitty does any of these things, even once, you should be concerned. It most instances, it will be nothing, but again we always want to be on the safe side.

  • Sneezing
  • Coughing
  • Gagging/hairball stuff
  • Wheezing
  • Tires easily
  • Diarrhea
  • Straining to urinate or defecate
  • Bleeding from any part of the body
  • Abnormal twitches
  • Loss or decrease of appetite
  • Change in attitude or behavior
  • Lethargic or depressed
  • Breathing heavily
  • Or any other problem or concern that you have!

 
Kittens 6 Weeks to 4 Months

Many of the same principles hold for kittens as well as cats, so we’ll only discuss the unique circumstances that apply to younger kids.

Introduction

The 7-day isolation period is even more important for kittens than it is for cats. Why? Imagine a child starting kindergarten. Everybody usually comes home with a cold of some sort. The same holds will kittens that have been exposed to the pound. Plus they are younger and have weaker immune systems and are more likely to come down with something than an adult is.

Once the kitten is out and about in the household, it is very important to not allow it to harass your resident kitties (at least not too much, after all this is the sworn duty of the kitten). If your resident cat gets too bent out of shape and aggressive towards new kitties, it can make subsequent fostering difficult. Again, make sure your resident kitty is queen bee!

Feeding

Depending on their age, kittens should be feed between 2-4 times a day. You'll be able to tell how hungry they are and get into a groove.

It is essential that we monitor kittens’ eating habits and if ever there is a decrease, you should seek medical advice. Kittens have far less reserve than adult cats and we need to support them even more than an adult.

Watering

Same as the adult, but usually at this age they haven’t quite developed such ‘interesting’ habits, therefore a typical water dish usually suffices with these guys.

Litter pan

For the most part in adults, stool consistency and urine volume can fluctuate without much problem. This is not the case with kittens and any change of stool or urine production needs to be addressed. We really can’t take any chances with these kids, given their rough start in life.

Warning signs

The same as listed for adult cats, we’re just even more astute and alert to any change in the kitten’s condition.

 

Reprinted from Kitten Rescue, Los Angeles

 

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