Deborah Lane February 15 at 12:29am (on Facebook, to cat loving friends)
Hi guys...have a couple of questions...firstly, is it normal for kittens to have trouble with their depth perception in their vision (Emmy is very young, and altho stable on her paws and pouncy, doesn't seem to be able to judge the distance or the depth of jumps) (she walks straight off the edges of things like beds or lounges as if she expects the floor to be at the same level, has led to frightening falls and threats to those who keep placing her up on same grrrrr). And secondly...vaccinations. Do you or don't you? And at what age? and Desexing...views? I want to have her desexed, but again, when and all. Give me the wealth of your experiences!!
The Next day....
Cool. Thanks very much for the advice, I'm very unskilled with ones so tiny. According to the vet out at Chinchilla, she was about 7-8 weeks old when she was seen by him a month after the flood. I guess this would make her 3-4 weeks old when she washed up at my friend's shop. He is not a cat lover, but he couldn't bring himself to leave her, so he waded across to the chemist, got a syringe, and fed her on the milk they had left in the shop (he was stranded there with his employee). He managed to get home a few days later, and his wife took over, with the help of the three kids. They kept with the syringe until she started to lap, then kept her until she was a bit older...would have liked to keep her themselves, but decided instead to find her a home. I offered, thinking that surely someone closer would want her, but no takers, so when they came to Bris last week to visit the rels they didn't get a chance to see at Christmas, they brought her down to me. She still had the little kitten wobbles they get when they are still learning their balance...
At the moment, I am only taking her out into our backyard to do the necessaries, and she is always supervised. Our Wolfie has progressed from high dudgeon to low dudgeon with her, a bit hissy, but not wanting to damage her. He is desexed.
Will go for desexed for her too...6 months it shall be...or maybe a wee bit earlier...but not b4, it doesn't sit well with me...Vaccinations too, but as you've described rather than vet recommended, I'm sure they just support the pharmaceutical industry who bribe them with freebies. She eats salmon, and jelly meat, and starting to crunch on some kitten bickies, drinks kitten milk, loves the tiny shiny mouse with the bell in it, and shadow boxes like a pro.
Gotta go, wanna wax lyrical about kitty some more, but need to go do stuff...talk to you again soon!
From a friend...
It's actually amazing she's alive, consider her a very lucky kitten!!!! Cow's milk is awful for cats, there is a formula called Divetilact which is awful for them, we've had kittens die when fed solely off this formula so for her to have survived off cow's milk is amazing. Could have something to do with her balance etc issues - time will tell!!
I do raw food diet for my kitties as well as my dogs. If you get some minced chickens (as in, bones and all, leonards do them for $1.30 a kilo or so) feed them that 3 times a week, 2 times a week I add in "vets all natural complete mix" stuff for grains etc, and the other 2 times a week they get tinned sardines. That's the best diet you can give a cat according to the vets I've talked to and the research I've done - gotta think about what they'd eat in the wild! Mainly poultry, some grains from the stomach of the poultry they eat and fish. :) Hope that helps! I really am a bit of a nutter on cats. lol .
From me...
Yep, cow's milk...I guess u use what u got and hope like hell it works when the world is submerged around you...Never thought I'd see my friend save a kitten either, he's always "I enjoy cats, especially in stews..." :-) so very proud of him...thanks for the food tips, that diet sounds incredibly easy. She seems to have improved a little with the pouncing becoming more accurate, still misjudges braking distances a little but not so much as when she first came. Still gets a bit spun out by the sound of running water...lays her ears back, crouches and then gone like a shot out of a gun. Monty loves her to bits, washes her and plays with her and occasionally puts a paw on her to stop the annoying pouncy game which immobilizes her and leads to squeals of kitten indignation...she is Emerald Elphaba, Emerald after her home town (!) and Elphaba for the green girl from OZ. She lives in our ensuite for the moment, I'll probably change that when she's a bit older and more au fait with litter tray... using newspaper at the moment cos she keeps trying to eat the litter. Actually she tries to eat everything, it seems to be her primary response to any new object...stick it in her mouth!
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| Cuddles and chest rub... |
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| and now, kitty swat play...:-) |
