Oh god I think we've been lied to

[MsIngaFewmarbles]

Picked up a new kitten on Wednesday evening. The woman said that he is 9 weeks old, they had only had him a week but her DD aged 1 had a severe allergic reaction hence rehoming him. He is tiny and keeps trying to suckle a fleecy blanket we bought for him. He is eating solid food well but has runny poos. He is letting us know when he needs to go but needs to be lifted into the litter tray.

He seems to enjoy being handled and is playful then sleeps for a couple of hours. We have booked him in at the vets on Tuesday for a check and jabs, we thought it was best for him to settle for a few days first.

Maybe a hot-water bottle wrapped in a blanket or towel would help.

I'd say about six weeks. poos are probably my runny because he may have been force weaned if he was still suckling. allergy story is classic breeder line. no.way is he nine weeks.

Poor thing.

Just give him.plenty of time to . settle and a very light kitten food.

Very cute indeed. He looks a little bit younger than the stray kitten I took in off the streets last year - background totally unknown. The pic below was taken just minutes after I'd taken him out of the carrier, and I think he has a longer tail than your boy. The vet aged him at around 7 weeks because of his weight (around 800g) - apparently they estimate a kitten weighs 100g at birth and then gains weight at a rate of 100g every week.

Definitely get him checked out ASAP - mine was riddled with fleas.

We had kitten food for him but he enjoyed eating the adult cats' food (I had 2 other cats at the time) and it hasn't seemed to do him any harm! I think his poos were runny-ish and very smelly to start off with until his system settled down a bit. And his boy bits were definitely visible at 7 weeks, I remember telling the vet receptionist he was definitely a boy

Oh and my kitten (now cat) has always kneaded/padded absolutely everything & everybody but does not suckle so I think he had probably only just lost/left his mum & was pretty much fully weaned

Don't wrap it up, timtam - taken our of your car's engine wasn't he?

yes he was found under the bonnet & was such a scrawny thing you wouldn't know it now though , the big lump that he is

This is Andy at 5ish weeks, when we rescued him. He was 520grams.

When we took our girl to the vets for her first jabs they said she wasn't as old as we'd been told and they couldn't vaccinate her for a few more weeks, we were quite shocked since dh picked her up and she was with the litter etc so seemed genuine enough, in fact we actually knew a family who had one of her sisters. Anyhow she is perfectly fine although bonkers, but she is very small as cats go, have sometimes wondered whether she was just a small cat and that's why they thought she was younger initially or maybe her growth was somehow stunted. I'm sure your boy will be fine and don't blame yourself, just give him a good home and he'll love you always

OP, did you find out how old he is? And have you named him yet?

I thought all kittens poo was runny so mom can clean it away and that it got firmer as they got older.

Or did I hallucinate that?.

I've looked after lots and lots of kittens and the kitten looks younger to me too - although can be difficult to tell from photos. It's also very common for kittens to have runny poos, litter tray accidents, particularly as they move from mother's milk to solid foods.

I would start to worry if the kitten was passing blood or if diarrhoea continued for several days.

What's a 'farmed kitten' by the way? Isn't it more likely it is the kitten of a stray?

You can get some kitten formula milk from pets@home, I'd recommend mashing it up with his food to give him a bit of extra nutrition. Poor little scrap. I'd say 5-6 weeks, no younger as the eyes change from blue to their proper colour at around that age.

One of the kittens I looked after still suckled on my dressing gown for years afterwards because her stray mum cat died/disappeared when she was only a few weeks old. She was the only kitten I've looked after that has done that although others have done the padding thing.

He's utterly beautiful. Did you get told how old? I got mine at 9 weeks, he was small but your one is smaller.

is he on wet or dry food?

I thought he was called G&T . I'm not daft honest.

Aww he's very lovely but does look little..although my kitten weighs a lot less than she should and has from when we got her..the vet cited the 100g per week thing but I suspect shes just small...she weighed about 700g at 9 weeks.

Something I learned from Foster Dad John today, which is obvious when you think about it, cats are on heat for a week or two and can carry litters from more than one mate.

So a single litter can contain kittens with an age difference of up to 2 weeks.

As for weight, mine is 3 years now and weighs about 3Kg

Oh that's interesting sashh, is that why cats can end up with such multicoloured litters sometimes?

We called the vet yesterday and they don't have any appointments earlier than the one we have on Tuesday. Overnight there has been a bit of blood in his runny poo. I have weighed him and he is only 400g. What do we do?

I didn't know about the age difference...wouldn't they be massively different in size and development when they were born? They're only pregnant for about 9 weeks.

But yeah they won't all necessarily have the same father if a cats just been going out while in heat.

Completely cross posted there...

Blood is bad, it might not be serious, but you always go to the vet for blood.

Call back and ask for an emergency appointment.

Pets at home vets are open on Saturdays. I've used them for mine & been happy with them.

Most vets are open part of Saturday at least, but yes ones in pets at home are open all weekend...and if your vet doesn't give you an appointment for blood in his faeces I'd be looking for a new vet anyway.

400g is very small. If you are noticing blood id get him to the vets asap.