On holiday, found a tiny kitten.

[Sunshine2468]

We are in Croatia on holiday.
Went out today and came back to the house about 4.15pm to find a kitten in a bush. We haven't gone too close and we've been waiting for the mother to come back.
It looks about 2 weeks old and is meowing at regular intervals.
Does anyone know how long mother cats leave kittens? It's been 2 hours and it's getting dark.

What a worry. Do you have a travel rep / AirBnb host or hotel staff you can ask about a local rescue centre?

We are in a villa, I can message the owner.
It's cries are getting fainter and still no sign of mum cat.

If the kitten is alone and not even with siblings then the poor mite could have been separated, or even abandoned, by its mother.

As they're so young, they're unlikely to survive the night out in the cold. They'll either die from hypothermia or being preyed upon by another animal. Are you in a position to take him or her in for the night, and contact a vet for advice first thing in the morning?

They'll also need to eat every three to four hours, but cow's milk will make them poorly. Ideally they need specialist kitten formula for hand rearing but appreciate that won't be easy to get hold of. Perhaps you could try and find goat's milk to keep them going overnight? And try using a teaspoon for them to lap it up?

I sometimes think things like this happen for a reason. You were meant to find them please keep us updated?

Is there a cat rescue nearby? Or even put it on Twitter and see if a local can take it in...or can you take it?

I bet if you bring some water, she will drink it.

Last time I rescued an animal we bought a dropper from a pharmacy for pennies and started off by rehydrating it with water.

A decent supermarket will have either kitten milk or lactose free milk to keep the kitten alive overnight. Far from ideal but if it's going to die anyway then you may as well try.

Kitten Lady is so helpful:

www.kittenlady.org/kitten-care

If it's dark and crying and mum is still not back, I would definitely bring it in. Local vet?

It won’t survive the night outdoors so you have to bring it in at dusk. Use a cleaned pipette from a medicine bottle or even a syringe (sometimes provided with liquid paracetamol etc), feed it water and hopefully you can find some suitable milk or have a breastfeeding mother nearby.
Essential is to keep it warm - a gently warmed hot water bottle, covered in towel layers, as a heating pad. They cool down fast alone.

A mother will leave her kitten for up to 6-10 hours if she believes it to be safe. The fact it's alone is a concern BUT if it seems to understand it should stay put then it is expecting mum to return

Monitor. Do nothing for the time being

@AppleButter

It won’t survive the night outdoors so you have to bring it in at dusk. Use a cleaned pipette from a medicine bottle or even a syringe (sometimes provided with liquid paracetamol etc), feed it water and hopefully you can find some suitable milk or have a breastfeeding mother nearby. Essential is to keep it warm - a gently warmed hot water bottle, covered in towel layers, as a heating pad. They cool down fast alone.

This is not true. Most kittens are born outside. This is not a newborn

We have a kitten. Less than a week old.

Spoke to a neighbour who has a cat and helps local cats. She said it's strange to find a kitten by itself like that. She couldn't take it because her cat gets jealous, but she's given me the number for a local rescue.
We have goats milk and the calpol syringe. My dd (14) is holding kitten and letting it suckle her finger, I then syringe milk onto the finger. Seems to be working.
It's going to be a long night.

I should say, we didn't pick it up. The neighbour picked it up and said it happens sometimes round here.

Well done for rescuing this one.

I hate to break it to you, but I'm involved with a cat charity in a neighbouring country. It is likely it's mother was an owned cat, but the owners didn't want the kitten(s). So it was abandoned. Alive. It happens very frequently in the area. They don't want to kill the kitten themselves, but will leave it to starve. It's barbaric.

Sterilisation in the Balkan states is rare. If you can it's best to donate to a spay and neuter charity to help prevent this problem.

Thanks.

One of the charities got back to me and said this happens.
It was getting cold out there and it was out from the bush.
It's eating and seems to prefer my daughter.

DH messaged a vet friend who said to wipe its tummy and bum every few hours to stimulate pee and poo. I've done this but nothing happens. Anyone know if I should keep doing it and how long it takes for them to evacuate after it's done?

Also, should I keep feeding if it keeps suckling?

Do you know about stimulating it to wee, @Sunshine2468? Really important.

www.kittenlady.org/stimulating

Cross-posted, but you need a trustworthy how to guide and Kitten Lady is good. Linked above.

Wow. That worked. Got pee. It's eaten some more, burped and is now asleep on dd.

Photos! 😁

Aww thank you for rescuing it

Oh thank you so so so much for doing this on your holiday. You’re angels. 💐 Really hope little kitty does ok.

Thank you

Ahhh I’m so happy you rescued it!!

S/he is attached to dd's finger and snoozing. It's going to be a long night.

Should I continue feeding if it's still suckling? Or is it suckling to sleep? I have no idea.

Should I just keep feeding until it's full? Kitten lady doesn't say. It's had about 5-10ml.