Hello there!
I've had my fair share of rescuing strays from the street, but this year was particularly eventful. I saved three puppies from the cold in the winter, and then I 'rescued' a kitten from some drunk guys in the summer. It was living in a pile of scrap metal in their backyard. They'd kicked it out, and the momma cat would go in to feed it. I had to sneak into their yard and grab the little guy before they noticed. Luckily, the guy was too drunk to care.
Meet the little guy I brought home. He fit in the palm of my hand.
The little guy was about a month old, give or take a few days. I'm pretty sure of that, since he was already meowing loudly. I'd take him out for walks multiple times a day, and even at night, I'd go around the block to make sure he was okay - I was too scared to go into the neighbors' yard, where the drunk guys lived.
I started introducing solid food pretty quickly, since you can start kittens on it from a month old. My vet recommended Probalance Kitten 1st Diet.
I started with a mix of beef and rabbit, but eventually just stuck with rabbit - it was a hit with the little guy.
Price: 27 rubles per packet. That's if I buy it at the pet store near my place. It's pricey, but I've found it's worth it. You can find cheaper options, but I've not seen this brand at the other pet stores I've checked out.
The food comes in familiar pouches, but the size is a bit off.
The distinctive pink color is a nice touch, and there are a lot of foreign-language labels that make me think, 'This must be good quality.' I guess I'm the only one who thinks that, but every time I buy a new food, I check the ingredients or ask my vet for advice.
There are a lot of meat chunks and not much gelatin in each packet. I really like that. The chunks are small, but for a month-old kitten, they're still a bit big. The first time, she took a while to figure them out.
I'm glad to report that there's no fillers in this cat food. I've had my fair share of dealing with cheap cat food that's just a bunch of fillers, and it's a nightmare to clean up.
Here are the ingredients: Chicken and chicken by-products, meat and meat by-products, fish and fish by-products, plant-based components, rabbit meat (min. 4%), animal-derived proteins, vitamin-mineral supplement, phytocomposition 'Fitocare'. Contains taurine.
Okay, so the rabbit meat is at the top of the list, which is a plus! Although, I was a bit disappointed with the amount of fish in the ingredients. My adult cat is super finicky about fish, and she always refuses to eat if she can smell it.
I followed a gradual transition plan for my one-month-old kitten. Alongside this food, I also gave her milk from a bottle.
Day 1 - 2 pieces. We observed her behavior and stool.
Day 2 - 2 pieces in the morning and evening.
Day 3 - 2 pieces three times a day.
Day 4 - 2 pieces in the morning and evening, and 3 pieces during the day.
Day 5 - 3 pieces three times a day.
I could go on and on about the transition plan because I really did introduce it gradually! But the logic is simple: we introduce small amounts, monitor her behavior and stool, and give her milk. If she's nursing, great! If not, you can always buy a cat milk replacer. It wasn't until her stool normalized (we had some issues initially due to stress, and for a couple of days, she wasn't pooping at all. And then there were some occasional issues), after a couple of weeks, that I started feeding her this food solidly. I'd divide a packet into three parts and give it to her throughout the day. By two months, I stopped giving her milk altogether, and she's been drinking water just fine. My vet told me to stop giving her milk.
Now let's take a look at how much she's grown... I've taken kittens before, but my friend's cat and my kitten are around the same age. I've never seen one grow this fast.
Here are some photos from her first week at home. She's just starting to try solid food, and her activity level has gone through the roof. She's even a bit more feisty than before...
I won't bore you with photos from week two and three... My kitten is 2 months old, and this little one is about 3 months.
My friend told me when she first saw the kitten, 'She's definitely longer than my kittens, but I guess that's because I have a giant Siberian at home.' I remember when I first brought the kitten home, I weighed her on my kitchen scale because she was so tiny. She weighed 350 grams. We were joking about how that was the weight of a mouse.
By the time she was 3 months old, she weighed 1.5 kg after her first vaccination. Now she's almost 4 months old, and she weighs 2.5 kg. After her second vaccination, the vet said, 'She's definitely growing fast.'
I recently sterilized her and we're figuring out the next step with her food. I'm planning to switch to dry food.This little face, unlike the previous strays we've found, we decided to keep. She's got attitude, and we were worried we'd end up getting rid of her. Initially, we posted an ad, but everyone who responded seemed sketchy... Then a couple came along, but they ended up backing out. A guy came alone, but he seemed too suspicious, so we nixed him. He even sent us a photo of his ID, but then he started messaging us from different accounts. We even found him on Yule, and he started posting there too. We were hesitant at first, but she won us over – what can you do? We ended up removing all the ads and breathed a sigh of relief – this little one is in good hands!
I highly recommend the food we're using. The kittens are putting on weight quickly, and there haven't been any issues with their stool.
Thanks for reading!