Читать книгу The Cat Handbook - Karen Leigh Davis - Страница 30

If the cat you find is ill or malnourished, your veterinarian can recommend an appropriate treatment plan. If the stray appears to have a potentially contagious respiratory illness, you may want to consider boarding him at the clinic until he recovers, rather than risk exposing your other cats at home. This will also allow time for all of the necessary test results to come back.

If you’ve found an abandoned kitten, chances are he may be dehydrated and will require fluid replacement. If the kitten was orphaned at a young age and is weak from malnutrition and neglect, you may be in for a siege of round-the-clock feedings every few hours, as instructed by your veterinarian. Newborns must be fed every two or three hours, and because they cannot yet eliminate on their own, you will need to stimulate the anal area with a warm, moist washcloth after feeding. Normally, the mother cat performs this duty by licking her youngsters’ bottoms with her rough, wet tongue. By about four weeks of age, kittens can control their own elimination. At that time, they also can begin experimenting with soft, solid foods (see page 76). Whatever the circumstances, your veterinarian can recommend an appropriate formula and feeding schedule.

The outcome of such rescues is always unpredictable, and sometimes downright sad, but the rewards can be potentially great, as the survivors often seem to comprehend their predicament. Eternally grateful to their human benefactors, these rescued cats often turn out to be the most devoted and loving companions of all.