@ChaseandZahrasmom:

Robyn,

Do you have an update on the kitten? I loved the photos and was curious how she was doing.

The kitten has been here about a week and a half. I have to admit that raising this orphan kitten is totally different than I expected. I have raised a few litters of puppies (none orphans though) and by this age, puppies are nearly weaned and are quite playful. This kitten doesn't know how to play yet and I'm puzzled by the difficulty of weaning him. His teeth are mostly in but he has stubbornly refused all of my attempts at switching him to solid food. (Gerber meat baby food, canned kitten food, and moistened dry kitten food are all met with distaste.) He is very healthy and vigorous but he is awfully "runty" looking. Once he gets on a good solid food his growth rate should improve.

I moved him to a bigger crate today and put a large, flat metal food dish with a 1" lip in the crate to use as a litter box. Its heavy enough to not flip over and short enough for him to get into easily. Though he has shown no interest, I put a flat bowl of dry kitten food and a heavy crock "hamster" dish in his crate with water. I put a soft fake sheepskin pad in for him to lay on and a couple of toys for him to explore.

I let him run around the kitchen and living room a few times a day for exercise. He can run pretty good now and he follows my feet around the house. Oddly though he shows no curiousity towards exploring or playing with anything. Perhaps he is just too young yet? He has a mighty set of lungs on him! He is quite the talkative chap. No need to put a bell on him as I can hear him with every move he makes LOL! Since he has no siblings, I am allowing him to interact with my 3 adult cats. This is a slight risk but I figured that if he was diseased he would be showing signs or be dead by now and he appears to be quite healthy.

The kitten is very cute but I still plan to turn him over to a cat rescue group when he's old enough. Unless I find him a home before then that is.