Welcome to General Chat - GAW Community Area
This General Chat area started off as a place for people to talk about things that are off topic, however it has quickly evolved into a community and has become an integral part of the GAW experience for many of us.
Based on its evolving needs and plenty of user feedback, we are trying to bring some order and institute some rules. Please make sure you read these rules and participate in the spirit of this community.
Rules for General Chat
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Be respectful to each other. This is of utmost importance, and comments may be removed if deemed not respectful.
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Avoid long drawn out arguments. This should be a place to relax, not to waste your time needlessly.
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Personal anecdotes, puzzles, cute pics/clips - everything welcome
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Please do not spam at the top level. If you have a lot to post each day, try and post them all together in one top level comment
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Try keep things light. If you are bringing in deep stuff, try not to go overboard.
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Things that are clearly on-topic for this board should be posted as a separate post and not here (except if you are new and still getting the feel of this place)
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If you find people violating these rules, deport them rather than start a argument here.
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Feel free to give feedback as these rules are expected to keep evoloving
In short, imagine this thread to be a local community hall where we all gather and chat daily. Please be respectful to others in the same way
Anybody know anything about taking care of orphaned kittens? A coworker of my husband found a couple of brand new kittens (I'm talking umbilical cord dry but firmly intact, eyes and ears sealed shut) in the back of his truck on Monday and my husband volunteered us to foster them. I think they're doing okay, they've made it through two nights and are consistently gaining weight (they've put on about 15 grams each since we got them home Monday evening), but I have no idea how to be sure; the interwebs isn't as helpful as one might think, and I don't have the cash for a vet visit at the moment. We have them in a box with a heating pad under their blanket, they're eating about every 2 hours (and they are starting to let us know exactly when it's feeding time instead of us having to wake them up to eat), and they seem comfortable. All that sounds promising, right?
There are milk replacements for newborn animals, this is important, cows milk is not suitable, but evaporated milk diluted with water will do, but its not ideal. Goats milk is a universal milk. You have to wipe there little bottoms with a moist cotton ball, as their mother would, to make them go pee and a little poo, they will not push it out on their own yet, and backing up urine or poo will do them in. If all you have is evaporated milk mixed with water, it won't kill them, but makes it hard for them to digest. The hardest part is keeping up with the feeding, it can be exhausting. I raised one like this, she lived to be 19! I would put her in my shirt pocket to keep her with me so she felt close to a living thing, so important, but if they have each other, that is better. If you see parasites on them, (fleas) you have to pick them off with a fine tooth comb, they are way too young to put anything on them for flea control. In about 10-15 days, there eyes will open, feed them from an eye dropper, its the easiet, and go slow, try not to feed them on their back as it can aspirate them. God Bless you and them, your kindness and gentleness is seen by HIM , the best of a human can be shown by how we treat each other and all of the "littles".
Thank you! I have been feeding them kitten milk replacement, I was able to pick that up before my husband brought them home the other day, and we have been wiping their little hineys to make them pee and poop. That's really awesome that your hand raised kitty lived so long! I've been afraid that if we did manage to help them live, they wouldn't be very healthy since they didn't have much (if any) mama milk, so that makes me feel a lot better. It sounds like we're on the right track, so I'll just keep on keeping on!
I didn't have Mama milk 😭
I am also the shortest one in the family 😭
Feels bad 😿
They will probably be cool cats then 🎷🐱
You can use meyenburg powdered goats milk to substitute fresh. It's very good.
Not to be all Capt obvious but...you need a buck and a doe to kick start milk production....see, when a buck loves a doe...
You haven't lived until you've witnessed the distinct smell of buck musk... and know firsthand what the term "cabrone" really means (stinky horny goat with tongue hanging out)...bucks pee on their beards... apparently the does dig it.
This has been a public service announcement.