48 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Mostly good guide, January 4, 2002
This review is from: Hand-Raising the Orphaned Kitten (Paperback)
I have hand-raised over 100 orphaned kittens over the last seven years for the humane society where I volunteer, and am the former manager of it's temporary home care program where we care for an average of 300 orphaned kittens every year. I like some parts of this book very much but I can only recommend it with reservation. Especially good is the information on: 1) bedding materials (I liked her admonition that you want to keep the kittens warm, "not cook them"); 2) how to feed kittens from a bottle; 3) commercial and home-made milk substitutes; 4) kitten illnesses and disorders; 5) early spay-neuter of young kittens; 6) zoonosis (ie, the diseases and parasites cats and humans can transmit to each other); and 7) the terrible problem of cat overpopulation that exists today.
The parts I find troubling begin with the author's suggestion that someone with orphaned kittens first attempt to find a mother cat to care for them. Dr Papurt is concerned about diseases or parasites the stepmother might pass to the kittens but doesn't mention the fact that you may be putting the mom cat at risk for contamination by the kittens, especially if you found or were given the kittens and don't know anything about their medical history. I speak from experience -- after several success stories of adding orphans to the litters of other mother cats, I gave three orphans to a four year-old mom with one kitten of her own. We knew the history of the mother cat -- she had been an inside cat, she and her kitten had been given up for adoption after their owner died. But we knew nothing about the orphaned kittens who had been found on a farm. Within two weeks, all of the animals were dead of feline panleukopenia, spread from the orphans to the mom cat and her kitten.
The biggest problem I have with the book, however, is Dr Papurt's suggestion that kittens be separated from the time they are born until they are weaned six or seven weeks later. Her reasoning for this is that unless they are kept isolated from one another, infant kittens will chew or suck on each other's ears, tails, paws or genitals. In my experience, not only is this reaction very rare, but of the nine or ten cases I've seen of this behavior, all but two were directly attributable to the kittens being underfed (the isolated cases were two "neurotic" kittens that continued this behavior through the time they were adopted at the age of four months). I think baby kittens need to be together, they keep each other warm and they enhance each other's sense of safety and well-being. A kitten that feels isolated or abandoned will rapidly become unhappy and agitated, crying loudly for it's mother. Furthermore, older kittens must have contact with their littermates in order to become properly socialized with other cats plus they need to play with each other in order to develop motor skills.
I also found Dr Papurt's suggestion that you can mark the kittens with "ink, paint or nail polish" or cut their hair in various patterns after they are weaned and put with their siblings in order to tell them apart to be just plain bizarre. It can be difficult to tell infant all-black or all-white kittens apart but after a few weeks, differences in size, demeanor and face are usually apparent, as is the sex of the kitten. (...)
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Saved By the Book!, December 2, 2001
This review is from: Hand-Raising the Orphaned Kitten (Paperback)
As a foster mom in a local humane society, I took in a small, scrawny, crippled and very pregnant kitty. She hardly looked old enough to be out of kittenhood, herself. When her eight (yes, eight!) kittens were born, I knew I would have to watch closely in order to save them all. One gray tabby lay on his side, quiet and cool to the touch. I grabbed "Hand Raising the Orphaned Kitten" and quickly learned that the kitten needed a sucrose solution immediately. Reacting as quickly as possible, I mixed a solution of water and white syrup in a glass and gently fed it to the kitten with an eye dropper. Within half an hour, the kitten was less dehydrated and had higher blood sugar. Soon he began to search for his mother, strong enough now to compete for a place at the dinner table. Two months later, little Julius and his seven siblings are alive and thriving, thanks to the valuable information contained in this book. The text is simply written, understandable to the layman and easily applied. Even though Julius and his siblings were not completely hand raised, I supplemented their nursing with bottle feedings for six weeks, according to careful instructions in this book. I am certain Julius would not have survived if I had not read the information in M. L. Papurt's wonderful book!
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
very helpful book, January 20, 2003
A Kid's Review
This review is from: Hand-Raising the Orphaned Kitten (Paperback)
My mother and I have really enjoyed the book. We've gone back to it many times. It gave us lots of good advice for fostering kittens for our local Humane Society. It doesn't cover everything, but it gives the basics to begin. When kittens get sick, you need more information than the book says, but it's on the Internet.
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