Hi everyone

I foster for Cats Protection but I feel a bit out of my depth at the moment.

We picked up 3 foster kittens and the mum earlier this evening. They are supposed to be 9 weeks old according to the woman we got them from - she said that a pregnant cat had been dumped on her and now she couldn't cope with an extra four cats as well as the two she already had and 3 kids.

The two larger kittens weigh around 500g each - one just a bit more and one slightly less.

But the runt of the litter is tiny. It only weighs 197g and it's eyes haven't opened yet. They're not gummed up - just not opened. The lady we picked them up from said she had taken it to a vet who said it would be ok

I rang Cats Protection for advice and they just said to take the kittens to the vet, which of course I will do tomorrow.

In the meantime the mummy cat is scared to death and just hiding away. I've put the little kitten in a cat bed with a snugglesafe heat pad because it was shivering. But the mother doesn't seem to be going anywhere near and therefore not feeding it. I put some kitten food out and put the kitten near but it didn't seem interested.

Has anyone got any advice at all until I can get to the vet? Has anyone come across a kitten that still has it's eyes closed at this age?

197 at 9 weeks old??? that isnt right mine were 800 at 8 weeks old.

are you sure it isnt a kitten from a diff litter, eyes open at 1-2weeks and thats how much they weigh??

id shut mum & kits away on their own must be well stressful

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I know it isn't right. They are shut away in a spare bedroom. I've fostered before and I'd say at 9 weeks they should be about a kilo. I suspect that they aren't as old as I've been told. I've just tried the little one with some kitten milk in a syringe and it wolfed it down, but not sure how much I should give. Any more advice?

dont give kitten milk your have to buy some cimi-cat or what the vets have they sound about 5 weeks? and he sounds about 2 weeks old!!

directions and how much to feed are on the side, give him that for tonight but he needs to real stuff, isnt mum feeding? is she even the mum??

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Gemini, I have just read your post… as you’re probably getting ready to go off to the vet it’s quiet pointless me adding my tuppenceworth now. But that does sound VERY small indeed. Depending on how old they actually are I think the vet will advise you to force feed something high in calories like Hills AD.

Sometimes (often) with shelter kittens, weight is not at all a good indication of age, as these kittens can often be drastically underweight. I do hope they are around 5 or 6 weeks and not the 9 weeks the woman said they were.

Sometimes judging their coordination is often a better way of gauging age than weighing them. But it took me years to get a hang of this and it’s quite hard for me to describe what I mean. Basically if they can jump up onto a higher surface without wobbling off continually, or if they can chase a ball or mouse with some efficiency, or use their litter tray pretty well, then you start to get a better indicator of age.

if the vet recommends force-feeding…. And he says to do replacement milk as well as something like Hills AD…. I often find that instead of watering the Hills AD down with water to enable you to get it into the syringe…. That if you water it down with the replacement milk it kills a few birds with one stone.

1) watering down with the KMR is more nutritionally beneficial to the kitten than watering down with water – and since you must water down to be able to suck it up into the syringe, it seems to make a lot of sense to me.
2) force-feeding HIllsAD mixed with KMR is much easier than syringing in milk (and far less dangerous) because it is semi-solid the choking risk is less.

I prefer size 2.5 ml syringes for kittens this size… and nothing bigger than 5ml. And I would make sure if I you’re using 2.5 ml that you have around 6 syringes on hand so you can fill a load of them in advance. I can’t use bigger syringes with these very petite kittens.

Please let us know how you get on at the vet.

And all the very best with these poor wee things.

Thanks so much for your help. There is some good news.

Ok As I said earlier the mother was very stressed about being in a strange place and I think this was the reason she wasn't feeding them. Because when I went in at 3am they were all suckling from mum. What a relief that was.

This morning I went in to feed the mum and the other two kittens and put down their food bowls and the little one, who was on the heat pad came walking across (not really walking more waddling) and trying to eat. It is so small it couldn't really get the food from my shallow cat bowls. So I got a saucer and mashed a bit of food up and it ate!!

I rang the vet first thing but can't get an appointment until late afternoon, but feel much happier now I know he's eating and feeding from mum,a d I'm keeping a close eye on him (or her!)

But, I have been doing a bit of googling and now I am wondering if perhaps the kitten was born without eyes. He has little slits but when I look there doesn't seem to be anything in there I guess the vet will tell me.

Will keep you updated.

Oh geez Gemini…. I have no idea about the eyes.

Great news that mother cat is stepping up to the plate. Sometimes these things can be …. how can I say this…. if mother cats aren’t getting enough food to sustain all their kittens, then she will just reject (one by one or a few at one time ) of the kittens with the least chance of survival. It’s great when we can step in and reverse this process. (obviously though as I am sure you know fine well, sometimes they reject kittens for other reasons, but the main things is you have them all eating form mum again and that is BRILLIANT!).

And it sounds like even the smallest kitten is more or less weaned, which is also great news.

All the very best of luck of at the vets… if you get the time later do give us an update… (please!! )… some posts pull more are the heart strings than others… and I feel a certain amount of déjà vu with this mum and kits.

Can't add anything, but didn't want to read and run.

I hope the vet and the advice you've already gotten was helpful, and that you manage to pull the little one through.

Any news from the vets?

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Eyes not open and yet the kitten is eating solid food - something is very odd there. What did the vet say?

Liz