Hi.

Our cat gave birth to 4 kittens 3 days ago.

We had been toldby friends not to touch themand leave them alone...
We really wanted to pick them up and check them over etc so looked on the internet for advice and found out it was ok to hold them and is encouraged to do so.
So we picked them up one by one, checked them over and weighed them...
3 of the kittens are between 170grams and 180grams
The smaller one is only 147grams
We watched them and noticed the small one gets pushed out of the way by the other 3 kittens when they are all fighting to feed.
We have been making sure ther kitten is feeding now by stopping the other kittens from pushing it off.
we move the other kittens onto other nipples.
I did this twice today and the kitten fed well, but this afternoon the kitten dosnt want to feed. is this ok?
or should we get some formular and a nursing bottle and feed it ourselves?
The kitten is lively enough and if it dosnt want you to keep trying to get it to feed it crys out. and trys to get away from you.
Im guessing its the runt of the litter?

Any hints or tips are greatly recieved!

Thankyou.

147g is still a reasonable weight for the little one. They don't need to feed all of the time and it may just have been full at the time. Keep an eye on it and make sure that it gets its share of milk by weighing daily at around the same time. Look for an increase of 10g a day roughly. You can keep a check on the others too the same way.

__________________

How we behave toward cats here below determines our status in heaven. - Robert A. Heinlein
http://www.lambchopsiamese.webs.com

Thankyou for your quick reply.

We have just weighed the little one and one of the other ones.
the little one has lost 5 grams since lastnight and the bigger one has put 15 grams on.

Shall i take it to the vets?

or

Do i carry on putting it to the nipple.

or

Buy some formular and nursing seringe and feed it by hand?

If you are confident in hand feeding a newborn kitten then you could top up its feeds. It isn't that easy and you really need someone to show you how. Your vet may be able to help there. Keep trying the kitten on the nipples - the ones lower down the stomach always seem to have more milk in my experience.

__________________

How we behave toward cats here below determines our status in heaven. - Robert A. Heinlein
http://www.lambchopsiamese.webs.com

Thankyou.

Im going to get some formular now and i will see how it goes.

I will search youtube for any videos of how to do it.

woah...nooo!! you need someone to SHOW you how to do it, NOT videos on youtube you can drown a kitten in minutes if this is down wrong.

Are you weighing them daily at the same time? Its very normal for kittens to gain and even lose, so dont jump into hand rearing!!

Weigh him again the same time tom and see what his weight is then, once the others are finished move them out of the way (still with mum) and place him on the nipples and let him feed, or do it in 2 / 2 for a hour so he has the pick.

They CAN be handled from birth only if you have a good bond with the mum, was the litter planned? researched? registered cats health tests done etc?

Even if he gains 7gs Thats good it doesnt have to be 10grams on a day, see what he gains tom then he may just need topping up, id also top up the big ones it may fill them up more so he gets more of mums milk.

but for the love of god call a foster pet worker and ask them to come to your house or the vet and how to feed, dont follow videos!!!

__________________

Okay. Thank you i get your point...

We have bought a nursing bottle not a seringe sorry.
So the kitten will be sucling the teat of the nursing bottle like the mommy cats nipple. also we will weigh out the right amount of formular and devide it up into 6 servings.

Thankyou for the help and advice.

We will be very carefull.

We tried to get the kitten to suckle on the teat with no success. we will carry on doing what we have been doing since yesterday and seek a vets advice tomorrow if theres no change.

thankyou again.

awww i hope you manage to succeed. i got what i thought was an 8 wk old kitten, to discover she was only 5! i was besides myself with worry, so i can imagine how much you must be worrying.

at least you are caring enough to want to try and help mum and kittens - my kittens mum wasn't as fortunate and had her babies sold before she was done nurturing them and teaching them the basics.

best of luck

__________________

Hows the fluffy one getting on? Best wishes ;x