Hand/tube feeding kittens, ugg

[bunnybunbunb]

Our cat had 3 kittens, all was going great. Had all 3 alive and healthy and momma was doing great till about 5 days ago. She started looking thin and stopped eating but was still feeding the kittens once a day. After a bit I got her back eating and as soon as that happened she stopped feeding the kittens any! Well this is just GREAT! :XI force her through biting and scratching to feed them but they are so weak so I go to researching. Read for over an hour and found an "Emergency Kitten Milk Replacer" and force them(as easy as I can) to eat it every few hours and I fix a homemade incubator type thing. Momma will not even look at them and mom is so pissed off at her.

Today after looking at 5 diffrent places found a place with KMR. The little male kitten will not take any food as he is so weak, the bluegirl has an upset tummy from it and Monkey the other little girl is just so happy go lucky and is the only one that will eat solids already. They are 3 weeks old. I told mom it would have been so much easier if she had of abandoned them at the first, now they are so use to sucking from mom they do not want to take from me - except for Monkey- . The male has just gotton so bad I decided to take the leap and go for the last resort... tube feeding. It is quite easy to tell the truth even if you do not know how to do it. I knew how much I read about it again to freshen up on it. The thin boney male is now boney with a belly

Keep my little guys in mind, they need all the hope they can get! The only thing that has saved them is my knowledge -not trying to brag, just stating the truth- as everyone was trying to tell me to use cow milk and goat milk and baby formula and junk or just leave them that momma will feed them. Blah.

 

[Happi Bun]

Sending good vibes your way! :goodluck

 

[Becca]

Glad you know what to do! the kitties are in great hands!

Good luck

Becca

 

[bunnybunbunb]

All are doing good so far. The blue female is refusing to take the milk orally so we are now tube feeding both her and the male. I try giving them milk with the syring every night but they are not taking it properly. When the male is not being fed he is asleep in the homemade incubator, the blue girl isa little more moving but not a whole lot and Monkey is my wild child. She loves feed time, eats solids already - only a little - and loves to get out and move around. She is the one I have the most trouble with keeping in the warm part. I have to tuck them in so they can not get out but be able to breathe.

Each night I am making momma feed them, she HATES it. Tries to rip me a part. Last night Monkey and the male - surprisingly - sucked however the blue girl was to busy checking out Lady - my dog -and wouldn't suck.

 

[Dwarf_Angel04]

I wish you the best of luck with rasing the kittens. You are starting with them at a more save age with the exception of your ill one. :?It sounds like you are doing a good job so far.

I know exactly what it's like to raise a kitten. I have one in my house that we obtained when she was a day old. She was the only kitten alive in the litter and when the deceased ones were removed the mother went crazy wild trying to harm the kitten. So that's how she fell into our hands. Many vet bills and even more sleepless nights as it took an hour to feed/stimulate her and this needed done every 2 hours! At three weeks old they are good for every few hours and don't forget to stimulate them after every feeding. Q-Tips with warm water work best. At first, we were feeding the KMR that you find at Wal-Mart. However, when Ember had her first vet appointment at 8 days we changed to a formula that we got from the vets office. It's been about a year since all of this happened and I don't recall the brand. It was expensive but boy did Ember bloom much faster and she enjoyed the taste much more. She will be a year old on September 26th and is the size of the 5 month old kittens we have now, but she's healthy!

Sinceyour kittensare three weeks old, trygetting a very shallow dish and with supervisionsee if they will drinkon their own.Have patience, that's the biggest key when hand feeding any animal.

Amanda

 

[bunnybunbunb]

The little boy passed away yesterday morning. I fed at 8 AM and went back to feed about 4 hours later and he was dead. He was so weak but I was still hoping he would get better. He had had a bout of diahrrea and I believe that just took all hope out of him.

Monkey is having a little diahrrea however she went 3 days without pooping then pooped normal and now diahrrea so I think it is just from lack of pooping and now pooping. It looks to be shaping back up a bit so hopefully it will not hurt her physically. She is still very active and loves to play as well as she takes all her food orally which the boy didn't so I have hope.

The blue female will take a little food by mouth but barely any. She gets up and walks around and stuff but is on a weak side. She had diahrrea but it has stopped and been gone for a few days now. I am feeding both her and Monkey every 3 hours of the day and every4-5 or so hours of the night because the blue girl is weaker. I read every 6 hours is fine for 3-4 week old kittens but I do not feel safe with that.

 

[Leaf]

Im sorry this is happening for you.

I dont know if its a regional thing or not, but even Wal Mart carries KMR here. If you can get your hands on goats milk you'll be 100X better off though.


I've hand raised several litters of kittens and puppies over the years for the pound and humane societies I work for (I'll never understand why people dont s/n their animals to avoid heartbreak like this) and currently have a new litter of abandoned 3 week old pups.

I'm bottle feeding them to an extent but I'm also making mash for them to eat. Since I was unprepared for them yesterday and havent gone shopping yet (I will this morning) I'm using some science diet puppy food, egg, water and bread to make their secondary food source.

I put the kibble, warm water , one egg and a piece of bread into the blender and grind it down almost to a puree. Served warm (never feed cool/cold to a baby) on a large plate the puppies quickly learn to suck the "baby food" up. I keep the plate pretty "deep" with the food so the babies can lap/suck at the food until they have teeth enough to start chewing.

Its best if you put a towel down under the plate because babies tend to stretch and push towards the food source so they need a grip on the floor - and of course the most exuberant will end up in the plate itself. Them getting dirty though isnt bad because the warm washcloth bath they get after feedings help stimulate and regulate their potty needs.

I always blend up too much food at once but I just stick the extra in the fridge until next time and if it gets too thick I add a bit of warm water to the portion I'll be using at the next feeding before I microwave it. You just have to make sure you dont water out all the nutrients.

Never leave the uneaten portion out - it can be too cool for them to eat and can thicken up, which could cause some problems.. but giving them an alternant feeding source along with the bottle always seems to go over very well here and is honestly one of my favorite method choices.

I'll have to dredge up the pics of the 7 Lab pups I hand raised from 8 days old... My favorite is now a certified SAR dog. I am SO proud of him even though it was heartbreaking to hand him over to a different handler.

I know I just described a lot of puppy stuff, but the same can be done for the kittens

 

[bunnybunbunb]

The little boy died however the other two are pretty good. Monkey is very wild when it comes to eating and yesterday sucked some into her lungs,I worked for ever getting it out. She is growing at a steady pace however Tangey(the blue girl) is stunted at 6 ounces at the moment. She keeps having on/off diarrhea. I dilute the milk and it goes away for a bit and then comes back. She still will not orally feed so i am still tube feeding her. Every meal time I tried to feed her through the mouth with no luck.

Monkey is right on schedual to do what she should such as having her teeth, eating solids, being well... a monkey while the Tangey is JUST getting her teeth(Monkey got hers at 2 weeks), will not eat anything and is very shy and more sit still. I am still worried about Tangey because of the diarrhea but I'm doing all you can do to fix it.