She's too thin!

I rescued a feral who's heavily pregnant...after many years looking and being kept by cats, this is the first time I'm in this position! She's due any day now and we are on baby watch...the problem is, she's too thin to the point of being only skin & bones and all our usual fattening up foods is Not working! It feels like she has more than 5 in there and I'm worried the kittens may die...

Here's my usual rescue gollop:

1 can kitten food
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp kmr mixed with 2 tblsp water
1 tblsp multivits (nutri gel)

This usually really makes them eat but it's not working with any brand of canned food!

Any one with yummy recipies that I can use for her???

Good Morning. Any babies as of yet? I have a Q for ya..., can you get her to the vet to see if she might have severe worms or something more serious like FLV? Is she drinking or using the litter box? I would personally try Cat Milk or KMR or goats milk (warmed) to help build her back up, tuna fish in water and chicken noodle soup (smush up the noodles). I know it probaly doesnt sound like nothing fancy but it seem to work for me when Boo was pregnant at times the smell of food made her weak in the paws lol. Good luck and let me know any news.

She lost 3 of six

The other 3 are hanging on...but the prognosis is not good... , she has no milk, handfeeding every 2 hours.

She's on a/d and kmr...not good enough but that's all she'll eat...

Any more suggestions for a rescue gollop???

Okay, proceeding to brainstorm.

Maybe if you gave her something really appetizing--tuna or something smelly--she'd get enough energy from it to be hungry for real food?

Meat-flavored baby food, with no onions, has been known to tempt kittens and cats who won't eat much.

Anything she'll eat... let her lick it off her paws if she has to. If she's really that skinny, getting anything at all into her is a good thing. Some cats like to lick butter off your finger; maybe she'll lick it off something... It's just pure grease, but calories are calories.

You can give her vitamins via a medicine dropper... does she take medicine at all well? How feral is she?

Will she drink KMR? Okay, so she's the mom, not the kitten, but nutrition is nutrition, and KMR is better than most things you could get into her. Maybe you could "sneak" things into the KMR, like that vitamin supplement, or some other nutritious thing?

A bit of scrambled egg... Maybe some cooked chicken, turkey, fish (watch for bones)... No spices; those'll just upset her stomach.

What is she used to eating? maybe something similar to that would be useful. Like if she was a feral living out behind a fish restaurant, maybe she'd like fish or french fries or something. Maybe that's all she knows...

Anyway, keep her environment as good as it can be--warmth, freedom from fleas and noise and as little stress as possible. Stressed cats may not eat, so you want her calm. Actually, you'd want her calm even if she were fat and healthy...

Anyhow, good luck on hand feeding those poor little kits... I bet she'd thank you, if she understood. She's probably feeling helpless with these little kittens depending on her, and her with no milk for them... lucky you're there to help out. I wonder if she thinks you're a "foster aunt", like when another cat helps a momcat raise babies?

Don't feel guilty over the loss of those three little ones... They had a bad start and little chance; but they spent their short lives warm and loved, and I think they knew they were loved. Cats have a way of knowing, even tiny little kits.

RIP little ones. A/d will be good for her, it is excellent for convalescing cats and has high levels of somethings, just forget what now - and very few cats resist it. Fingers crossed you can get her right - did the vet check her temp? Just wondering if there is something like a high temp or infection that is making her feel bad.

Aw, how very sad! I hope things are going better for you? I had one foster kitty who lost 3 of a litter of 5....one shortly after birth, and the other two after they were several weeks old, and seemed very healthy. The Momma (Sugartoes) had 3 litters in 6 months...I think she just didn't have anything left to provide for the babies. (This was also before I was weighing kittens...might have helped me catch things sooner....) Just wanted to let you know, that sometimes even when Momma nurses and feeds those babies, they just aren't strong enough...

Hope the other 3 are doing ok...bottle feeding is so difficult...you are wonderful to do this for them! Hope the skinny Momma is ok, too!

Originally Posted by Abymummy

She lost 3 of six

The other 3 are hanging on...but the prognosis is not good...

, she has no milk, handfeeding every 2 hours.

She's on a/d and kmr...not good enough but that's all she'll eat...

Any more suggestions for a rescue gollop???

Click to expand...

Aby...I'm truly sorry that mom lost 3 of her kittens....how are the rest doing??

Katie

When our cat Houdini was sick, I tried the canned tuna, mashed up, he would lick it up until he got real real real sick and wouldn't eat anything, I also tried canned cat food with gravy mashed up too.

I hope something works for you.

Try a little force feeding on mom. I know when my one rex has a stomach virus I had to shred chicken and force feed him. After a time or two of doing that, he started to nibble on his own and eat the chicken.

I'd try any kind of meat - chicken, hamburger (cooked or raw), tuna, salmon, just to get her to eat.

Maybe some chicken or beef baby food? I'm so sorry she lost some kittens... I hope she's doing better now. Keep us posted and post pics.

Edit: Just realized your post is a month old. I hope things are looking up for her by now.

Sorry all - I just realised that there were more replies after I stopped checking. I gave up trying to force feed her and sent her to my vet.

Sadly, after 7 days of hand feeding, all the kittens died.

Mom cat (never named) suffered terribly, after 3 days of IV fluids started eating well but also died 12 days after delivery at the vet's ...

I have never felt so helpless in my life. The vet said that she had too many parasites in and on her and she just didnt have enough red blood to keep her going and it was more than entirely possible that the kittens died of worms.

They are all in over the bridge, playing well.

Thanks all for your replies.

I'm sad to hear no one made it, but at least they are resting now. How wonderful of you to take them in and give them a fighting chance. I admire that deeply.

Play happily, kittens and momma...

Originally Posted by Abymummy

Sorry all - I just realised that there were more replies after I stopped checking. I gave up trying to force feed her and sent her to my vet.

Sadly, after 7 days of hand feeding, all the kittens died.

Mom cat (never named) suffered terribly, after 3 days of IV fluids started eating well but also died 12 days after delivery at the vet's ...

I have never felt so helpless in my life. The vet said that she had too many parasites in and on her and she just didnt have enough red blood to keep her going and it was more than entirely possible that the kittens died of worms.

They are all in over the bridge, playing well.

Thanks all for your replies.

Click to expand...

Abymummy...I am terribly sorry for the loss of all the kittens and mom. Just know that you really were her angel because without your intervention, she would have died outside alone and not knowing any love. I think the best way to honor her life is to keep caring for those outdoor cats that others would overlook.

Katie

Thank you both - it was one of those situations where you had to try and hope for the best...

On the flip side, a breeder friend of mine who was at his wits end with a five day old kitten who was being rejected by mom, asked me for help with the hand feeding...so, the baby came to me for help - I am very happy to say that the baby is doing fine, and in 3 days will be a month old!

I have a firm belief in the saying "God gives and God takes away" - there was a lesson to be learnt with the thin mom and that lesson benefitted another baby, so, at the moment, my life with cats are in balance, as it should be!

I am so sorry, but good on you for trying, and at least giving them a chance, not everyone would have done that. RIP little ones.

Originally Posted by Abymummy

Sorry all - I just realised that there were more replies after I stopped checking. I gave up trying to force feed her and sent her to my vet.

Sadly, after 7 days of hand feeding, all the kittens died.

Mom cat (never named) suffered terribly, after 3 days of IV fluids started eating well but also died 12 days after delivery at the vet's ...

I have never felt so helpless in my life. The vet said that she had too many parasites in and on her and she just didnt have enough red blood to keep her going and it was more than entirely possible that the kittens died of worms.

They are all in over the bridge, playing well.

Thanks all for your replies.

Click to expand...

I'm so very sorry to hear about your loss. I know it's disheartening, but let me tell you a story about a feral female I found at work a few years ago:

Someone at work noticed a scruffy white cat standing on her hind legs, and looking at me in the window behind my desk. We brought in a very dirty, starving, thirsty, and cold white cat. We fed and loved her for the rest of the day (we actually keep a cat emergency kit at work--we're all cat lovers!). She purred happily in her blanket-lined box, soaking up the attention (and food!). We made arrangements to take her to the vet that night--and we noticed her belly was big; some thought she could be pregnant. Well, she wasn't; it was a huge tumor, and she had to be put down that night. We all felt so bad; but my reasoning is that we gave that poor, stray, unloved cat a lot of food, water, warmth, and love in her last hours. If left outside, she certainly would have died a horrible, lonely death, especially in the sleet and cold of that particular night. So, please tell yourself that you did the same for your kitties, even though it's a horrible loss for you. They at least died knowing warmth and love, and I'm sure they were grateful. Sometimes, this is all you can do, be it an animal or a human There should be a special place in Heaven for people like you!

I'm now dealing with 3 FeLv kittens (out of a litter of 4) that we found as strays; sometimes I beat myself over the head with feeling stupid for taking them (and having huge vet bills last month and this month, which we can ill-afford); but, if we hadn't, they would've died a terrible death, never knowing a real home, nor love, so I don't regret it.


Bless you,

MargeCat