One kitten smaller and not gaining - advice please!!

Maisie's kittens have all gained weight since bith but the Bonnie the little black one hasn't gained the last 2 days and i am getting worried.

Weights are:

1) Daisy - Birth: 100g, today (6 days old):135g
2) Archie - Birth: 115g, today : 150g
3) Jasmine - Birth 105g, today : 145g
4) Mollie - Birth 90g, today: 145g
5) Bonnie (the black one) - Birth 100g, today: 120g (same as last 2 days)
6) Poppy - Birth 100g, today 145g

As you can see she's now lagging behind everyone else. She wasn't the smallest at birth. She does seem to get knocked out of the way sometimes when they are feeding so i have been giving her extra feeds of cimicat. But while the others latch onto the syringe fine, she whinges and wriggles and only sucks a bit. Do you think there's something wrong with her? Is there anything different or better i can do?

Thanks!

i hope you get some advice soon. i know what i checked for with my one was to see if she had a cleft pallet or something because i have seen this in kittens and puppys which is why they would be suckling but wasnt actually getting any milk into there systems. but so far mine seem to be ok again.

yeah i had a look for that, but all looks normal, and i thin a cleft palate would be quite noticeable? I don't know. I really hope she perks up anyway. I just gave her another feed, she drank a bit more easily this time. Hopefully she'll put weight on again for tomorrow!

Some kittens are slower to gain weight - is mom taking care of Bonnie or is she ignoring her?

What you can do is switch the kittens around - for example, give Archie 1 minute at the nipple, then take him away and ensure that Bonnie gets a FULL minute of suckling, then switch her around with the next biggest and so on.

Otherwise, you will have to continue supplementing her more than the others. Ask your vet if you can learn how to tube feed. Be warned though that tube feeding is only recommended only when absolutely necessary.

Good luck!

She doesn't ignore her as such, shes not getting pushed out by mum, but she is pushed off by the bigger kittens. I never knew such tiny kittens could be so rough!!! I keep trying to put her on a nipple and removing the biggest 3 for a few mins so she has a good chance. I just find it so hard to get her to actually latch on. She does some of the time though. I have been feeding her 4 times a day with cimicat but nothing overnight. I didn't want to take over her feeding completely, should i be doing more though? She was the hardest one to get to feed on mum after being hand-fed the first day.

If she is suckling off mom, then your four supplemental feeds are fine. You sound as if you're doing all the right things No weight gain is actually better then weight LOSS.

Just keep checking her to ensure she latches on, and if necessary shove the nipple in her face so that she can find it easily!

You're doing fine...hopefully Kumbulu will come on soon with better advise.

Thank you, that makes me feel a bit better. It is just scary the first time u have kittens!! Plus i am a natural born worrier anyway!! Thanks for the advice