Worried About Kalli

So right now after having 7 babies, kalli is really skinny. She is much skinnier than when she got pregnnat, so the babies totally made her relaly skinny. Shes skin and bones, and milk, and I had noidea of this during the pregnancy of course, becuase her belly was hiding her skinniyness. So what is agood way to help her gain some weight. I really think that she needs too. For her sake and the babies.

feed her some good kitten food, as much as she wants, and wet food, and make sure she has access to plenty of fresh water. you can try something like NutriCal if you feel she is not gaining enough.

My foster was super skinny after giving birth. almost 3 weeks later she still is, but eats like a horse, so i know its mosty going to milk production. once your Kalli stops nursing, she will prob return to her previous weight

Shes eating chicken soup for the kitten lovers soul food. Which she doesnt really like, she really prefers sneaking into another part of the house and getting dog food. She thinks that the dogs food tastes better, and the dogs think that he food tastes better . She absolutely refuses to eat wet food at all. I"ve been giving her cooked chicken for protein. And I refill her water every 2 or so hours. And I've been giving her KMR.
Where can i get nurtrical? I cant really get much for my cats that doesnt get sold at wal-mart. I would have to drive hours to get anything thats not sold there.

Smudge is very skinny since she had her babies 4 weeks ago but she is slowly gaining weight and she eats loads. I'm sure Kalli will be fine

Thanks, Ihope that she starts gaining weight.
What do you guys think about bottlie feeding the kittens? Helping them along a bit since she had a big litter, like not full time, and probably just the two smaller ones... Maybe just onece a day a piece. I wouldnt start untill I come back next saturday. So i'm just gonan have my mom moniter them for me... I just want to make sure that everyone gets their fair share of milk, since alot of times the big fat ones push the otherones out of the way..

you should be able to ge the NurtiCal online. here's the link for it @ petsmart.com

http://www.petsmart.com/global/produ...t=nutrical&N=2

Okay I think I might try some of that stuff thanks, lets hope she gains weight though... How much should a cat weigh, becuase i think my chickens weigh more than her?

depends on the breed. but the average is 5-10 lbs for a female domestic. one of the strays hanging around here has been around for about 2 years, from a kitten, and she weighs abot 5 lbs. Prue weighs about 8-10lbs.

Our local pet stores sell the nutri-cal, and most vets have it as well.

Yes some of my rexes got a little skinny after babies and nursing. I just made sure they had free feeding of kitten food and some extra hamburger or chicken to help fill them up.

Thanks, Ihope that she starts gaining weight.
What do you guys think about bottlie feeding the kittens? Helping them along a bit since she had a big litter, like not full time, and probably just the two smaller ones... Maybe just onece a day a piece. I wouldnt start untill I come back next saturday. So i'm just gonan have my mom moniter them for me... I just want to make sure that everyone gets their fair share of milk, since alot of times the big fat ones push the otherones out of the way..

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Well there are different things to consider. My cat is only 2.5 pounds and was always in heat, I couldnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t breed her because being that underweight is hard on her body and maybe hard on her babies. If hse is under 4 pounds I would suggest you spay her so she doesnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t have another little, it could cause her to lose weight rather than gain. Some breeders refuse to spay their cats even when they have a bit of a problem, and that causes huge distress on the cat. But if you care about your cat that wouldnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t be an issue.

The cat will only produce the amount of milk the kittens are drinking, so if you help feed the kittens, then they are fuller and will not drink as much from mom, so mom will produce even less milk. So if you were going to bottle feed them you would have to continue until they were 8 weeks old. But when they drink their mothers natural milk they also get her antibodies, which you cannot give the kittens.

It's completely natural for the momma cat to be skinny after giving birth. She's not starving, thus she is not suffering, she is merely a good milker, which is what you want! Jenny had 3 babies (she now has 2, we gave 1 away) and 9 weeks later she is still exceptionally skinny. There's not much to her anyway but skin, bones and hair, but now she's alot skinnier. We just feed all the mommas and all the kittens about 2 cups of food in the morning before we let the dogs out. It's better to feed her kitten food than normal, because kitten food is packed with more nutrients.

Just makes sure Kalli has a steady supply of dry food, preferrably kitten formula, and lots of water. Keep feeding her KMR. You don't need to worry too much about her, it's normal. She'll gain weight once the kittens are partially weaned on kitten food; she's just being a good momma!

Well there are different things to consider. My cat is only 2.5 pounds and was always in heat, I couldn’t breed her because being that underweight is hard on her body and maybe hard on her babies. If hse is under 4 pounds I would suggest you spay her so she doesn’t have another little, it could cause her to lose weight rather than gain. Some breeders refuse to spay their cats even when they have a bit of a problem, and that causes huge distress on the cat. But if you care about your cat that wouldn’t be an issue.

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Of course I was planning on spaying her, shes just a barn cat, not a breeder or anything.

The cat will only produce the amount of milk the kittens are drinking, so if you help feed the kittens, then they are fuller and will not drink as much from mom, so mom will produce even less milk. So if you were going to bottle feed them you would have to continue until they were 8 weeks old. But when they drink their mothers natural milk they also get her antibodies, which you cannot give the kittens.

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Okay, I understand that now, but I wasnt planning on feeding all of them, just the two runts (baby 3&7) for maybe one meal a day. They would still be eating from their momma for the rest of the time. Would that make all that much of a difference? I would just want to do this, so I know that thy would begetting feed a solid meal, once a day, without getting bumped off.

Thanks everyone, it just makes me nervous when any animal of mine is skinny. Every other one i have is normal weigh size or overweight

Mushy was very skinny before, only about 7lbs, and she is still very skinny. I worry about her because she only wants to eat wet food and no dry food. I'm sure she'll be fine as long as you see that she's eating.

Let the 2 runts nurse like normal and then supplement right after that.
It's a win-win situation - they nurse to stimulate the mother to produce more milk and they get the antibodies, but the supplement will give them extra calories that they need. You may want to do this twice a day - a smaller amount so they will still nurse like the others.

Let the 2 runts nurse like normal and then supplement right after that.
It's a win-win situation - they nurse to stimulate the mother to produce more milk and they get the antibodies, but the supplement will give them extra calories that they need. You may want to do this twice a day - a smaller amount so they will still nurse like the others.

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Thankyou, I think I will try that, and I will let you know how it goes.

Okay, I understand that now, but I wasnt planning on feeding all of them, just the two runts (baby 3&7) for maybe one meal a day. They would still be eating from their momma for the rest of the time. Would that make all that much of a difference? I would just want to do this, so I know that thy would begetting feed a solid meal, once a day, without getting bumped off.

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Another thing to consider is especially if they are runts, is they may not be able to take in anything other then moms milk. Do not raise kittens simply because you feel sorry for them, their bodies cannot take any artificial foods other then the natural milk. To prevent stressing their systems, you first feed them glucose solution (they cannot store glucose for long and burn it up at a tremendous rate) and then diluted milk solution. But only if you have no choice. I just learnt this from the vet. You can check if they are getting milk but checking if they are dehydrated. Pinch the skin and if it sticks up they are, and if they are dehydrated, and if you feed them glucose solution they are more then likely not going to take it since their bodies will be shutting down. And they could also drown. The best thing to do is put a heating pad in the bed to warm them up so they have the energy to get moms milk. Another thing you can do is take out the bigger kittens out and let the runts eat and sleep and then put the hogs back in. you give the runts a chance to get milk. make sure mom gets lots of liquid. And you can also massage moms teat so to stimulate the milk. And last get a food scale and weight them each day to see if they are feeding. I just had the same thing happen, and I learnt all this good stuff from my vet and it seems to be working, however we were too late and the kittens died except one.We first tried to do what you are doing and hand feed, but it was too late, only when I leant all this stuff from the vet how to get mom to feed were we able to save one.

let me know what happens, you are more lucky because ours were 3 week early, so even though they are runts they should be strong enough.