Kittens won't suck from bottle!!! Help!!!

Ok, I just got 2 3day old kittens from a woman whose mama cat had pretty much abandoned the kittens. There were 4 and 2 died because of mama's neglect. So, now I have them and am caring for them.

I got them home about 45 minutes ago and prepared the first bottle. I got a PatAg bottle and cut a small "x" in the end and cleaned everything with boiling hot water. I then prepare the formula the tried to give it to the kittens. One of them tried to suck it, but it is so tiny and the nipple is so hard that it couldn't get any formula.

Well, I tried feeding them with a syringe, but I'm scared that I might give it to them to fast and "drown" them or something.

Can someone please tell me what to do.

Also, one weighs 2 ounces and the other weighs 2.4. Aren't the supposed to weigh a lot more then that?

yes they are very tiny, when kittens are born they normally weigh in at about 3-4 ounces. it could be 1 of 2 things.
1 they were prem babys and that might be why 2 have died and the mother was leaving them if she didnt think they had a fighting chance.
2 because the mother hasnt been feeding them they are lossing weight.

with the feeding, are the kittens nice and warm? a cold kitten wont eat. the milk needs to be warm like when you give a human baby a bottle.
also with the syringe let them take it at their own speed, just let out a drop at a time untill they/you feel more confident to let out anymore (you will know when)
iv never had any luck with bottles so i gave up on that idea, but others have had sucess, is there not a small teat you can try? if everything fails then a vet can tube them, but i dont know to much about this.
good luck i hope they grow into be lively healthy kittens.

Well, the bottle set I bought DID come with a long skinny nipple, but it's still kinda hard so I don't know if they'd have much luck sucking it, but maybe I should give it a try since it's skinnier.

The kittens were nice and warm cause the woman had put them in a box with a zip bag of warm water underneath them.

They seem kinda skinny, they definately don't have the nice plump bellies that normal kittens have.

I guess I'll stick with syringe feeding them till they are a bit stronger.

my prem baby couldnt suckle which is why i had to syringe feed sadly we lost him at 4 days old ( the rest of his litter died at birth), but we gave him a fighting chance.
sending you vibes that everything goes well. once there settled could we see some pictures?

Well, I have em in a little round bed that came with a ferret I got. It has a zippered middle section so filled a ziplock bag with hot water and slipped it in there, it's keeping them nice a warm. Thankfully I washed it last time I went to the laundry mat so it's nice and clean. Of course, I tossed a piece of fleece over it for extra comfort.

Well, here's a quick picture that I snapped of em. One is all black and the other is White with a black spot on it's head. I think they're boys, but I'm not for sure.



(excuse the orange poo on the kitten, lol, I keep trying to clean in off and it doesn't want to wash)

I'm going to take em to the vet tomorrow and ask if they can show me how to correctly feed them and also ask if they have a better bottle. My vet here is really nice and I'm sure they can help me out.

they are so cute and tiny. yea the vet will be the best person to show you , provideing his delt with feedin kittens this young ( one of my vets wasnt).
im glad they seem to be feeding a bit better with the syringe, i hope they contuine to improve.
your doing a great job with these little ones.

Well, on the kitten rescue site I found a section just for care of premies. It had lots of great info!

The kittens are already a LOT more energetic then they were when they got here! The are very active and keep trying to escape the bed I have them in, little buggers, lol. They meow every hour for food!

I guess I''ll be staying up with them tonight to make sure they get through the night ok. Then I can take them to the vet tomorrow and they can give me some more pointers. I can also get them vet checked(first visit is free ).