Littler than her brothers... should I worry?

Hey all --

Ms Friskers and her three little offspring are trucking right along -- the kittens are about a week and a half old now and all of them have their eyes open, and can escape from their box to go find mommy when she (frequently) leaves them alone for too long.

Here's my question: the little girl kitten is much, much littler than her brothers are, and doesn't get nearly as aggressive about nursing as they do. At this age, do I need to worry about her, or is she old enough now that we're past the critical "Oh god, she's not getting enough to eat" phase for the most part? I do have KMR, and I have been trying to get a couple eye-droppers full into each of the kittens once or twice a day, since Momma doesn't feed them quite as regularly as I think she ought to (sometimes leaves them alone for around 6 hours... the kittens often seem hungry when she returns to them). Should I be getting more than that into the little girl? Is there any way I'd know if she isn't getting enough nutrients, other than just being little (which I assume is not so abnormal given her siblings are all boys)?

In Sophie's litter I had the same problem with the only boy in the litter. He is about half the size of his siblings. I give him several extra meals a day and he seems to do very well. I only give him these extra meals when he asks for him and he does lol he cries and then climbs up my leg. I started with a bottle then moved on to canned cat food.

My Oreo was half the size of her Littermates and she had Fcks. She is now 7.5 Months and is as big as Sasha. Males are always bigger though. You can give her Kmr. They did not even know if my Oreo would live when she was about 10 days old. i am sure your Kitten will be ok.

In Scarlett's litter, her brother and sister were twice her size. As adults, Scarlett is just under 7 pounds. Her sister is the same size and her brother grew to a whopping 18 pounds. You can't always judge by their size when very young. But I was totally worried about Scarlett when she was a baby and I completely understand your concern. We watched her a lot closer than her siblings at the time.

I was a worrywort about Cuddles for awhile. He's always been smaller and still is, but he has always been active and nurses without any problem. He took over 3 weeks just to double his birth weight, but I finally stopped weighing them everyday. Regular weighing gave me a good indicator of whether they were gaining weight rather than losing. As long as they are putting on some weight, even if it doesn't seem like much, then they are improving and should be OK.
If your little girl is active and looks healthy, then her size should not be a problem.

Originally Posted by Beckiboo

Is there any way that you can shut the Momma cat in with the kittens, so she won't be away from them for so long? If she is at least shut in the same room, she will be sure to hear them when they cry.

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Oh, she's already shut in the room with them. And she definitely hears them cry. She just doesn't care that much. She sometimes will come over to me and act very concerned, but it's rare that she actually goes to THEM when they seem upset.

I bribe her in with them a few times a day, with KMR/treats/wet cat food, so they're getting nursed usually at least 4 times each day for sure, and she usually nurses them once or twice voluntarily. Luckily, if they get to her, they more or less overwhelm her and make her nurse them for at least a few minutes.

Honestly, they're probably all doing just fine. I just will feel a lot better when they start lapping KMR on their own so they can be a bit more self-sufficient, and I can worry less.