Newborn Weight Advice

Hi Guys,

Hopefully you can give me some advice on my recent newborns & their weights. I've had issues with kittens that are born small and don't gain weight properly before, and this time I'm trying to pre-empt & prevent and keep on track.

(K)'s Newborns Weights (Approx):
Birthdate: 7th May 2009 (11 days old)

These weights are from 17th May (10 days old)

Baby (A) 170 Grams
Baby (B) 180 Grams
Baby (C) 190 Grams
Baby (D) 195 Grams

(M)'s Newborns Weights (Approx):
Birthdate: 9th May 2009 (9 days old)

These weights are from the 17th May (8 days old)

Baby (A) 190 Grams
Baby (B) 200 Grams
Baby (C) 220 Grams
Baby (D) 250 Grams


I'm a bit concerned, because M's babies are 2 days younger, and 200 + grams weight gain on K's babies, they also seem to have a bit more energy than K, and seem to be maturing faster than K's. M is K's mother & K's siblings were similar at birth, so I'm not sure if it's just M's genetics and that although K is related maybe K just has smaller babies?

Keep in mind, that M is much bigger & longer than K, she's raised 7 babies before, she is the super mom, she often takes over for K and K's babies get extra milk from her as well, and warmth. K isn't much smaller than M, but she has less Teets than M does as M's body was designed for her original 7 babies, and having 4 (her last litter! she's getting de-sexed after this) is unusual to her as she's used to her 7.

M's babies are very active, M's largest opened it's eyes at about 5 days which is sort of unusually early as far as I know. K's babies are quieter, they're smaller, they're not boney, and they're a bit bigger than my palm. K is one of the biggest of her own siblings, her sisters are quite small. However, when one of her siblings had her babies 8 weeks ago, we lost 2, as they were underweight and failed to thrive - this is why I'm on a preventing mission and why I'm asking and keeping track.

So are the weights within normal averages for kittens of their ages? do you think I should be concerned for K's babies? should I take them to a vet & start supplementing? I don't think it's because of lack of Milk supply, because M & K are co-sharing responsibility, so there is plenty of milk to go around and the kittens are taking to both mothers. However, there might be a suckling issue?

The kittens look otherwise healthy, but when K first gave birth to them, she abandoned them all over the house as she freaked out being her first litter. I got home, to find kittens crying on the floor, behind the couch etc. So I caged her in with them for the night, and she gave birth to the fourth, which kicked in her mommy instincts, she is now fine with them, looking after them, and they have survived up to now but I'm not sure how long they were originally away from her (she did clean them up, the sacks, umbilical cords then just seemed to loose interest until the fourth was born whilst caged and settled.)

Any advice is appreciated.

It's hard to compare kittens from two different litters, or even two different kittens from the same litter. It would help if you could post birth weights and daily gains. That way we can see the pattern for each kitten. It's better to look at percentages rather than absolute numbers. For example: a kitten who is 90 gms at birth gains 9 gms, that's a 10% gain. A kitten who is 120 gms at birth gains 12 gms is obviously bigger, but that's still only a 10% gain.

that's the problem though, that was the first chance I had in which to weigh them, so I only have that as a starting point. I understand no two litters are alike, but I'm sure there's a minimum weight for certain age brackets and anything under which would be classed as underweight, and that's what I'm trying to make sure off, knwim?

As long as they gain a constant amout or more and are active they should be fine- as Goldycat said, try weighing them dailey