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Week old kitten troubles.

post #1 of 6
11/21/09 at 1:23pm
Thread Starter 
My cat had 5 kittens last week. 3 died and so now it's 2 left. One kitten is an nice size and the other is skinny and weak. When I had picked it up it was really cold and was breathing really light. I warmed it up and kept pets it and it start moving around again and meowing. We thought the mother had abandon it so we bought some kitten milk and bottle from the store. We are having trouble putting an hole in the bottle since it won't stay open and we tried using an dropper for the mouth but it won't go near it.


I really don't want to lose this kitten since it's only 2 left and the vet is closed. How can I get it to drink the kitten nursing milk?


Any advice?

thanks plz


Update: the mother came and picked it up, but it won't suck from her nipple
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post #2 of 6
11/21/09 at 2:23pm
Unfortunately some kittens are just too weak to nurse and as much as you would hate to lose this one, it probably will happen. I don't like sounding negative, but I've learned that in most every case, its not a good idea to keep trying to save a kitten that will end up having a lot of medical problems.

IMO mother nature knows best. If you can't get the kitten to nurse, then you will have to feed it by a syringe or feeding tube and that is VERY tricky because most people wind up put the tube down the lungs and not the stomach, which, of course, will kill the kitten.
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post #3 of 6
11/21/09 at 3:24pm
It may be it is an upphill struggle, but it is surely worth fighting.

the site http://www.kitten-rescue.com/ should be useful for you if it isnt too late. It is our forumist and veteran rescuer Hissy who stands behind it.


Good luck!
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post #4 of 6
11/23/09 at 9:19pm
Keep putting a little milk at a time in the kitten's mouth--it will swallow some, and hopefully it'll learn in time.
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post #5 of 6
11/24/09 at 12:09pm
This is the hard part when fostering moms with kits. It's the circle of life.. Some are meant to go and some are meant to live. Sadly, it sounds to me like your little one is too weak to nurse. Mother cat knows this and won't waste her milk on ailing kittens.

There's really not much you can do without severe risk of drowning the kitten with milk because as said before, trying to use a feeding tube is very risky. The vet is better equipped to do this. You could try an eye dropper, one drop at a time and pray it gets the idea. You can also try rubbing a small amount of syrup on it's gums to give it more energy, the sugar from the syrup gets absorbed into the system faster as opposed to making it swallow it.

My first foster gave birth to 3 kittens.. I lost two.. It was a very traumatic experience that I hope not to have happen again. But, I learned a lot from it. Good luck to you and your kitten.. You're a good person for trying hard to save it.

Here are some to pull you through this.
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post #6 of 6
11/25/09 at 12:20pm
How is it going? please, keep us updated!



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