I have a question about the lactating queen. I lost a kitten yesterday that was very small and stayed very small despite efforts to give it more time with mom and the fact that I saw it nursing as much as the other kittens. Now I'm overly cautious about this because although I think something was genetically wrong with that kitten, I don't want anything to happen to the rest of the litter. I took pictures of them yesterday and showed a friend and she thinks one is a bit on the thin side. So now I'm worried that I might need to supplement them. I have a kitten bottle and goat's milk from trying to save the other kitten. I could supplement a little with that.
The kittens are 5 days old today and to me they've grown a lot (I'm not weighing them). There were 6 in the litter but we lost one yesterday so there are 5 left. I've kept my cat on kitten food although this food is upsetting her stomach and I am switching her to a sensitive stomach food today (slowly) because of the diarrhea she gets. I think it's the barley in the Blue Buffalo kitten food and will put her on a food with no wheat. I've tried feeding a high quality wet food and she threw up and had horrible diarrhea. She likes the food, it just doesn't sit well with her stomach. I don't know how to tell if a queen has enough milk or not. I've tried expressing milk and get nothing but the kittens are larger and are satisfied enough to be sleeping and then eating in regular time frames. This is my first and LAST time going through this so I'm just wanting to do the right thing and definitely not lose another kitten.
The kittens are 5 days old today and to me they've grown a lot (I'm not weighing them). There were 6 in the litter but we lost one yesterday so there are 5 left. I've kept my cat on kitten food although this food is upsetting her stomach and I am switching her to a sensitive stomach food today (slowly) because of the diarrhea she gets. I think it's the barley in the Blue Buffalo kitten food and will put her on a food with no wheat. I've tried feeding a high quality wet food and she threw up and had horrible diarrhea. She likes the food, it just doesn't sit well with her stomach. I don't know how to tell if a queen has enough milk or not. I've tried expressing milk and get nothing but the kittens are larger and are satisfied enough to be sleeping and then eating in regular time frames. This is my first and LAST time going through this so I'm just wanting to do the right thing and definitely not lose another kitten.
There is one girl I call hissy because she likes to hiss at me when I pick her up. It's so cute I laugh at her when she does it. Then there is a cry baby boy that cries anytime Carly moves away from him or he gets picked up. He will be something else later when he gets older. Then there is my boy that I'm for sure keeping. He was first one born and the smallest but he's the same size as everyone else now. He's the sweetest thing I've ever seen. He never cries when I pick him up and he will lick you on the nose if you put your nose on his. I love him already. I need to pick his name. Then there is one more boy that's sort of just around that blends in with the rest, doesn't stand out. They are all wonderful. I love watching them grow. Carly's a great momma.
