hand-rearing advice please

Hi there, new to the forum, hope I'm in the right place!

A bit of background:

We have a young queen (around 9 months) had one litter of four, of which three survived - we kept one and gave away the other two.

Her next litter was 5, of which four died in the last couple of days. Pretty sure it was FKS.

Mom had rejected the kittens maybe a day or two before they began dying, but we didn't pick up on it in time because she'd found somewhere very private for her nest. When they started coming out of the nest, they'd immediately find the smallest corner and huddle into it, not playing and bouncy like her last litter.

We really should have picked up on the FKS in time, but hindsight isn't going to bring them back, so I'd prefer to gloss over that...and as three out of four died in my hands, I'm not ready to pick over the details too much, if that's ok by everyone.

My worry is the remaining kitten is very quiet and doesn't seem to be interested in playing or running around. it seems to be in decent health, passing poo and wee ok, taking 10-13ml of lactol every 6-8 hours.

We have her in a box, separated from mom, and she spends 90% of the day in there, not sleeping, but just lying there staring.

Instinct says the kitten's either depressed or still in the FKS danger zone. We do play with it a little, but it doesn't seem to have much interest in playing, or energy.

I have a lot of questions, mostly around the subject of are we doing things right, can anyone point us to a good resource for first-time hand rearers, can the kitten be expected to be weak or depressed?

Any advice gladly received. It's a bit too soon for criticism, though I know we've deserve plenty, so be gentle please.

Thanks

I googled FKS and here is the site with a good amount of information: www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/fks.html.

But I would stress, this is not a substitute for veterinary care for this little lone baby. Please get the babe to the vet.

I can imagine how hard it is to loose those babies like that. Are you a breeder?

Of course, I will be gentle...but if you aren't a breeder, please have the mom spayed. That way no more lost kittens and no more broken hearts for you.

I wonder a little, if eating every 6-8 hours is too seldom.

If you cant give more often, so you cant, cant be helped. Otherwise, try with more often... Every 3-4 hours I believe is the customary.


Good luck!

www.kitten-rescue.com might help you. Depending on how old the kitten is- you will see a feeding chart on my website that will tell you what to expect and how much to feed. My thoughts are several- disease-especially with dead littermates- fleas and other parasites or low blood sugar. But every 6-8 hours is not acceptable feeding times for a newborn kitten. Especially bottle babies- you also might check the expirationd date of the kitten formula, sometimes stores slip up and don't take expired formula off the shelves.

Hi, thanks for the replies...

I'm not a breeder, just a regular joe who hasn't had much experience of female cats (despite having cats all my life), and who got caught out twice...

I'll be phoning the vet to book her for the snip tomorrow.

Hissy, thank you! I've been looking for a chart like yours since we started handrearing. We've been inadvertently feeding it around half the amount recommended. I shall put that right from now on.

I have to say though, having just tried to feed it 15ml, it threw up around 2-3ml that I assume was too much for it. If I do that 5 times a day, it still will only have had 50 or 60ml...how do you suggest I get that extra 40ml down it?

Just checked, the milk is well within the expiry date.

Anyone got any thoughts on this kitten's mood? I'm 75% sure it's not FKS - I'd be more sure, but I'm very cautions, second guessing and still upset from losing the four, which is clouding my judgement a lot - I'm painfully aware of the symptoms of that now.

It's grooming nicely and passing waste reasonably well, which were the first things to go when it's siblings began fading, so I'm not SO worried, but I know how fast things can change.

When we let it out of it's box for a run around, it runs directly for a small gap under a table where it used to huddle with it's siblings. We're working on socialising it and playing silly games with it in an effort to improve it's mood, but with four dead siblings, I can't help but constantly worry that this one is not developing properly and I want to avoid that, and any psychological problems if I possibly can...

Mom has started fussing over it now, but a few times, she's picked it up and carried it off...once into a small gap in a store cupboard and twice into the garden. I'm not sure what she's thinking (she's a bit stupid anyway, trying to wean them by bringing them huge chunks of steak after foraging in somebody's bin, or so it seemed), but my guesses would be that she's witnessed us taking the other four away out of the house once they'd died and is doing the same with the last one, or she's trying to potty train it by taking it to the places she likes to use, or she's trying to help it develop by dropping it in the deep end...

[edited to add] I thought I'd said before, but obviously haven't...the kitten is just over four weeks old. I'm holding off weaning it until it's a bit stronger/over the traumatic events of the beginning of the week.

The kitten started fading last night.

Have taken it to the vet, waiting to hear how it's doing. Not expecting a good result.

[Update] It didn't make it.

Thanks again all.

I'm sorry- when I read that mom was trying to kitten-nap it, I had a feeling that it wasn't going to make it. When the kitten is sick, the queen knows and she will do her very best to put it somewhere that predators will find it and end its life quickly-or if that option doesn't exist, she will sit on the kitten and end its life herself. Don't beat yourself up about it but indeed get mom spayed as soon as you can. Something is going around your area either in the toms or the queen that isn't good. If mom isn't vaccinated, get her covered as well.

You did your best and didn't turn a blind-eye to this litter's plight. My hat is off to you-

So sorry to read that. You did all you could.

God bless the baby.