two week old kittens - Page 4

They're pooping on their own now and more frequently since the pumpkin was added to their formula. I set up the litter box in a closet that was only used for storing miscellaneous junk that won't absorb any odors, but I still need to arrange it right so it is safe for them to hang out in without supervision. Plus, I don't have a heat source in there and it's a little chilly. They'll be in the cardboard box nest for the next week at least, I imagine.

I bought a couple cans of wet food, one each of beef and chicken just to have on hand when the time comes. I plan on mixing a little with formula and putting it in a jar lid and just dabbing a little on my finger and letting them nibble, just to give them the idea. But I'm still not sure what they will like so I'm not buying it in quantity yet.

I'm pretty much just maintaining the same routine of feeding them every 3 - 4 hours depending on how they behave, with the exception that my goal is to get them 80 ml of formula each day. That's quite a lot...they really don't seem to want that much. I'm sticking with the policy it's better to slightly underfeed them than give too much.

I'm having trouble getting Mo to begin sucking on the bottle lately. What I do to get her started is squeeze the bottle slightly to get a little formula on the tip of the nipple, and then insert it in her mouth so she can taste it. I know she's hungry but instead of sucking she just turns her head and tries to gum it and finally just pushes it away. It's almost as if she's teething and just wants to chew on something. But she can't be teething this soon.

I think I might be getting it too warm. What I do is heat the formula by placing the bottle in a bowl of hot tap water, then test it on my wrist and when it feels about the same as my body temperature I feed them. Larry is fine with this, but Mo seems to like it a little cooler. So she always has to wait for me to finish feeding Larry while the bottle cools down. Feeding time is a lot of activity because I'm not just heating the formula, I'm preparing a bowl of warm water and a wash cloth for a bath, and also another bowl with a sponge to clean up the mess we always make from pooping and peeing. And it all has to be sanitized.

Don't get me wrong, there is nothing so adorable as holding these little babies in my hand and feeling and hearing them purr as they suck on that bottle. They also love the little baths, I do try to emulate meowmy's toungue cleaning them up after each feeding. The work that goes in to their care is well worth the rewards. I'm just getting a little bitchy

I don't want anyone to get the idea that raising bottle babies is easy by any means, it's not. Some people might be tempted to read through my posts and think they can pick all this learning up overnight.

Well you can't. They need constant attention, as much as any human baby.

I know that because of experience and from what MA and others share with me. I can't stress enough how much the folks here at TCS and affiliates have contributed.

How big are they now? About 100 grams...that's slightly more than four ounces for you guys who don"t live on the metric system.

Quote:

Originally Posted by frankthetank 

Oh I remember the weighing days!! I had never tried raising bottle fed kittens and only really fell into it back in June~mainly because I had an acquaintance whose apt complex owner started trapping cats to get them away from the complex and these baby kittens were left without a momma cat. So they were found after almost 2 days of constant mewing was heard, and the person who found them had no clue how to raise baby kittens and no time to dedicate to them. Since I work from home (not that running a daycare from home is by any means easy either) I had more time then most to dedicate to feeding/caring for babies round the clock so we took in three little kittens that were around 1.5wks old ~eyes were 1/2 open but not fully and they were wobbly little fluff balls. We went out and bought a food scale so we could weigh them daily to make sure they were getting enough nutrients from what they were eating and it was always so exciting to see them and gain weight!

It definitely is a hard time, raising babies. Like you, I had one pass and it was a very devastating day. I couldn't help but get attached to the little babies and bawled when we lost one at 5 wks. The other two are happy & healthy...we have so many other cats we hadn't planned on keeping any of the three once they were ready for forever homes~however letting one of them go to their new home was so hard on us that when the person who wanted the other kitten backed out, we decided to keep him. Zoe is the kitten that went to a new home and I get updates about her often & see pictures. Keaton is the one we kept and he is just the sweetest thing...loviest cat ever, my husband-who has had many cats in his lifetime & one of our cats is one he bottle fed a few years back-said he has never seen a cat as loving as Keaton. At night he sleeps on my pillow or curled up next to me, which I have never had a young kitten actually sleep w/ me most the night, and during the day he spend over half his time following me around, then when my husband gets home he will curl up w/ him awhile too. He seems to always want to be near us!

I love hearing your updates about your babies, it brings back memories of my early summer w/ the kittens.....remember even on the hardest days, you are doing something great for these kitties and the reward you will get is their everlasting love!

 

That's a great story, thank you for sharing!!! It sounds a lot like my experience in that I had heard the mews for a couple days but didn't immediately recognize the sound as kittens. We have a bit of a rodent problem and, frankly, I only went looking for the source because I was going to put them out of their misery. It's not at all unusual to come upon little mice who are half dead from getting into the poison traps my landlord sets out. Which brings up a whole other set of problems for my babies I need to address before letting them roam around much. What if they kill a mouse that has ingested some of that poison? That really scares me.

And it's a real qaundary for me because, on one hand I don't like the idea of killing every disgusting creature attempting to share my abode. As long as they aren't doing me harm I try to live with them...some of them actually do good. Spiders are really creepy looking...but I don't kill them off because they kill other bugs I can't stand. I'm no Buddhist, but you don't have to practice a far-eastern religion, or hold a Ph.D to know that harmony with your environment beats running around with a can of Raid all day. My mom once got so freaked out about ants she sprayed poison all over the floor and our cat's babies all died from licking it.

On the other hand, you can't totally innoculate them from all bacteria by sanitizing the environment, that would prevent their little immune systems from building the anti-bodies needed to fight off infections later in life. It's a damn precarious balance.

Mo hasn't wanted to feed on the bottle at all the last couple days despite everything I try; big nipple, little nipple, large opening, small opening...or whatever. While Larry was just sucking the bottle dry to the point he collapsed it with the suction. They are not supposed to be this far advanced at 3 1/2 weeks!

Again, boy was I wrong. They already have teeth and they want to chew on something. As much as I tried Mo would not take any milk out of the bottle today. I really didn't think it was time for solid food yet, but I went ahead and mashed up some wet food with formula, warmed it up in a dish and stuck her face in it.

She licked the whole plate nearly clean!!!

LOL - she'll probably get the runs from an over-dose of protein...we'll see.

I would have given Larry the same thing if he hadn't just gorged on a bottle of milk.

I'm really glad because they have been clawing my hands incessantly trying to nurse on the bottle, it made it really painful to feed them. At the same time I'm glad they are ready to be weaned and move on to the next stage...even though I will miss the suckling every few hours on the bottles.

No more bottles!

Quote:

Originally Posted by CatNamedPanda 

My kittens that I have right now started diving into moms plate of wet food at about 3 1/2 weeks. They still nurse from mom, but they enjoy trying the wet food. I was surprised the first time I had a vet tell me to try to get my really sick bottle babies to start eating solid food as soon as their teeth came in the rest of the way they were only about 2 1/2 weeks at the time. He thought they might eat it better considering they were so stuffy from an URI they couldn't nurse properly because they couldn't breath or smell the milk. But he told me that some kitten can and do start solid food that young.

 

My litter of bottle babies did not start solid food till 5 1/2 weeks. They will still wanted the bottle some, though so I offered it to them ever 6-8 hours since they were eating solid food too.

 

So yay!!! for solid food, your life is about to get a lot easier. You have made it through the hardest part!!

I didn't know they would even have teeth this young! I've learned so much thanks to folks like you

But my babies were abandoned by momma around 1 - 3 days old. You can't compare them to babies who have had their momma for any length of time at all. They are almost like preemies - pre-mature babies who need extensive care.

Anywho, I decided to start a new thread to move this discussion over to Pregnant Cats and Kitten Care at "First dish of solid food - gobble gobble", it seems more appropriate now.

Please, everyone join us there!