Deafness and raising kittens?

Maybe you can do something with card boxes, maybe taped in place so the kittens can't get over at present.

Looks like they are all doing well - none of them have lost weight which is a good sign.

I'm glad to see they are all gaining weight. Speckled still worries me the worst. He has a much longer body than the black one, so he looks really skinny (and feels boney compared to the others). Plus, the black one latches on and stands up for herself against the others-- her body is just smaller than the rest, but she doesn't feel boney, really. Speckled seems to have trouble finding and latching onto a nipple, and he definitely whines more than the others. The other four are gaining good weight and have nice, plump bellies.

A content sleeping kitten does not necessarily mean he's in good health. It could be dying. Making sure they are all suckling for periods of time. Its the best way of knowing they are strong and healthy. It takes alot of strength to root and suckle for these wee ones. If a kitten doesn't get the nourishment, he may go quiet out of weakness.  A friend of mine who was fostering for our humane society panicked one day. She thought the one kitten was just content. He was very near death. It took warmth and drop by drop of kmr to get his strength up. When I first got him back on a teat, he would fall asleep after only 3 sucks. It took 2 full days to to turn him around with minute by minute care.

You are very right to be concerned about speckled.

If I were you, (which I am not ) I would use blankets, and pillow to block the toilet. Make it NOT an option for her. With the kittens wandering, they don't have the ability to generate there own heat and need each other. Give her two good options to choose from..where she can hop in and out but the kittens can't.

Good luck !

If you want to supplement the smaller kittens, I find that a large plastic eyedropper (the kind they sell to get medicine into human babies) is much easier than a bottle, especially for newborns. You can give them one drop at a time, instead of relying on them to suck on the bottle.

^^ good idea...then they won't get nipple confusion

Willowy said:

If you want to supplement the smaller kittens, I find that a large plastic eyedropper (the kind they sell to get medicine into human babies) is much easier than a bottle, especially for newborns. You can give them one drop at a time, instead of relying on them to suck on the bottle.

Click to expand...

Thanks. I need to try and pick one up tomorrow.

I bought a big covered litterbox and lined it with blankets for her. I put the kittens in when they wandered a bit, and she freaked out. She started grabbing them and putting them each in different areas of the bathroom. I think we are going to have to stick with behind the toilet. At least there is a blanket there now, and she is letting me put puppy pads all over (they like to wander onto those). They are peeing and pooping a ton. I am keeping the room pretty toasty, at least. The heating vent on the floor (which I covered with a paper towel) warms the tiles well.

I am worried, but I also don't know that I can do any better of a job than she is already doing. I will say that the kittens fight like crazy, which makes me think they have some good energy. I wish they wouldn't, though! Speckled definitely worries me the most. I will try to get an eye dropper or a tiny syringe tomorrow.

I'm sure they will be fine. She does sound like a picky mama... lol.  I hope Speckled starts nursing better!! They are such a worry in these early days....

Since they are all now gaining weight I wouldn't hand-feed.  They don't have a cough reflex at this age so it's all too easy for it to go down the wrong way if you feed too fast, plus it's nothing like as good for them as mother's milk.

OrientalSlave said:

Since they are all now gaining weight I wouldn't hand-feed.  They don't have a cough reflex at this age so it's all too easy for it to go down the wrong way if you feed too fast, plus it's nothing like as good for them as mother's milk.

Click to expand...

Thanks. That was kind of my feeling. Luna knows better than me what to do, and it's not like the two little ones aren't eating (although the one seems to cry a lot more than the others when he gets knocked off).

I just went to check on them, and Luna flopped into my lap and then let the kittens all climb up to nurse. The kittens feel nice and warm, and they sure are peeing a lot.

Luna is doing ok, and she is gaining a little weight, but she is having awful diarrhea. She only had the KMR once, but she is eating a lot of kitten wet food. I know the placentas can cause diarrhea, too, but is this normal for three days later?

It could be the wet food. Some cats don't tolerate it or don't tolerate alot of it. If she's on a good kitten kibble, I would stop the

wet til her stools firm up and then reintroduce it but less of.

Yes, I'm hoping it's the wet food. I have her on kitten dry food, too. I might stick with the pate for wet food and no more chunks and gravy/KMR for now. She was eating three full cans a day, so it quite possibly is that.

Everyone is sleepy this morning. I love that they are already starting to do cat poses in their sleep. The kittens' yawns are so adorable. They look more feline and less hamsterish every time I check. Luna has started actually putting them on my lap, so I'm handling them without worrying at all about scents. Everyone gained weight this morning-- though two of them are now almost double the smallest ones.

Luna is exhausted this morning. She wants to cuddle with me, but she hasn't stood up yet. She just lays there with the kittens this morning. She stretches her paws to touch me and rolls a tiny bit, but she's definitely tired. I'm hoping this diarrhea isn't exhausting her. She had a couple more bouts during the nights (she is such a good litter box girl!).

She has also stopped putting the kittens behind the toilet. Now they are in front of the toilet, trending toward the middle of the bathroom. Now I have to be super careful where I step! But she still freaks out if I put them in a box.

One more question for everyone-- if you have to take a mom and babies to the vet, how do you transport them? I don't want them to get cold/crushed, but I also don't want to separate them.

Thanks.

brinnan said:

One more question for everyone-- if you have to take a mom and babies to the vet, how do you transport them? I don't want them to get cold/crushed, but I also don't want to separate them.

Thanks.

Click to expand...

Most take them in a box of some sort, with towels etc under. If the box uncovered, the mom should be on a leash.

Others use a big carrier.

Fastening the box/carrier, so it doesnt slide around in the car.

Everyone gained (with eyebrows being the champ!). Black and calico only gained .3. I noticed the calico was sleeping a lot and not nursing as much as the others today. Still, she gained, so I won't worry for now.

Speckled and Black and White are so tiny! At 24 hours old all four of mine are 4.00oz.  It can be so exhausting for the momma's with larger litters.

She'll probably perk up when her diarrhea subsides. That does sound like a whack of wet food she was eating.

Mine had a loose stool this morning but I'm sure is from her mama cakes and the stress of birthing. It will be fun to watch them grow!

Brinnan, how is Luna? still diarrhea and exhausted?

It dawned on me you could add electrolytes into her drinking water.  ie salts.

A basic home made pedialyte could do.

The recipe I myself use is:

1 litre water   "two pounds"

1 soup spoon dextrose (grape sugar), if not honey, if not white caro syrup

1 tea spoon kitchen salt

Warming up, preferably into boiling to kill off eventual bacteria.  Letting it cool down into body temp -

If she drinks herself, fine. If not, forcefeed.  Into the corner of the mouth.

Dont spare too long, better to make a new.

This basic pedialyte is in itself a main weapon against the great man slaughter Cholera.

Thanks for asking and the recipe. Luna seems a bit better today. She still has very loose stools, but not quite as liquid before. She also is moving around more. In fact, she's back to guarding the bathroom door against those evil cats (who are locked in my bedroom anyway). We have a product here called Smart Water that contains electrolytes. I might pick some of that up for her, too.

Black and white seems weak today. He wasn't latching or nursing when the others were. He just wanted to sleep. However, when I weighed him, he had gained a tiny bit, so I'm going to let him be for now. He cried heartily when I picked him up to weigh him, so he's not that weak. We'll see at the normal weighing time tonight at 6pm. He's just so darn tiny compared to the rest. Even speckled looks big in comparison!

If this is what you mean by Smart Water, I can't see any benefit over tap water:

http://www.bottledwaterstore.com/smartwater.htm

Sounds like you need to keep a careful eye on B&W.  Dunno if it will upset Luna too much if you put the others out of her way so he can suckle without getting interupted a few times a day.

OrientalSlave said:

If this is what you mean by Smart Water, I can't see any benefit over tap water:

http://www.bottledwaterstore.com/smartwater.htm

Sounds like you need to keep a careful eye on B&W.  Dunno if it will upset Luna too much if you put the others out of her way so he can suckle without getting interupted a few times a day.

Click to expand...

That's actually exactly what I've been doing for Black and White and Speckled. Luna is fine with it, as long as I pet her. Black and White was latching just now. When Luna got up to eat, she dragged him a good part of the way.

Smart Water has added electrolytes, so it's good for diarrhea. Luna is not quite as skin and bones this morning either. Poor girl-- to think she was stray and carrying 6 kittens, had awful ear infections, mites, and so defensive with other cats. The vet said maybe part of the problem is just that she's never had so much food to eat before, so that's hard on her stomach, too.

Is there any sign of Luna being dehydrated?  It sounds to me like she might be, in which case I'd give her oral rehydration fluid.  She won't like it, it's basically boiled water with salt and sugar, but read a recipe on the Internet to make sure you get the right amount of both.  I would use a small syringe to slowly squirt it into the side of her mouth.  The cats I've done this with have had to be held firmly by their scruff but it doesn't need much to make a big difference - it absorbs very easily as it has the same amount of salt & sugar as blood does.  10ml would make a difference.

You cam make basic ORT at home, or you can buy sachets which make (I think) 1 litre at the chemist - at least you can in the UK.  Not the fruit flavour ones though!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_rehydration_therapy