Mom cries out in pain when nursing

Today Tigra has started to cry out in pain when the babies nurse. I checked her and her nipples all feel normal. Not too hot or too swollen. She didn't cry when I touched them. Yes, I know I'm about 1000% times gentler than the babies are. She only nurses for 2 to 3 minutes straight. If I lay down with her and pet her the entire time she will nurse for a few minutes longer but she cries and bites my hand the whole time. She's biting because shes in pain, she did the same type of bite when she was in labor. Its not a leave me alone your bothering me bite. (Yes, you probably all think I'm crazy by now).

Also, one of the kittens isn't doing too well.

He was the biggest last week. This week he is the smallest. He's losing a lot of weight quickly. When the others are off playing and running around he's standing in one spot. I gave him a bath tonight with some KMR. He didn't drink very much of it. I'm going to try again in a few minutes. He's napping right now and the other kittens are playing. He's also crying a lot.

I read on some sites that weak kittens should be feed sugar water... if that's true I would love to hear it from one of you guys first before I go ahead and do it.

The only KMR at my store is Hartz. I live in the boonies so I can't get anything better either. Can I add anything to the hartz to make it more nutrious? Some emergency KMR receipes have things like eggs and mayo in them... can I add some to the Hartz KMR?

Kittens are now 28 days old.

First, mom.  I suspect it is some sorts mastitits, ie inflammation in the titties.  Nothing difficult for a vet, but you must contact a vet.

If the kittens are 28 days, its time for them to begin eat on their own. Encourage them, it will lessen the duty of momma and the burden on her and her abilities.

The kitten you should also contact a vet about too.

For extra food, coming soon, proceeding.

lorindaleigh said:

I read on some sites that weak kittens should be feed sugar water... if that's true I would love to hear it from one of you guys first before I go ahead and do it.

The only KMR at my store is Hartz. I live in the boonies so I can't get anything better either. Can I add anything to the hartz to make it more nutrious? Some emergency KMR receipes have things like eggs and mayo in them... can I add some to the Hartz KMR?

Kittens are now 28 days old.

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Sugar water may be useful in emergency, if they are very weak, to give them a boost.

Although better than plain sugar is destrose ("winegrape sugar"). Or honey. Or white caro syrup.  I suppose the "canadian" liquid sugar is also OK (sorry, dont remember the name, in USA you often use it with pancakes, your national food).  But if you nor your neigbours dont have any of these, use plain sugar.

An advice is sometimes to smear a little of this white caro syrup or honey on their gum, so the get some energy and manage to eat.

Nourishing Additives.  Do you have possibly goat milk?  Useful.

If you dare to use eggs, so yes, raw egg yolk is very very good, you can add it in anything, even the hartz or goat milk.

If salomeonella in eggs is a problem in your place, write, so I will write tricks how to lessen the risk in raw eggs.

About mayonnaise I dont know much, I myself would probably use common butter and melt it down into this Harz, together with this egg yolk, and some dextrose and a little kitchen salt. Preferably a minerale salt containging.several different salts. If you dont find this salt at your shop, the most common kitchen salt is ok..

As said, this kitten is in high danger now. Do what you can, quickly now, time is running.

Good luck!   *vibes*
 

I don't have any goat milk. I just read that most likely its the Hartz that is making the kitten sick! I've been feeding it to him for a few days now and Mom has been getting it for over a week.

Can I try a little bit of powdered milk with the egg, butter, and salt? He is eating on his own so I'll soften some dry kitten chow in it as well?

Please take them all to the vets ASAP to get mum and the kitten that's not doing well looked at.  Mum might have mastitis starting or some other problem that needs treating, and the kitten that's not gaining weight might need rehydration followed by feeding - a friend of a friend says goat's milk is best, but I have no idea about that.  In the UK we would normally use Cimicat which is a milk substitute made for kittens.

Feeding tiny kittens isn't easy, you need to be shown how.  They don't have a cough reflex at first so if you feed them in the wrong position and/or too fast they can end up with milk going into their lungs.   Depending on their age you also need to 'toilet' them after each feed.  You haven't said how old the kittens are, it sounds like at least 3 weeks since you say they are running around, so at that age bottle or syringe feeding isn't so hard.

If I'm right about their age, they also need access to solid food - wet kitten food for example.  They will start to wean themselves as they are ready.  It's a messy business but great fun watching.

The best way to look after kittens is to look after their mother as she is so much better at it than we are, plus her milk is far better than any substitute and right now it sounds like she needs to be seen by a vet.

lorindaleigh said:

Can I try a little bit of powdered milk with the egg, butter, and salt? He is eating on his own so I'll soften some dry kitten chow in it as well?

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I suppose it should work.  I think some forumite did such a emergency kmr.

Another try could be condensed milk, which is made of heavy cooked milk.

I know some recipes with cooked milk, where the cooking is supposed to crack down the lactose in some way.  The recipes had probably come before low lactose milk was common.

So low lactose milk is another alternative.

Raw egg yolk, not the white.  If you happen get in a little white, it doesnt matter much, but NOT the whole white.

Look out for the site www.kitten-rescue.com, for orphaned kittens, there are surely some emergency  formulas.   (this link doesnt work for me.  Write the adresse in the Explorers search-window.

*vibes*

ps.  I see the formulas there are not same as mine.  The writer is very experienced cat rescuer, so they do surely works.

But I do also think several different formulas are useful.

I'd be on my way to the vets, not attempting to make milk subsitute...

Please remember I'm in a very remote area. Local vet is an hour away and appointment only. They also didn't open until 9, so when I posted it at 6 I still had 3 hours before I could call the vet let alone get to the vet.

A lot of farm vets are helpful in situations like this, just to call them, because they know that it's a hardship for people who live way out to come into the clinic. And if you have a previous relationship with them, sometimes they'll mail you any necessary meds.

I have raised kittens on canned evaporated milk (not condensed!) with Karo syrup and egg yolks. I found the recipe online, I'm sure you could find it too. I don't like the commercial formulas (all hydrogenated oils and no milk!), and goat milk is so expensive. I attempted to "pasteurize" the eggs by putting them in the toaster oven set on 150 degrees for about an hour. . .I don't know if that made any difference but it made me feel better :tongue2:. Supposedly any temp over 120 will kill pathogens, but who knows. If a kitten seems weak and lethargic, rubbing the syrup on their gums will bring their blood sugar up and give them an energy boost, but it's not a long-term strategy.

Vet believed that it was the Hartz KMR. I was feeding it to the mom and leaving out a bowl for the kittens. I only saw one kitten drinking out of the bowl... and yes it was the sick kitten.

He is doing great btw! When he was sick he bonded with me lol. He has been sitting at the bottom of my feet, staring up at me and meowing until I pick him up... he's already spoiled lol.

Mom is doing great too! The kittens teeth are the problem. They were biting her extra hard. Either she seems to be adjusting or they are being gentler because she's nursing them back on schedule now and she's no longer crying.

Glad to know everything is OK now.  All kittens gaining weight again?  And I guess it's plain water now for them to drink! 

LOL, poor mama cat! I didn't see how old they were. . .yeah, those sharp little teeth hurt!

I've always been suspicious of Hartz products, because of how toxic their flea meds are. If they don't care about that, why would they care about making their other products any good? :/ Well, hopefully everybody will feel better now.

I forgot to add--now is the age when you can start to introduce solid food, to take some of the nursing burden off the mama cat, and to give their little teeth something to do :lol3:. Canned food mixed with water or evaporated milk until it's mushy is a good way to start. They may not get the idea right away but it's good to at least get them used to the smell and taste.