How to tell if mother cat's milk is drying up?

mces97

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I noticed today that the stray I have been looking after that gave birth on friday had smaller nipples today. Does this indicate a problem or is it normal? The kittens look fine, they do not really cry often at all and usually are either sleeping or nursing when I look in the box.
 

orientalslave

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Looking at her isn't the way to tell.  Suspect you mean her breasts rather than her nipples, and how full they are depends on when the kittens last fed and how quickly her milk is being produced.

The kittens sound like they are fine but the way to be sure is to weigh them each day at about the same time.  You need a cheap set of electronic kitchen scales that weigh to 1g (1/3 ounce) and you need to record the results.  If you can't easily tell the kittens apart, or some of them apart, you need to mark them in some way so you can, though even if you can't tell them apart visually the weight difference might be enough.

She needs as much food as she will eat.  My last foster queen had a huge appetite and despite feeding five kittens managed to put some weight on while I had her, and she got wet kitten food, kitten biscuits and odd treats of raw mince and cooked white fish.

If they are putting on 10g plus each day they are doing just fine, and they should mostly be quiet and content.
 

chris wilcox

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I feed my nursing Mama cat "Kitten wet Food" and "Milk Replacer" in cans from Walmart. The kitten food has more nutrition than the regular adult cat food, plus the Milk Replacer gives a nursing mother more nutrients, plus helps with producing extra milk. I pour an ample amount of milk over the kitten food to feed the babies and Mama. I have 1 nursing Mama left at the moment, but, I had 3 Mama's a few weeks ago that are mother and 2 daughters, all delivering within 1 week of each other. The total of babies at that time was 13 kittens that someone dumped in my front yard. I raised them all the same way with Kitten food and Milk Replacer and they are very healthy and fat and happy.

 

Sarthur2

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Yes, plenty of kitten chow and wet food for mama kitty, and dishes of kitten milk replacement to drink, will help mom to produce plenty of nourishing milk. Always leave a bowl of fresh water out too! Weighing the kittens and recording it is the most reliable way to track weight gain if you have concerns.
 
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