Not sure if Mama kitty is producing enough milk... Please help with advice...

So I think my Mittens Mama kitty might not be producing enough milk for all six of her kittens, they were gaining the 10+ grams a day but today when I weighed them, 24 hours since last weigh in, they haven't been gaining that much... The little silver blue one only has gain FOUR grams within last 24 hours... And the others aren't too far behind... All in single digits. They all seem to be acting fine, barely cry unless mama gets up. Is there a way I can do something that will make the mama start producing more? I have another mama kitty here, she just had her babies, 3 days ago I believe, can't think that well, my mind is going crazy worrying... Her babies are gaining plenty, they're pleasantly plump! But mittens babies are a week old today... So back to the question, can I do something to mamas food that will help her produce more? I have some replacement milk, I bought a few weeks ago just in case I needed it... Any advice will be appreciated. And for those of you wondering, yes, she will be spayed when the time comes.

See how it is tomorrow.  If you supplement when it isn't really needed you can end up with kittens that won't bother to feed from mum as the bottle is easier.

What are you feeding mum on, and does she get as much to eat as she wants?

I didn't mean bottle feeding them, I meant I heard some people were mixing the replacement milk into their mamas food... She is eating nine lives with kitten chow mixed. Yes, she gets plenty of food, as much as she needs and wants. I have stocked up with cat food, and kitten chow for the mamas, and they get a bit of nine lives canned food everyday. Just enough for them to be excited, and satisfied, but I didn't want to give a whole bunch incase it gave them diarrhea. Thank you for answering, and I will wait and see if they've made improvements by tomorrow's weigh in.

BellesMama said:

 I meant I heard some people were mixing the replacement milk into their mamas food...

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Yes, this is one of the tricks.   Another may be to try and give extra calcium, for example with milk products (dairy). ( As long as you are sure she wont get diarrhea, so best she had tried them OK already before if you want to be really safe). Youghourt, cheese, and similiar. 

Goat milk is another, safe alternative.

Some experts, Oriental here for example, believes extra calcium is not necessary if the food is good enough, for example kitten food of good quality.

But as we here have perhaps one of these exceptions...

Lets see what happens today, if no improvement, think on next step.

How big is the second mamas litter?  If small, it may be possible to lend some tits from her.

If the mamas are both healthy and friendly with each other, this shouldnt be big problem.

Good luck!

BellesMama said:

So I think my Mittens Mama kitty might not be producing enough milk for all six of her kittens,

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Not a small litter.  Milk is supply & demand - as the kittens need more, mum has to ramp up production and I imagine some queens do this better than others.

She is eating nine lives with kitten chow mixed. Yes, she gets plenty of food, as much as she needs and wants. I have stocked up with cat food, and kitten chow for the mamas, and they get a bit of nine lives canned food everyday. Just enough for them to be excited, and satisfied, but I didn't want to give a whole bunch incase it gave them diarrhea

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A bit confused by this.  She gets fed every time she asks?  Google leads me to think that kitten chow is Purina Kitten Chow which looks to be a dry food.  If your queen isn't really keen on dry food then maybe she needs more wet food.  There are plenty of wet kitten foods in the UK, I imagine the US is the same.

THis is just my opinion but I would give her more wet food. Dry food actually dehydrates cats, and if she is dehydrated that could very well affect her milk production. Giving her some KMR would be a good idea. I beleive the recomendation is 2 tbsp per 5 lbs of body weight per day. THis would give her some extra moisture and nutrients which she is losing through nursing.  

StefanZ - thank you for the advice. The other mamas litter is only 3 kittens. While Mittens' belly doesn't sag really that much at all with milk, when Bella(litter with three) stands up, she sags with pouches of milk you can feel. And Bella and Mittens aren't the best of friends. Bella is kind of the cat that only likes one or two cats she meets... She thinks she's the Queen of all cats, lol.

OrientalSlave- She always has a full bowl, so all day everyday she's got plenty of food, when I see it half gone, I fill the other half. Yes, it is a dry food... It doesn't bother her, she always eats plenty of it, then everyday, once or twice, I will give both mamas their own bit of wet canned food. (probably about half of the can per mama kitty)

Alright... Thank you who it is I appreciate everyone's advice!

I would agree with giving her more liquid in her diet, either with wet food or with KMR or goat milk.

Thinking on it, I too agree more wetness may be the key here.  If they eat much dry food, they also must drink much water or other fluids.  While wet food essentially contains this water itself.

And extra water double important for nursing moms.

You can of course proceed on parallell tracks, you dont need to take just ONE proposal for solution and hope for the best.

The scientific way is to try out one at a time, but we here are practicioners, we act till it helps, whatever the reason.  

Good luck!

Here are their gains, it's been a little longer than 24 hours, probably about 28 hours, I usually weigh them at the same time everyday but some expected things came up and I had to run outta the house... + 15, 14, 17, 15, 17, and 14. The biggest one is 170g, and smallest one is the blue silver at only 140g. I am going to get stocked up on even more wet food, and try that. Thank you everyone for the advice. I appreciate everyone's.

That looks OK - so just a glitch the other day.  Maybe she just takes a little longer than some queens to increase supply as demand increases.