My cat had her first litter need help with a few things.

angelface0145

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My cat gave birth to her first litter. She had 3 kittens. Two of them were smaller then the other. The smaller ones sadly died around one week old. I think my cat ate one of them, and I found the other while she was carrying it and biting it, but I could tell it was dead for awhile maybe an hour. The last remaining kitten seems healthy, he is growing and starting to walk better. He will be 4 weeks old on the 9th of this month. I was wondering when would be the best time to start introducing moist kitten food to him. His mother feeds him still but not how she used to, he meows for her a lot and she will ignore him.
 

tulosai

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My cat gave birth to her first litter. She had 3 kittens. Two of them were smaller then the other. The smaller ones sadly died around one week old. I think my cat ate one of them, and I found the other while she was carrying it and biting it, but I could tell it was dead for awhile maybe an hour. The last remaining kitten seems healthy, he is growing and starting to walk better. He will be 4 weeks old on the 9th of this month. I was wondering when would be the best time to start introducing moist kitten food to him. His mother feeds him still but not how she used to, he meows for her a lot and she will ignore him.
Now.  Moms start weaning kittens at around 4 weeks.  He needs another food source.  How she is acting is normal.

Can I ask if you have plans to spay her?
 
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angelface0145

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Yes we had plans to spay her before, and found out she was already pregnant. Now, we are waiting until the kitten is no longer in need of his mother, then getting another appointment set up. We have also decided to keep the baby, since we have only her. When he is old enough he is also being fixed. I have some KMR in hand and a kitten bottle, should I feed him, or introduce moist kitten chow/KMR. Thanks for the reply.
 

StefanZ

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I agree with Tulosai, begin with introducing wet food now, its anyhow time to begin. AND he maybe must have extra if he doesnt get enough from mom.  You may possibly need to give him kmr too several days if he is slow with catching the idea of real food.    Minced meat is another new be classic. Baby food is possible too...

Do you weigh him every day?  This is the easiest way to know if he gets enough, and thus, if you should to give him extra bottle.

Make also sure you have his litter for him, shallow pant with non clumping litter.  When they begin to eat real food, their poo changes, and mom isnt not so fond any longer to clean of them etc.

Good luck"
 
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angelface0145

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I agree with Tulosai, begin with introducing wet food now, its anyhow time to begin. AND he maybe must have extra if he doesnt get enough from mom.  You may possibly need to give him kmr too several days if he is slow with catching the idea of real food.    Minced meat is another new be classic. Baby food is possible too...

Do you weigh him every day?  This is the easiest way to know if he gets enough, and thus, if you should to give him extra bottle.

Make also sure you have his litter for him, shallow pant with non clumping litter.  When they begin to eat real food, their poo changes, and mom isnt not so fond any longer to clean of them etc.

Good luck"
Thanks for the information. About how much should he weigh at this age so I will know if he is getting enough. Also I am thinking about introducing a Raw diet to my mother cat, but I'm going to look further into that while she is still nursing the kitten, and go from there.
 

tulosai

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Thanks for the information. About how much should he weigh at this age so I will know if he is getting enough. Also I am thinking about introducing a Raw diet to my mother cat, but I'm going to look further into that while she is still nursing the kitten, and go from there.
It is not really a matter of how much he should weigh, it is more just important that he is gaining. He should be gaining at least a few ounces a day, every day at this age. 
 
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angelface0145

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It is not really a matter of how much he should weigh, it is more just important that he is gaining. He should be gaining at least a few ounces a day, every day at this age. 
Okay, thanks a lot. I'll start weighing him from today on. I decided to see if he would eat some moist food, he was not going for it, I know I will have to coach him into it, but he did drink some of the KMR.
 

tulosai

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Okay, thanks a lot. I'll start weighing him from today on. I decided to see if he would eat some moist food, he was not going for it, I know I will have to coach him into it, but he did drink some of the KMR.
Try mixing some of the KMR with the moist food.  If all else fails you may need to try some dry and then transition from there to wet.
 
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angelface0145

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Try mixing some of the KMR with the moist food.  If all else fails you may need to try some dry and then transition from there to wet.
I did try to mix some KMR in with the moist but he just did not want it. I might take a visit to the pet store later while I'm out and see what all they have. I might introduce my kitten to the raw diet instead of learning him later in life, what do you think?
 

tulosai

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I did try to mix some KMR in with the moist but he just did not want it. I might take a visit to the pet store later while I'm out and see what all they have. I might introduce my kitten to the raw diet instead of learning him later in life, what do you think?
Try a VERY LITTLE of the moist with the KMR.  You may already have mixed them in these proportions, but I'd mix literally almost no moist with the KMR to start.

Honestly I don't know much about raw- I feed my cats some raw but mostly wet and I didn't start mine on raw until they were a full year old, though I know many members here did start their kitties sooner and had good results.  For more on this you can try to nutrition forum.
 

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I started mine on kitten pâté wet food, which is much smoother than normal kitten wet food at 5 weeks. I mixed a little bit of hot water in with it to loosen it up and warm it through. I put a little bit on my finger and rubbed it on their mouth, they soon started licking it off and then eating what was in the saucers. They had that for just over a week and now they have small chunked kitten food.
 
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