New foster bottle babies

I got a call from the shelter this morning asking if I could take some bottle babies. I have a couple of days before I go out of town for the weekend so I said I'd take them until Friday. I was told the kittens were about 4 weeks old and that three of them were eating wet food. They had only had to bottle feed the two smallest ones. Okay, I can handle that.

So I get to the shelter and find 5 adorable babies who can't be more than 2 weeks old.

My problem is figuring out how much to feed them. I found one place that said approx. 8cc of KMR per ounce of body weight per day, divided over 6-8 feedings. That works fine for the ones who are bottle feeding only.

They gave me some Science Diet kitten food and I've been mixing it with a little KMR. The kittens dive right in -- literally. I think they did more swimming in the food than eating it. They're little piggies, just keep eating until their little bellies look like they're going to pop. I don't want to overfeed them, but I can't find anything that tells me how much of the kitten food to give. The instructions on the can start with a 3# kitten.

The babies weigh 260gm, 260gm, 295gm, 320gm, and 330gm. All of them together come to about 3#.

The last time I had tiny kittens in the house their mommy took very good care of them. I didn't have to do anything.

Does anybody with more experience have an easy method to calculate feedings?

Im not sure you need to calculate.  The usual recommendation is let them eat as much as they want.

The opposite is more often the problem, when they visibly dont eat enough, and dont gain.

ARE they litter mates?  If they eat and behave as they do, they are prob 4 weeks, even if they are smallish for their age.  Orphans often are.

Lets hope others fill in!  

Good luck!

StefanZ said:

Im not sure you need to calculate.  The usual recommendation is let them eat as much as they want.

The opposite is more often the problem, when they visibly dont eat enough, and dont gain.

ARE they litter mates?  If they eat and behave as they do, they are prob 4 weeks, even if they are smallish for their age.  Orphans often are.

Lets hope others fill in!  

Good luck!

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I agree,  They look like they could definitely be 4 weeks to me.  At two weeks they are barely opening their eyes sometimes, much less eating wet food and walking around like yours seem to be.  They would be VERY unsteady on their feet at 2 weeks and smaller than those look.  I don't doubt they are small for 4 weeks but this is very very common at shelters.  I think you've been told the right age.

I also agree that you shouldn't be limiting their food intake.  You really can't over-feed them. It is wonderful that they are eating so much.  I'd only decrease the amount if they are throwing it up after a certain point because they've really and truly eaten too much but it sounds like they are stopping when they are well and truly full, and that's how it should be.

You sound very lucky to have healthy and thriving kitties.

I was going to say they are 4 weeks as well. Their hind legs are straight up in standing position, that's a great indicator.

Yes, when first learning to eat canned, mixing with kmr is perfect, and they do literally dive in!! It gets everywhere, and they aren't so good at grooming themselves afterward either !

After 6 weeks they will have perfected it well though.

Feed them 3x a day, a shallow dish/saucer with canned pate of course and kmr mixed in.

You reeally need to watch that they are ALL eating enough to sustain themselves though. When all kittens have ever known is nursing on momma, there are always a couple of slow learners, and they literally will starve. You can supplement them with a syringe or an eye dropper widened at the end so the canned food will go through the end. Not down their throats, and not holding like a baby, but on all 4 paws, pulling their head slightly up, and gently squirting it into the cheek, not throat.

 You should not have to potty them either, they are big enough.

After watching the kittens for a day I think you're right that they're more than two weeks old. They're just so tiny. They have their eyes completely open and their ears standing up. They're still pretty wobbly when the walk/run, but boy can they ever move! It's been almost 5 years since I had kittens in the house and I'm trying to remember what they were like. I checked the records on Goldy's babies and they were between 330 and 390 grams at 2 weeks. By 4 weeks they were 550-675 grams.

I suspect these babies are so tiny because they were born feral, or at least outdoors. They were found in a wash with their mother dead. I didn't get a lot of details, don't know exactly what happened to the mother, but she couldn't have died long before the kittens were found. They are all very active and seem to be healthy with no URI or goopy eyes.

They all seem to be at different stages with their eating. The smallest boy doesn't want anything to do with the wet food, but he loves his bottle. I've been stopping him after about an ounce (30ml) because his tummy gets so tight. The other two brown tabbies eat some of the wet food and then come running to top it off with 10-15ml of KMR. The tortie girl eats the wet food, without getting quite as messy as the others, and wants nothing to do with the bottle. She's the biggest kitten so I'd say that's working for her. The little red boy goes swimming in the food. He comes out completely covered in gunk. Now if he would just groom himself he'd probably get a whole meal that way. He acts like he wants the bottle afterward, but he's so uncoordinated. He just bites at the nipple and barely gets anything except what I squeeze into his mouth.

I'll be weighing them before their next feeding to see if they're gaining weight. The only one who doesn't seem to be getting all he wants is the little brown tabby boy, and that's just because I stop him. I'll try letting him take as much as he wants next time and see how that goes. Maybe I can stretch out the time between feedings.

The people at the shelter told me to feed them every 4 hours, which is part of the reason I was concerned about overfeeding them. They did go 6 hours through the night and seemed perfectly content until I got the food out, and then they went nuts trying to get at it.

I posted more pictures of them here in the Fur Pictures forum.

" He acts like he wants the bottle afterward, but he's so uncoordinated. He just bites at the nipple and barely gets anything except what I squeeze into his mouth."

The people at the shelter told me to feed them every 4 hours, which is part of the reason I was concerned about overfeeding them. They did go 6 hours through the night and seemed perfectly content until I got the food out, and then they went nuts trying to get at it.
 

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It sounds as the hole in the nipple is to small for him. Or possibly he dont have patience enough to draw in the thin flow.   If you have several nipples, and can have one for him, you can try and make the hole a little bigger.  Otherwise, try with a dropper.  It is easier for them.

Do sleep your 6 hours at the night.  In the wild  the mom is often away several hours, if she needs to.

As long as you can compensate it with regular feeding rest of the day, it shouldnt be any problem.

Good luck!

StefanZ said:

It sounds as the hole in the nipple is to small for him. Or possibly he dont have patience enough to draw in the thin flow.   If you have several nipples, and can have one for him, you can try and make the hole a little bigger.  Otherwise, try with a dropper.  It is easier for them.

Do sleep your 6 hours at the night.  In the wild  the mom is often away several hours, if she needs to.
As long as you can compensate it with regular feeding rest of the day, it shouldnt be any problem.

Good luck!

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I had already cut a larger hole in the nipple because the one it comes with is too small for any of the kittens. The red boy has finally figured out the sucking part even though he's still pretty sloppy. I have to work to keep the nipple in his mouth because he kneads at the bottle the way he would mom and pushes it away.

The tortie girl weighed the same today and the red boy lost a little, but the other three all gained weight. The little boy who never thought he got enough actually gained the most. :lol3: He's been stopping himself at about an ounce all day today, so I don't think I was shorting him too much.

Stefan, I didn't get to sleep the 6 hours last night because I got called in to work. I just told them I couldn't work more than 4 hours at a time.

GoldyCat said:

I had already cut a larger hole in the nipple because the one it comes with is too small for any of the kittens. The red boy has finally figured out the sucking part even though he's still pretty sloppy. I have to work to keep the nipple in his mouth because he kneads at the bottle the way he would mom and pushes it away.

The tortie girl weighed the same today and the red boy lost a little, but the other three all gained weight. The little boy who never thought he got enough actually gained the most.

He's been stopping himself at about an ounce all day today, so I don't think I was shorting him too much.

Stefan, I didn't get to sleep the 6 hours last night because I got called in to work. I just told them I couldn't work more than 4 hours at a time.

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Be sure to keep an eye on them.  If they stay the same or lose two days in a row that's a really bad sign.  You can try using your finger to put a little of the food and KMR mixture in their mouths.  

Also, you only have them till tomorrow but usually, if I am satisfied they are doing okay after week one, I go ahead and sleep 8 hours a night as long as I can feed them regularly during the day.  In your case since 2 of them are not gaining I would not recommend that, but where they are all gaining it is okay.  As StefanZ says, mom will leave them for hours and hours in the wild.  

tulosai said:

GoldyCat said:

I had already cut a larger hole in the nipple because the one it comes with is too small for any of the kittens. The red boy has finally figured out the sucking part even though he's still pretty sloppy. I have to work to keep the nipple in his mouth because he kneads at the bottle the way he would mom and pushes it away.


The tortie girl weighed the same today and the red boy lost a little, but the other three all gained weight. The little boy who never thought he got enough actually gained the most. :lol3: He's been stopping himself at about an ounce all day today, so I don't think I was shorting him too much.


Stefan, I didn't get to sleep the 6 hours last night because I got called in to work. I just told them I couldn't work more than 4 hours at a time.

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Be sure to keep an eye on them.  If they stay the same or lose two days in a row that's a really bad sign.  You can try using your finger to put a little of the food and KMR mixture in their mouths.  

Also, you only have them till tomorrow but usually, if I am satisfied they are doing okay after week one, I go ahead and sleep 8 hours a night as long as I can feed them regularly during the day.  In your case since 2 of them are not gaining I would not recommend that, but where they are all gaining it is okay.  As StefanZ says, mom will leave them for hours and hours in the wild.  

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They all gained weight today. The little red boy gained what he's lost plus some extra. He's still pretty uncoordinated with his eating, but at least he's getting more on the inside than the outside now.

The shelter found someone to take them over the weekend while I'm out of town, but I'll be getting them back Sunday evening. I don't know how long I'll have them after that. Probably at least until they're all weaned off the bottle.

They seem to be happy going 5-6 hours between feedings right now, although I may try feeding them a little more often during the day and leave them longer at night next week.

I was away for the weekend and another shelter volunteer took the kittens home with her. I got them back yesterday afternoon, and I'm concerned that the other person didn't really pay enough attention to the individual kittens to be sure they were all getting enough to eat. Nobody lost weight, but two of them gained only about 10gm over the two days.

She said she fed them every six hours, but she just put some KMR in a dish for them instead of offering a bottle to top them off after they finished playing in their food. The first time I fed them they acted like they were starving, and ate about 50% more than they had been for me.

The littlest boy still won't touch the kitten food in a dish so she did bottle feed him, but didn't tell me how much he took each time. He gained 70gm over the two days! I weighed him three time just to make sure I was seeing the numbers correctly. However, I noticed that he's constipated now which could account for some of the weight. He was straining really hard and just couldn't push the poop out. Then he sat down and tried to scrape it off and ended up with litter stuck to his butt. Poor baby. He really wasn't happy with the butt wash. :lol3:

I've heard of kittens getting constipated when they're on KMR exclusively. I've started giving him extra water in his bottle between regular feedings. If that doesn't work I thought I might try canned pumpkin. Is he too young for that? I know he wouldn't need much. I thought maybe 1/4 teaspoon mixed in an ounce of water to make a slurry he can drink from the bottle. Would that amount once a day be enough or should I give him more (or less)?

I think you can try now with the pumpkin, as they are 5 weeks. Begin with a small dose, and if not enough you can add some more later.

Some try also with a couple of drops of food oil.

Good luck!

Success! About 4 hours after the first dose of pumpkin little boy had a normal stool. Gotta love TCS. Where else can you find people who get excited about cat poop?

The other four have been eating more wet food and lapping up a little formula from a dish, but little boy kept demanding his bottle. He wouldn't even lick off the wet food that I rubbed on his lips. Then yesterday afternoon I had let the kittens out to run around and didn't put them back in their cage before I fed my cats their wet food. Little boy came running in, stuck his head right under Iris's nose and started chowing down. Iris was so sweet, she just sat back and let him eat her food. He finished off at least a tablespoon and then drank his formula from a dish instead of the bottle.