Foster Cat - Big LItter - SIgh

tracy826

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My latest foster cat is having her kittens this morning - six so far and she isn't done! The first six range in size from 2 to 2.6 ozs. She's a good mom though, doing great and wonderful instincts. But she was a stray and malnourished and I only had a little over a week to bring her back to health so it will be a battle for these poor little things. So sweet, mama and kitties.

Deep sigh. Wish us all luck!
 
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StefanZ

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If she gets more kittens, dont let her eat more placentas!!!

There is much nourishment in placentas, sometimes they cat moms get heavy diarrhea from too many placentas...

Good you do weigh them kittens. Continue with it every day - if possible in grammes, its easier to see the exact numbers.

The smallest are small, under 60 grammes, so you must be on your watch, probably be prepared to give them some extra nourishment.

- I have the impression you do know this already.

So get a good kmr or goat milk home, and suitable gears.  A dropper and bottle.

Get also dextrose (=glucose sugar). Useful in many emergencies.

Of course, be sure the mom gets first rate nourishment, although you surely know this too.   :)

Wet cat food, or dry kitten food.

You can give some kmr or goat milk to her too.

If salomonella in eggs in no problem at your place, so raw egg yolk with the food you give -

wet food or kmr or goat milk, is very useful...

Continue to report and ask!

Good luck!
 
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tracy826

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Thanks! All are doing pretty well this evening, wiggly and nursing well. Our final count was eight, all born live. Mama is being very attentive but seems a bit flustered at getting settled in with so many.

She's got dry food and water at hand constantly, she's getting wet food and bowls of KMR to supplement also. Thank you for the egg yolk suggestion; I get nice nutritious eggs straight from the farm. She has an abscess on her back to deal with also, so I'm cleaning that twice a day and she started an antibiotic now that she's delivered. The drainage from that is one more risk factor to worry about but we are doing our best.

I did re-weigh all of them in gr - one of the orange tabbies is just 49, everyone else is between 59 and 65. Keep your fingers crossed for this little family!

 

maewkaew

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 Wow  what a beautiful family.  Looks like 3 reds , 2 creams  , 1 black and 2 blues. Mama must be a tortie! 

They're all low birth weights   but with such a large litter from a malnourished stray cat that you've only had 1 week,  that is absolutely to be expected.  

I would bet your care during that crucial last week of gestation  made a difference that they were all born alive. 

 you are almost certainly going to need to supplemental feed   to help the mom out.   and  make sure everyone nurses enough.    Really  make sure that 49 gram baby is getting some time on a back nipple ( closest to her back legs) .   maybe watch for the others to be sleeping and put him on a nipple.  

Normally the advice we give is you want to see at least 10 grams weight gain  day.   but with these kittens that's not likely in the beginning since they are so small.   

 The first day any gain is good.   

Here is a link to some recipes for "kitten glop" .  you can give that to the mom too.   http://www.hdw-inc.com/glop.htm

 I would be feeding her wet food about 4 times a day plus have dry kitten food or "all life stages" food available.    Feed high protein, high fat and as low carb as possible.    She will need to eat a lot and if she eats a lot of food with plants that might cause loose poop.      If she does have that problem try a probiotic.  
 

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 you are almost certainly going to need to supplemental feed   to help the mom out.   and  make sure everyone nurses enough.    Really  make sure that 49 gram baby.....   If she [mom]  does have that problem try a probiotic.  
Nicely put, Maew.

I second the suggestion of probiotic. She gets antibiotics now for her wound/abcess. And antibiotics tend to make stools loose, even diarrheatic, as they damage the natural bacterial flora in intestines.

So some good, mild human probiotic is useful. Thay say even better than probiotics made for animals.  Even common, unsweetened, plain youghurt is OK. If you find some youghurt with added bifidus and acidophilus bacteria,  plain, and preferably full fat, (no low fat variations), it should do the trick.   Such a youghurt is also a decent extra source of calcium.

And again, if you can get goat milk, give it to the mom as extra calcium and protein source which is easy to use.   Or use  this good kmr you are already using, for her too.

Watch out extra with this 49 grammes, it IS very little even critical. 

But he is basically sound and healthy, so there is a good chance, like all the others.

Good luck!
 
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tracy826

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I didn't even think of probiotic with the antibiotic - thank you. I have some on hand. I've used probiotics with cats with great success so many times, but vets I've worked with seem to rarely recommend it.

And you are right - mama is a gorgeous tortie!

This morning all 8 are wiggly and warm. I gave the runty one a 12 hour weight check, he is 52 gr at the moment.
 

maewkaew

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 That's very good he has put on 3 grams in 12 hours on colostrum.   he may be the tiniest of the tinies,  but he clearly is strong enough he is nursing well.    Go Little Red Boy!   & your 7 bros & sisters

& gorgeous tortie mama
 

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They are so pretty!!!!

Well done to you and Mama Cat for taking such good care of them.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you all.
 
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tracy826

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Still 8 for 8 at the 48 hour mark. Mama cat (we call her Mem) is terrific, quite devoted. She eats her food as quickly as possible to rush back to them, and hovers when I go in and weigh them. I wish they were gaining a bit faster, but the general trend is upwards. Quite the little family.
 

maewkaew

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 That is wonderful to hear all 8 have made it for 48 hours!     Sounds like Mem is a wonderful mom and that is sure what they need!     I am just glad to hear you're seeing a general trend upwards.    Her milk is now going to start having more calories  so hopefully you will see some improved gains.       but it is normal for small kittens not to put on the 10 grams a day at first. 
 
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tracy826

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Day 3 and still going strong. Everyone is up in weight this morning, some more than others. Two of the reds and the black one started out smaller and are a little slower to gain so I try to put them on Mom ahead of the others and in a good position. I'm giving her as much to eat as she will take too and offerings as appetizing as I can find since she is looking so thin - have to hit up our local farmer for some fresh nutritious eggs this weekend since she loves the yolk I'm giving her daily. She's ravenous - can't blame her!

Taking my best educated guess at sex - which is not easy at this size - I may have one red female, the biggest red, and she may be the only female in the whole bunch! I could certainly be wrong since it's so early but I have a pretty good track record at this kind of thing. We shall see! That's one of the fun parts!
 
 

sugarsandz

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I'm so glad they are all doing well, keep us updated! I couldn't imagine eight kittens lol, the cat we took in had six and they are going everywhere at five weeks of age. You are awesome!
 
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tracy826

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Five days old and here's the crew with Mem. The black one and the smallest red are having a little trouble so they are getting KMR supplement every few hours, 2 ml for the black and 1 ml for the red since he's not doing quite so bad on his own. The black one got some nutrical yesterday also and this morning he's sucking the KRM from the syringe so strongly he once pulled the plunger down on his own. Seems like a good sign :)

Today I'm going to try taking the three biggest ones out for a couple short periods of time to give the smalls a chance to nurse with less competition, if Mem allows. She won't settle with them away from her in the room - she hovers while I'm supplementing and watches me. So I have them tucked in a box with a warm rice sock in the next room and she's quiet in there so I hope she's nursing the others! (The pen is in the picture with those three for perspective - these are the 'big' ones!)

Still - all 8 at day 5 seems good! Keep good thoughts for the black one because against my recommendation he's the only one with a name - my son gave it to him, Gouto, from a video game. (My son is 19 and has autism. He's a total animal person with an amazing gift for calming them as much as they calm him - cats, dogs, rats, rabbigs, guinea pigs, you name it.)


 

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Thanks for sharing!  I"m glad to get to see the lovely Mem .   I think it's  a good idea to separate some kittens to give the tinies a chance to nurse with less competition.   &  someone needs to watch that to make sure they are indeed nursing. 
 
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tracy826

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Officially 1 week and everyone is doing great! Only the little black one hasn't doubled his birth weight, but he has gained a lot the last two days. These guys are going to be fun in a couple of weeks when they start going everywhere. They are in a barely used bathroom right now but I like to let them have a bigger room when they get older for exercise. I need to get some of my older fosters adopted soon!
 
 

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Momma cat seems to have big paws.  It is just the perspective in the photo, or is she perhaps polydactyl (extra toes)?  

Are any of the kittens too?

Im happy for the continuing positive news - which is in much your vigilant work for it, together with the heroine mom.

Good luck!
 
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tracy826

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She tends to spread her front paws wide and knead at the bedding when all the kittens are very active and just starting to nurse. I wonder if it's just her reaction to the frantic activity around her? She settles when they settle. It's unusual in my experience, but she's never disturbed the kittens. I think I'd be a little jittery in her shoes!
 
 

maewkaew

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I have seen mother cats also knead while the kittens are nursing ( and kneading) . it's kind of cute.   like they are remembering nursing when they were kittens themselves. 
 

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I do hope these little 'octo-kittens' are still doing well.  Would love to see an update now they are about to turn 3 weeks!
 
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tracy826

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Hey guys! Yes, all 8 are doing pretty well! Life has just been busy around here in so many ways. There is one little guy who is needing quite a bit of supplement due to the competition - not one of the original two runts interestingly, but one of the little grey fellows. As of tonight one grey one is literally twice the size of the other. But they are still growing steadily and looking healthy. They opened their eyes between 13 and 15 and still don't have any teeth yet so maybe they were a bit premature also. But quite a strong and happy crew. We are working on names as we get more sure of the genders. I think we are going with a Peanuts gang theme. We have a Peppermint Patty, a Schroeder, a Linus - and one little guy who was also on KMR supplement who got a touch of the runs and earned the name Pig Pen.
 
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