4 kittens and one looks as though it is going to die

My pregnant cat escaped and had her kittens. We couldn't find where she had the kittens. We tried to follow her and she was too cleaver and wouldn't lead us to them. She would come home daily to eat. She didn't return for a couple days, at least we didn't see her. We left food out for her, we thought that she was coming home at night to eat. Our neighbor showed up this evening with her in a trap. He said he had trapped her twice and that he had her all day. We let her go and she went strait to her kittens. There were 4 kittens. We brought them home and she appears to be feeding them and helping them potty. I am concerned one kitten is half the size of the others. He is strong enough to find a nipple and suckle, but he seems sickly. I also wonder how long she had been away from them. I am worried that she isn't producing enough milk. She doesn't seem to be full of milk. How do I tell if she is producing enough milk. Taking her to a vet is not an option for us right now. I am worried that the kitten went too long without food. I am worried she isn't producing milk. The kittens seem to cry a lot.

How long can kitten survive without nursing? If she has lots of food and water will she produce enough milk. The kittens are about 3 weeks old.

The kittens are quiet when they are latched. They are purring too. Should I assume they are happy?

They are happy kittens until the mom gets up to eat and drink. The kittens follow her around and cry. Once she lays down they latch on again and seem happy. This has been going for an hour and a half.

You could try giving Mum some KMR to boost her milk intake. If you don't have that goats milk is good, but not cow milk as this will upset her stomach. You can get canned food that is designed for nursing mothers and helps them produce all the nutrients they need. Not sure what is available in your area, but you could call a vet and ask what they suggest. They won't charge for answering a question over the phone like that.

As long as all the kittens are drinking from Mum it should be OK. Just feed her as much as she will eat at this stage as it will all get sucked out of her right away.

It is good that you found your mother cat and her kittens.  Do what Norchan says and try to boost what mom is eating and drinking as much as you can as that will help all of the kittens.  Also check and make sure the little one is getting a chance to suckle, he or she maybe needs a little longer than the others if they are on a nipple higher on her body where they will not get quite so much nourishment.  Fingers crossed for all of them to do well now.

You may also want to supplement the little one with some Kitten milk replacer of his own.  This would involve you syringe feeding him every 4 hours or so while you are awake just to help make sure he is getting enough.  If you are in the USA you can find a syringe at most major drugstores (CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid) or bigger mega stores (Target, Walmart) or even some big grocery stores, usually in the baby section.  at that point you would just put some KMR into the syringe and feed the kitten as much as it will eat.  You do this by putting him in the same position he is in when feeding from mom (so stomach down, head tilted only EVER so slightly up) and placing the syringe in his cheek (this is also  very important, you do not want it down the throat) and squeezing a little bit at a time into his cheek until he will not take any more. If you can't find a syringe you can also try a dropper but this goes a lot slower. This will be a bit time consuming but is not difficult and could really make a big difference for this little guy.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

Thank you! I was up most the night worried they were not getting milk. They are still alive so they must be getting something. Right? I will see where I can get some replacer. It has been 12 hours and it seems they constantly want to suckle. Poor little dears!

Replacer is at any Target or Walmart if you are in the USA, as well as a smattering of larger grocery stores and, again, some CVS/Walgreens/other places of that type.  It is not especially difficult to find. One thing to make sure though is that you are getting kitten milk replacer, not kitten milk or sometimes the label will say milk for kittens, which is just a treat.

Good luck and continue to keep us updated!