Feral/Stray Momma Cat

The good news is that at 117 grams he weighs about 4 ounces, which is slightly above average for a newborn kitten. This makes the other two regular little chubs!

The question is whether he's actually nursing or not.

Hurray!

Did you use the nurser or syringe?

And I take it he didn't fight you that time, so he obviously needs food.

Give him another 1 ml and I'll figure out your schedule in the meantime.

Did you burp him and stimulate him? Did he pee or poo or did mom lick him when you put him back?

The rule of thumb is 8 ml's per ounce. He weighs about 4 ounces, so he needs 32 ml's in a 24-hour period. If we break that into 12 feedings - one every two hours - he needs 2.7 ml's at each feeding in order to gain weight.

If he can't hold that much at one feeding, he'll need half of 2.7 ml's every hour. Feed, burp, stimulate.

I am suggesting that you try putting him to mom's nipple before each feeding to see if he latches first. If not, feed.

This could be a long night for you.

I used the syringe but will be using the nurser in hopes that it stimulates his suckle a little more. He was suckling on the syringe after a bit of coaxing. I burped him and then latched him back to mom. I will stimulate next time (petting and warm wet cloth on the behind, right?)

I will put him to nipple before feedings too. A long night indeed. I've been through worse on deployments myself (prior service) and I'm in grad school right now so I have plenty of homework to occupy my time to tonight with the little one asleep.

She came to me for help, and I have identified the problem with the runt. I can't not do something for him!

Excellent thoughts about using the nurser. You'll have him latched and suckling from mama in no time!

Yes to the stimulating question.

I love your attitude! And thank you for your service too!

Grad school homework - that is in my future soon too. Just set a clock for every hour in case you fall asleep. And if you can get the 2.7 ml's in him, you can get 2-hour breaks.

He should be sleeping lots between feedings. That's about all they do until their eyes open - nurse and sleep, nurse and sleep.

I'm on Eastern time and will be up for awhile. Which time are you on?

Thank you!

Grad school stinks! I'm on Central time [emoji]128522[/emoji] I'm sure y'all will be seeing a lot of me until I am baby-less. I don't know what I would have done without this forum. Haha! My husband was wondering who was helping me with all this!

I'll surely be setting alarms and making my own little den in that room. How long does this go on for? Assuming he starts to gain weight and latch better, just a night? I know if he stops latching all together I'm in big trouble.

I saw mama licking baby butts earlier so she's doing well there. I'm offering her food and KMR every time I see her. She has no interest in water or coming out of the kennel. I left the kennel open and wandered out of the room for a second (I have the door baby gated too) and she was ready to run out! So, I know she's going to have to get used to her new living arrangements regardless of whether she knows she's living the high life or not!

I hope the runt will be ok. I have no advice.. but I really wish you luck!

What are you studying?

Let me know how he likes the bottle.

Unfortunately, your picture is very dark. Is that the baby you're feeding? I can barely make it out.

Poor mama kitty. Her instinct is to run out. She should calm down over the next few days as she begins to trust you and adjust to being inside.

Don't forget to weigh all 3 babies in the morning.

How long this goes on depends on the little guy. When he is latching well and you're sure he's nursing is the real answer. He also needs to be gaining weight. In my experience, just a day or two is all it usually takes. Is he exhibiting more energy now? Rooting around at all?

I'm so glad you found the forum. It has been a pleasure assisting you today! Your husband will find this thread an interesting read when he gets the chance!

Hopefully it's not too dark. Those are the babies and momma is exploring her new surroundings. Feeding went well, I was able to stimulate and get him to go potty. He's doing a bit better, we'll see through the night how he does. The other two are so much more active compared to him so that has me worried.

I'm studying Psychology! Have my bachelors in child and family develipment

Good picture!

How much did he drink this time? Glad the bottle worked and that he went potty for you. You're doing a great job!

Is he refusing to latch at all?

My degree is similar: Human Development. I'm planning grad school too. You must be knee-deep in theories and writing lots of papers!

He did so good, almost 2 mL. He's nursing right now, I made sure I found a good teat for him and he's been eat/sleeping still latched. So happy for the little guy. Momma hasn't gone potty yet, she's not too sure about the litter box so I don't know what I can do to help there. She did dig around a little bit in it though. She's so happy. Ugh, my heart is full. I'll be checking on them every couple of hours through the night, but so far so good even for our little guy!

Yes papers galore. It's starting to feel like a lot of busy work...at this point I don't feel like I need to prove my ability to tolerate it!

This is sounding really good for the little guy! He may not need the supplemental feedings for long at all. We'll just need to make sure he is gaining weight when he's on mom only.

I'm wondering if you leave mom alone in the room for a while if she'll use the litter box when you're not in there. I do think she'll know to use it, but she may feel vulnerable with you right there the first time. Just a thought.

Did she drink any KMR?

I do hope you can lie in your own bed and get a couple of hours of sleep at some point tonight.

Second feeding tonight and he's suckling like a champ. I am brining him to teat though, and making sure at least for a good 10 minutes that nobody kicks him out. I found him earlier outside the damn kennel! I was in full on panic mode, poor guy.

Moms eating more and she drank a good bit of KMR too. I'm offering her food every time I go in because she's oblivious to the babies sometimes. Don't need one drowning in soft food. [emoji]128543[/emoji]

Other than that, all is well! I'll be trying to let her go potty by herself ('mama) I'm just afraid as soon as I open the door to go back in she's gonna scale the baby gate and ditch me with 3 kittens.

Just open the door very slowly.

So glad he is nursing the bottle well. I am wondering HOW he got out of the kennel. Do you think mama kitty put him out? I don't like that one bit!

Do you have her food and drinks in the room but outside the kennel?

When you say scale the baby gate, you mean get into the rest of the house and go hide, right?

You don't need to be feeding three of them!

She'd better not be rejecting the runt either!

Yeah that's what I mean by scale the baby gate!

Food and drinks are in the room (dry) and outside the kennel. She's eating the wet food (a couple tbsp) every time I go in just about.

The babies are doing pretty good, came in to find them rooting for mom but she wasn't too keen on getting them close to her and they were hungry!!! I just lined them up on her one by one and watched to make sure the runt was latched and doing well. The little sucking noises were so loud this time around! And so cute!!

Mama was happy and purring while I rubbed her head. She was just laying in my palm and purring away. So proud of her for being a tough girl.

I wish I knew what happened with the runt! I think maybe he wandered out but she didn't seem worried at all when it happened [emoji]128534[/emoji] he was hanging out with his siblings this time so only time will tell. Little guy gained 10g tonight. No nurser, just getting put to mom every few hours. Worked like a charm and our other two kiddos are getting huge!!

Wow! This is excellent news!

10 grams is right on target! No more bottle. It seems he just needed that boost - he was fading. Don't know that he would have lived otherwise - he was getting very weak.

Glad to hear the chubs are getting chubbier too. Out of curiosity and for the sake of comparison on behalf of the little guy, can you weigh them this morning? (What are they gaining on mom versus the little guy?)

Glad to hear that mom is eating and drinking. She sounds like she loves attention and petting from you. She'll turn into a house cat here shortly. Has she used the litter box yet?

So it looks like your job now is to make sure they are at mom's teats fairly often. Can you continue to weigh the little guy for a couple more days? They will likely be fine, but when a kitten takes a turn for the worse, they can go downhill very quickly.

Hope you got some sleep and some homework done through the night. By the time your husband comes home, the kittens will be super cute and playing/exploring like little fiends!

Thanks for the terrific reports!

Momma used the litter box this morning! So happy about that. She's eating a little here and there, and I try to offer her food often. I imagine she's stuffed! I'm just glad she's happy.

Our little runt baby (it's a girl) is doing so well. Rooting on her own and latching! I think going in every few hours to put her to the nipple helped her a lot. Our other two chubbers are a boy and a girl! I'm waiting to name them until they have a little more personality, but I have a feeling it'll be game of thrones inspired. [emoji]128541[/emoji]

Also, the husband said today "we'll talk about mama when I get home" about keeping her which is HUGE. I started to tear up. Just, the fact that he's open to it makes me so happy. If we can get her wel adjusted to our two dogs and kids. I'm sure he'll be okay with it (as long as his allergies cooperate) so anyone have advice on socialization for an older stray? She's well attached to me.

Wonderful morning! Hope y'all are having a great day so far!