HELP! First time kitten mom

sarthur2 said:

How are mom and kittens today? How are YOU holding up?
Let us know the weights when you have them today.

Click to expand...

Sarthur2 I am doing Good. very very tired haha. Never done this before so I am loving all the advice I am getting so I can do the best for the kittens and mama. I am waiting for mama to take her next break so I can weigh all the babies! I can defiantly see them growing and they are adorable.

post pics!

Each group is to be left with mom to nurse for two hours. Then switch groups. Then, after 2 hours, switch groups again. And so on, every two hours.

Let everyone suck from their favorite nipple. They have already chosen and won't change now.

Start supplementing Little Gray now. You have to do it. Follow the instructions we gave you yesterday and get 2 mL in him every two hours.

Post weights as soon as you can. We need to see who needs what.

When you pull them for the rotation switch, it's normal for the whining to start, not that they're hungry again, just want to be with momma.

Most of the nursing time is not really sucking at all, but nurturing time.

Every 2 hours is sufficient, hourly is a bit much actually, for you at least!

It takes 2 hours for the milk to fully digest and be gone from their bodies, which is why bottle fed only babies are fed every 2 hours

So I got the weights for the white kittens, as the mama is feeding the gray group but I have to start with the weights again for the white kittens because I couldn't tell them apart like I did yesterday. Any tips on how to mark each kitten different? They are all white with no markings.
as for the rotating the gray group does great waiting behind mama while the white group feeds but the white group will NOT sleep or hang out by mama while the grays eat. They all want a nipple. I have tried moving them out the box but mama will NOT have it. what is the best way to make sure each group gets their own turn?
Here's the white kittens weight

Poopie: 4.2
Leftie: 3.6
Neck: 3.8
Wittle: 3.4

Wittle is my second runt, he is the smallest of the whites but I'm not sure which kittens are which from yesterday which I knows does not help [emoji]128533[/emoji]

All the babies napping after meal time.

On the bottom starting from the right you have
Tiger, little gray, multi, white, and other Tiger

Top you have
whitie, halfie, white and then another white hidden below haha.

It appears that overall the white kittens have not lost any weight, and at least one gained. Hard to know since they are not marked

I want to see if catwoman707 thinks they need supplementing, and her tips for telling them apart. Sit tight on this until she checks in.

In the meantime, have you been able to feed Little Gray supplemental formula yet?

I know you're tired! The kittens are adorable!

I weighed the gray kittens and here's their Weight

Multi Color: 3.7 (3.4 yesterday)
Dark Face: 3.6 (3.5 yesterday)
Light Paws: 4.1 (3.9 yesterday)
Dark Paws: 4.2 (3.8 yesterday)
Little Gray: 2.9 (2.7 yesterday)

I know at this point I will defiantly start supplementing little gray, I just wanted to hold off and see if he was getting enough from the mama. I am still having troubling with my white kittens rotating. They will not let just the grays eat.
I have also started helping mama with stimulating the little ones to go because I think she is overwhelmed with how many she has. She does help but some kittens get covered in the pee or poop from the siblings. Would taking a damp warm washcloth and wiping them off be allowed? I don't wanna do anything to upset mama or the babies.

Thanks guys!

Are these measurements in ounces?

Yes you can help mom w/the cleaning.  Some thinks use cotton balls or something similar.  Gently rub their tummy and tap near their bum. Not wet, just damp.  Make sure the kittens don't get too wet and therefore cold.

Decent weight gains. Not optimum, but at least a tiny gain considering there are nine of them.

Yes, please take a warm, damp cloth and stimulate them all and wipe them all. It is clearly too big a job for mama.

You need to feed this gray kitten asap!

You will have to take the whites and gray and put them in a box and take them into another room. Nobody is going to like it, but nobody else - big or little - is going to gain weight otherwise, because the whites are encroaching on the others' nursing time.

While they are away, this is when you will feed each of the whites and gray, and burp and potty them.

Do the same with the bigger ones when it's not their turn to nurse. Feed them and clean them.

You really can't delay feeding the gray kitten any longer, and the whites need it too.

Do you have anyone who can help you with an additional syringe? You need help.

Let us know how it goes.

It's common and normal for babies in their very first day to stay the same weight and even lose some.

So don't be alarmed just yet.

However little gray baby was forced to use the least popular nipple, poor little bug, so that will be the chosen one, so you're def going to be supplementing soon.

Tmrw should bring better gains, day 2. We can determine who besides LG then. 

You do want to be able to tell them apart at this point for monitoring weights.

One way is to clip fur, for instance, if there are 4 whites, clip fur above one's right hind leg, another the left side, the third above the tail, and fourth not at all.

I don't care for hair ties around the neck.

You can take nail polish and mark the tip of the tail, you can take food coloring and a q-tip and swab some in the armpit, you can take a sharpee marker and put a dot above a tail, 2 dots above another, etc.

Soon though you will see the diff, they will start to take on their own individualities, etc.

BTW, I have seen countless kitten litters, and I can tell you have a very, very cute bunch there, they are going to be very nice looking kids!

I finally marked the white ones to tell them apart so tomorrow I'll be able to tell who's who. As for feeding, I've started to with little gray and waiting to see about the whites tomorrow.
I have been trying to feed little gray but I think my syringes might be too big. I'm going to attach below.
I got the syringes at Walmart because for some reason my two pet stores only carry the bottle or eye droppers.

The syringes. If too big I can go buy some smaller ones. Would vet clinics have them?
thank you guys!

They look too big.  Here is a pic of 1 ml syringes that I got from my vet.  You can ask st the walmart or another pharmacy for the smaller one.

do you have an eye dropper you can use?  Not as easy as the syringe but might be easier than the large ones you have.

For now, if the brown one (5ml) is new or nearly new so that the plunger glides very smoothly and easily, you can always use that until you get the 1 ml size. The smaller it is, the more control you will have with the plunger and control the amt that goes in.

If you question how easily it glides, you can always swirl the plunger rubber part in butter.

How is it going today? Did you get some food in Little Gray? I am anxious to see weights now that you have marked your white kittens.

Yes, 1-mL syringe from a pharmacy is best. Smaller is better for a tiny kitten mouth.

How are you holding up?

Waiting on mama to take her next break so I can get the little ones weigHed. Everyone is still going strong at the moment! We had a rough night last night with the feedings, but everyone is getting the hang of things.
I got a 1ml syringe and trying to feed little gray, but he will NOT lay still for me. I am able tO get maybe half a mL in him because he's constantly meowing and mama gets upset. I have tried wrapping him in a towel but his little legs always gets free and I don't want to be too rough with him. Is there anything I can add to the syringe tip that will make him want to suckle or at least sit still long enough for me to get 2 ml in him?

You can try putting the nipple on it from the nurser bottle. It worked for one of our posters. Can you take him to a different room to feed him?

Also, are you taking him and the whites to a different room when it's the other half's turn to nurse?

Sorry for your rough night. Do you have any help?

Another poster has suggested gently holding the kitten down on/against the table.  Guess you would use the floor? so momma doesn't worry.