5 abandoned kittens!!

Tonight yes, I usually feed them 5ml, toilet & weigh them and then continue their feed but tonight tiredness got me doing everything the wrong way round so they got fed around an hour or so before I weighed them,I realise this will have affected the huge gains but I think even had I waited the couple of hours they would have still been good ones, will weigh again in the morning before a feed and see what the scales say! They really are getting noticeably bigger and are much more alert and interactive now, kinda loving being a kitten mum

The point of feeding every two hours is to allow them to gain more weight faster - especially the tiny girl. It worked.

You can go back to 3 hours and see where they are tomorrow. I was primarily concerned with the tiny one, but it sounds like they are all hungry, so try upping the mL amount every 3 hours.

Hi everyone, my kittens are 3 weeks old today and its now 13 days since Mummy cat went out, she still hasn't came home and although we haven't given up hope its looking a lot less likely she will come home now.

The kittens are doing so well!! They all have teeth, they are up and walking really well and are so so playful, they are just so so much fun to watch at the moment, each has its own little personality developing and that is so cute to see. We have decided to keep 2 of the kittens, a black girl and a grey girl, I will be hugely sad to see the other 3 going although I know they are all going to fantastic homes. One to my husbands Aunt & Uncle, One to one of my friends/neighbour and one to a family friend. They all very much want these kittens as to put off people only interested in the cuteness of a kitten I have charged quite a high price for these little oness, partly because they are costing me so much money at the moment but also I know if people are prepared to pay a high price for them they really do want them and will take care of them.

I have a couple of questions, at what age should they be going to new homes? Here in the UK seems to be the norm but to me that just seems so young, so far I haven't given a date out to there new owners I have just said when the vet agrees they are ready. (I am happy for them to be here as long as is needed to be best for them)

Next question, whilst feeding the kittens I always have a dish of milk sitting next to me that I can refill the syringe with, last night the kittens decided they couldn't be bothered waiting their turn for the syringe and all 5 of them lapped the milk up from the dish, I can not tell you how proud I was!! Is this a sign they are ready to move on to a little bit of kitten food? At the moment we are feeding every 3 hours, and a minimum of 20ml per kitten at each feed. My grey boy can easily take 30 mosts feeds, he is my big giant!!

So if now is the right time to try with kityen food or even if I need to wait how do we add that in to the feeding routine we have? I know with human babies you givr them the milk they would normally have then offer them bits of food to try, as an extra rather than instead of their milk, I really have no ideas how to wean kittens!

An lastly is there any time I can increase the hours between feeds? Not so much during the day but at night time? If not I'm not too worried, I think my body is now used to waking every two hours lol

Thanks in advance for replies

this is such a terrific update.  I am calling on @sweetlynn86 to offer advice on weaning since I know she has hand reared many kittens.

Yes you can slowly start to introduce wet food mixed with kmr, but I would get the mini litter  boxes ready first.

We recommend not re-homing until minimum of 8 weeks. Longer if mom is around to teach kitten manners, though interaction with one another would still be desirable up to 10-12 weeks.

It sounds as though you have found terrific homes for the kittens! I think the re-homing fee is a terrific way to go as well. No need to justify it - kittens are a ton of expense and labor .

They can begin to transition to mush as soon as they will. Softening kitten chow with formula, and mixing a pate-like wet cat food with formula into a slurpy mash are the way to go. Putting it on a paper plate or other flat plate makes it easier for the kittens to reach.

They will walk in it, mind you, and make a huge mess for you to clean up, but this is how they learn. You will need to begin introducing the litter pan now as well. This means actively putting them in it before and after every meal and any ither time you see a kitten preparing to "go"!

I think offering a dish of kitten milk for them to lap several times a day is terrific! Just keep track of who is taking in the most mush and milk and who is not, and only supplement those who need it. I believe that over the next week you will have all of the kittens transitioned just beautifully! be sure they have 24-7 access to fresh food and water now.

Thanks for the replies

I have bought a shallow baking tray to use as a litter tray while they are still small, the smallest kitten trays in the pet shop were far too deep! I think I will need to rethink there living space, at the moment they are in a high sided box in my dining/play room although they have plenty of room in the box there definitely isn't enough room for them to have a litter box and food in there, hmm! We have lots of the boxes I wonder if I could cut the insides off them and have 4 together to make a big space for them, they are just so little at the moment I dont feel comfortable with them having access to the full room.

I will definitely be keeping them here till 10 weeks at the very least, I have put so much time and effort into them there is just no chance they will be leaving until they are absolutely ready. I have no idea how I will fil my time when they are gone, they have taken over my life at the moment! My poor hubby is on pre deployment leave as he goes away on Wednesday, we had so much planned and have had to cancel everything due to not being able to be away from home for more than 2 hours, crazy times!

Well, life happens when you least expect it to!

The kittens will be less time-consuming once they are self-feeding, which should be happening any day now. And you're keeping two, so they will still have you plenty busy!

I think cutting down the boxes to make a larger play area is a good idea. Or is your space such that a strategically placed baby gate might suffice?

Hi everyone, thought I'd check in with a kitten update seen as they are now 4 weeks and 2 days old, still no sign of mum cat She has been gone 3 weeks yesterday
After my last post we decided they needed more space so I put my hubby to work with a heap of boxes, we ended up with a huge safe area for them around 2 metres by 2 metres, they have so much space now its fantastic!

I come on here and read quite often and I realise I am so luckiky as these babies have taken to everything like a dream, we started them on wet kitten food with kmr mixed in and they loved it! So now they get fed wet food 4 times a day, bowls of milk down for them at the same time as the wet food and just a couple of days ago introduced royal canin baby cat dry food for them which they love, we have that down for them all the time so they can help themselves. Weaning them has just gone like a dream!

They are such confident social little babies and love attention off anyone who will give it to them, including my black lab they are hilarious with her, they swat her on the face then run away under her legs and if she gets up to move they follow her like she is their Mum! We have decided which 2 kittens we are keeping, we did have homes for the other 3 but I have decided against letting one of them have a kitten. Its a family friend so slightly awkward but they grumbled a little about the price I was charging, which I openly admit is a high price for a kitten but these babies are worth it and if they would rather a free/cheap kitten I would much prefer them not to have one of mine! He is a stunning grey boy so I will have no worries finding the right home for him. Its going to be a sad day when I have to let them all go, still undecided when that is going to be. Having these kittens has absolutely exhausted me but it has been so amazing, I wish I had kept a time log of howmany hours I have had t put in with them and how hard it has been at times as I think it would make brilliant video to show just how importantit is to spay your cat!!

This is a fabulous update! You are very lucky that everything has gone so smoothly. Much of it can be attributed to all of your dedication to putting so much time in.

I think your fee is entirely appropriate, and do not blame you one bit for not allowing the person who grumbled to not have one of your kittens. That would not set well with me either.

Are the kittens doing well with the litter box now too?

I would love to see a picture of the cardboard space?  And pictures of the kittens too.

Handsome Kitty said:

this is such a terrific update.  I am calling on @sweetlynn86
to offer advice on weaning since I know she has hand reared many kittens.

Yes you can slowly start to introduce wet food mixed with kmr, but I would get the mini litter  boxes ready first.

Click to expand...

I'm so sorry handsome kitty. I'm confused why I was just informed I had been tagged. Usually I get notifications right away but it didn't come through. Very odd.

The litter training was the one thing I thought we were going to have trouble with but after a few days of weeing all over the place they seem to have cracked it! I have 2 trays in there that I placed over where they were weeing and they are definitely using one of them, I actually seen my grey boy go in and dig earlier Very proud moment haha!!
I am just about to go in and feed and clean them so will grab some pics of there box pen! Will leave you npw with a pic of the littlest girl who had me worried a few times byt is now the cheekiest funniest out of them all

Oh, that is such an adorable little face .

Yes although dont let her sweet fave fool you, she is one determined clever little kitty!! She was the last tp be born and I had to cut her cord, sad she isn't staying with us but she is going to an amazing home in the countryside with my husbands uncle, his wife and 3 kids she is going to be so spoilt I can just tell by how excited they are!! Really couldn't be happier with her new home. They email almost every day asking for pics and asking questions, whereas the other potential owner just doesn't seem all that interested in anything except how much they cost and when will they be 'ready' I would rather face the wrath of my husband and keep the little guy than have him going to a home which I have doubts abou

Our little homeless guy!

It does sound like she will be spoiled rotten! There are far worse fates in life .

There's no rush on the little guy. That person doesn't sound like an appropriate adopter at all! I'm glad you trust your instincts!

You should see if your husband's uncle will take him.  Two kittens are better than one!

I have asked them about taking two as thet really do have the perfect house/garden for cats but they definitely only want one, I'm not worried at all he is a gorgeous boy and I know someone who deserves him will come along. Worst case scenario he stays here with his two sisters and gets spolit by us till we find his new family I've said from the start I dont want to advertise them on a pet site, I know enough people that I should be able tp find someone even a friend of a friend, I'd like to know I will always be able to check up on them and find out how they are doing,so no strangers for my babies! Funnily he is my hubbies favourite so maybe if he is still here in a few months when my hubby gets home he will be allowed to stay

I hope he might stay too! Time wil tell!