help please! 12 days old kitten lost weight

Hello there!

I am having a situation, I have a litter of 5 kittens, they are 12 days old. I check weight once a day.

Today, just now... one kitten have lost 10 grams and a tiny bit of eye discharge. I cleaned eyes and put one drop of moxafloxacine and I  will give the kitten 5ml milk replacement. Should I also give oral antibiotics? Please help me with some advice for the situation I am in.

Thanks a lot.

Thank you for taking care of the kittens.

5 mL is not nearly enough for a feeding.  A twelve-day-old kitten should be taking a few tablespoons at each feeding time.  What is that kitten's body weight?

How often are you feeding them? 

You should not administer antibiotics, nor any other medicines, except as directed by a Veterinarian.  I strongly urge you to take them to a Veterinarian ASAP for evaluation and to get them medicine needed to head off common kitten illness.

Some questions:

Are you bottle feed these kittens or is the mom there?  How often are you feeding them?

Have you been weighing them everyday?  To figure out how much to feed them, multiply the kittens weight in ounces x 8ml/cc KMR and divide by the number of feedings in 24 hours

you need to see a vet for the kitten with the eye problem.  He needs antibiotics.

This kitten may have an upper respiratory infection (URI) and need an antibiotic. Or it may just need terramycin ointment for its eyes. However, since it could be contagious, it's best to see a vet asap and nip it in the bud. If any other kittens get it, your vet will know what's going on.

In the neantime, if he's lost that much weight, you've got a problem. He may have fever. You'll need to feed this kitten the correct amount of formula every 3-4 hours for now until he's better and is gaining weight again.

Which formula are you using? And did you use a syringe or bottle? Please let us know how he's doing.

Hi there, thanks to you all for your support...

Eye kitten is ok, no more discharge just that one time....  this kittens are fed by mom.... called the vet today and im gonna continue with moxafloxacine for 3 days one drop each 8hrs... no more symptoms yet.... have been feeding the kitten today with siringe.... only put 3grs on... i need to give him more milk....

I will come back in a few hours to let you all know how he is doing.... thanks again

Please do! Anxious about the little guy! I'm hoping he's eating well for you today. Glad you called the vet also. Hope that takes care of the problem.

Hello there! big stress

havent had time to sit down in the laptop till now..... the kitten is doing ok I guess, still alive, feeding each 5 hrs.... last 24 hours not gaining weight but not losing either.... weighting all the kittens now twice a day, just finished now to find out that 2 differents kittens are losing weight too in the last 12 hrs, one lost 3grs and the other one lost 6grs..... feeding them all after writing this post..... somethings is not right and I feel like it all could go down so rapidly....  any ideas what this could be???? no sneezing, no discharge, no other symptoms..... frustrating...... what is this??!!! anyone has any idea? other question.... if antibiotic needed which would be the safest choice for small kittens?

thank you all for your time

Did you call a vet yet?

@catwoman707 will have some good advice.

Depending on what it is, Clavamox is usually what is given for URIs.

How much are you feeding them at each feeding?  They should be eating ever 2 hours around the clock.  they may not be getting enough to eat.  Even if you need to wake them up to feed them, do it.

You need to see a vet. That's been the advice for 3 days now.

There is def something going on.

Either from mom, meaning not producing a decent amt of milk, or won't feed them for some reason.

OR it's the babies, not feeling well and not willing to nurse enough or as much as they were.

Either way it's the same solution, they must be supplemented from you.

You can determine what is enough by weighing them every 12 hours right now, they need to gain at least 8-10 grams a day.

You won't be feeding them what you would if they did not also have mom, but they clearly need help.

Feed 3 or more if possible mls every 3 hours, see if you get a gain from that the next weigh in.

If not increase the amt.

Using a small syringe be sure to put the formula in to their cheek area, small amts at a time.

You need to get this turned around ASAP. They are too young and still very fragile to be losing weight for more than even a day.