How to blend nursing families

I have a foster cat with 2 kits that are two weeks old and gaining 15-20g/day. Another person in my rescue has a foster cat with 9 kits that are slightly older but extremely tiny for their age.

In order to try and help the litter of 9, we decided to and put the two smallest in the best with my nursing queen.

Introductions seemed to go smoothly. Mama didn't look alarmed, the newbies nursed, the mixed litter of now 4 kittens slept in a pile.

Besides introduction of infection and subsequent disease risk to my existing healthy litter, what kinds of things should I look out for? Will a surrogate mom sometimes initially accept new kittens and then kick them out of the nest a few hours or days later?

Note: I have a previous thread but that is for a different nursing mom with two different kittens around the same age so that is why I started a new one.

The original two

I have heard of a mom refusing a couple of kittens after a couple of hours but it seems to be rare.  I would keep in eye on them for the first day or so.

The only other concern is to make sure the bigger kittens aren't pushing the smaller kittens off the nipples.

Now we have 4


The newbies are the solid grey kit and the black/white one. Black/white kitten I am most worries about in the long run because he's so incredibly small (and a little funny shaped). But most immediately I want to make sure it os safe to leave them with this new mom overnight.

She needs a bigger nest so she can stretch out when nursing.  You could supplement the two smaller ones in between feedings or put them to mom to encourage nursing more often.

I would check on them through the first night at least, but I'm a worrier.  Always hear meowing and the kittens are sleeping.

Handsome Kitty said:

I have heard of a mom refusing a couple of kittens after a couple of hours but it seems to be rare.  I would keep in eye on them for the first day or so.

The only other concern is to make sure the bigger kittens aren't pushing the smaller kittens off the nipples.

Click to expand...

The bigger kittens are the younger kittens that have been gaining 15-20g/day so I thought it might be OK if they have to struggle a little bit for the first time in their lives. Ha! But I'm weighing them daily and will step in immediately if they show any signs that they might not be thriving.

Handsome Kitty said:

She needs a bigger nest so she can stretch out when nursing.  You could supplement the two smaller ones in between feedings or put them to mom to encourage nursing more often.

I would check on them through the first night at least, but I'm a worrier.  Always hear meowing and the kittens are sleeping.

Click to expand...

Yes, I should totally give her a bigger nest! She has choices, but I'll put the bigger nest in this same place with her babies and hopefully she'll take to it.

Sorry I just assumed the new kittens were smaller.

Handsome Kitty said:

Sorry I just assumed the new kittens were smaller.

Click to expand...

They are. Sorry, I think I have even confused myself. The new kittens are smaller but older. . . Like over a week older...and fiesty! Because the new, smaller but older kittens are used to having to fight hard for a nipple they still had to share. And for that reason I thought it would be OK that my younger (but larger) original kittens might have to work for a snack every now and then.

With only four kittens they should not have to fight. [emoji]128522[/emoji]

sarthur2 said:

With only four kittens they should not have to fight. [emoji]128522[/emoji]

Click to expand...

...that's the hope!

How is the little "family" doing now?

mazie said:

How is the little "family" doing now?

Click to expand...

Acceptance by mama cat never ended up being a problem. Still having some growth issues with the newbies though so I am supplementing.

The surrogate mom who went from 2 kittens to 4 kittens quickly adjusted by having a third nipple produce lots of milk, but she has somehow stopped at 3. It doesn't bother mama at all, but one of the newbies and one of the originals have been getting into vicious fights and now that original kitten is losing weight!

This morning I decided to try something new. I took the newbie causing the trouble and moved him to a different nursing queen who only had two kits...we'll see how that goes.

This mama accepted her surrogate as quickly as the other mama...just hoping her original two are able to keep up...

Most worried about the little Black&white kitten that almost looks hydrocephalic to me. She weights 174g and is 3 weeks and 4 days old!! Sometimes I can't believe she is alive but she is very spunky and runs and is being supplemented by me with KMR in addition to loved on by her adopted kitty mama...so time will tell

Black&white kitten snuggling with her two week old adopted litter mates (litter mates are 1 week and 1 day younger but weigh double what she does)

so cute!  I love how the moms are just taking care of any kitten who comes their way.

I can see why you're worried about this kitten. Her body needs to grow more. Then her head would be more in proportion.

How much and how often are you supplementing her? She may need more. You may also want to get some high-calorie Nutrical paste for her, as well as Gerber turkey baby food.

In case anyone is going through old posts and looking for outcomes, I wanted to let you know that all of these kitties thrived and were adopted (including the two Mama kitties).

It's always refreshing to learn of positive outcomes! Thank you for the update! [emoji]128522[/emoji]