Pregnant kitty's water broke... Help?

My cat never made a sound, only to meow at me if I moved too far away. Each cat is different.

How's it going?

Tigger had 6 kittens in all two days ago, however one unfortunately died this morning. It was one of two kitties who just seemed a little off. They were so much tinnier than their litter mates and I had to be the one to stimulate their breathing as Tigger ignored them. We knew something was wrong then and there. The two kitties had a lot of trouble feeding off of Tigger, and when we tried to bottle feed them they just lay there there with their mouths open, letting out a loud wail every minute or so. The one living kitty we have left we think has a cleft palate, which would explain the non-sucking. How can we make sure kitty 2 stays alive and fed? Help!

Another thing, kitty 1 tried to stay away from everyone right before he died, and kitty 2 is beginning to do the same. We really want to help but have no idea where to start!

K kittymommalove

You'll need to hold the kitten tummy down, head up, and gently syringe kitten formula into the side of the mouth, drop by drop. Give the kitten time to swallow and breathe, then give another drop or two. Needleless, small syringe. Start with 1mL every hour. Kitten will not take a bottle. You can rub honey on its gums to give it a boost before feeding. Formula should be warm. Kitten needs to be warm to eat and digest.

Let me know how this goes.

So sorry about the one you lost.

The baby isn't swallowing normally.  He only swallows when he breaths in and cries out.  Any suggestions? @sarthur2  

I don't know what to tell you. I hate that the kitten is suffering. Is the kitten not swallowing any formula?

If catwoman707 is available, she may have a suggestion.

The prognosis is probably not good, and you may want to euthanize so the kitten does not suffer.

I'm sorry. [emoji]128533[/emoji]

The kitty is swallowing!  I don't know what happened, but it just gripped the syringe with it's mouth and swallowed a big gulp!  It's a start 

That's great. I'm sure the kitten is starving. Give it (slowly) as much as it wants. [emoji]128077[/emoji]

How is the kitten doing now? Can you post a picture of it?

There will be continued problems with this smaller baby, as it is now falling behind in feeding.

You can do one of two things, depending on your availability and willingness/patience here.

The first way is to supplement this one throughout the day, we're talking about maybe 6 times a day, 2 mls each time.

This is time consuming and takes great patience with a newborn, a single drop of KMR at a time in to it's cheek area, allow to swallow and breathe, and repeat.

It's not forever, just until this one gets stronger and back on track.

If you can not do this, my next suggestion would be to allow the baby to be with mom and get a prime nipple (the 4 lower are best) but this won't happen with all in at the same time, so the 2 strongest/biggest would need to be pulled several times a day to allow the small baby to nurse well.

An hour at a time, several times a day, and the 2 who are pulled can also be switched up.

The alternative nest where they are placed during their time out needs to be a very small box or container, heating pad under it on low, and a soft bedding thing for them to lay in.

They will need to be out of mom's reach and earshot or she will be all stressed and want them back.

Using a scale daily is excellent for determining who's doing what, they all need to gain daily, so this is the way to monitor any who need extra care and attention.

Here is a picture of our little O.J. (Orange juice [emoji]128514[/emoji], my daughter named her) compared to her other litter mates. He is tiny but he is doing much better! We have been bottle feeding him about 3 ml of KMR every 2-3 hours and he is slowly learning to suckle the "nipple". Still isn't able to latch onto his mommy, though. One of Tigger's other smaller kitties is able to suckle on her but is constantly being pushed off the nipple by her MONSTER big siblings. I'm starting to think the bigger babies took all of the nutrients while in the womb [emoji]128545[/emoji]!!! I am going to be bottle feeding that kitty just so it can gather enough strength to fight back [emoji]128520[/emoji]

In nature it's survival of the fittest. The little ones will need the extra help until they're strong enough to not be pushed around. It may take several weeks. They look very sweet [emoji]128522[/emoji]

Well, once again, I've gotten here after you got the advice you needed!  I'll just follow along and be the cheering section, then.  Best of luck with your littlest one!  Hope you can pull off his monster siblings long enough for him to get some suckle time with mama!  Is she willing to clean and nurture him otherwise now?  That's a fair indication of his overall chances.

The kitty ended up passing away a day after my last post.  The rest of Tigger's babies are doing very well though, however I have a question regarding my friend's newborn babies.  Her kitty gave birth about a week and a half ago to 7 babies, however one was stillborn :-(.  One of her babies is SIGNIFICANTLY smaller than the rest, however it is not skinny and looks healthy.  It's eyes are now open however it is still nearly the same size as it was at birth (from what my friend tells me).  Is this baby in trouble or is it just your average runt of the litter???

KittyMommaLove said:

 
The kitty ended up passing away a day after my last post.  The rest of Tigger's babies are doing very well though, however I have a question regarding my friend's newborn babies.  Her kitty gave birth about a week and a half ago to 7 babies, however one was stillborn :-(.  One of her babies is SIGNIFICANTLY smaller than the rest, however it is not skinny and looks healthy.  It's eyes are now open however it is still nearly the same size as it was at birth (from what my friend tells me).  Is this baby in trouble or is it just your average runt of the litter???

Click to expand...

Actually, the old story that runts usually die because there was something wrong with them is not true, it is due to lack of being able to get enough milk from momma because the others will continuously push it away, it tires and gives up, napping rather than nursing like the others.

Eventually this will catch up, cause them to go downhill and die.

With nursing 6 kittens, I HIGHLY suggest she create a rotation system.

the 3 largest and 3 smallest in groups, an alternative nest of a small box or container, soft bedding and a heating pad on low under it.

Every 2 hours swap the groups. This can be the diff between kittens surviving and not.

Mom needs lots of fresh water, canned food and nutritional food including a dish of kmr or goat's milk daily for her to support her large litter

Additionally, weighing this tiny kitten is the only way to really know if the kitten is gaining and thriving. Your friend's kitten needs to gain a minimum of 6-10 grams daily, more is better. If she has concerns, she may want to supplement the kitten with KMR using a needleless syringe, several times daily. This will ensure that the kitten has the best chance to make it. [emoji]128522[/emoji]

I feel that if your friend were to join TCS herself, and ask her questions on how to best help this little kitten's chances of survival herself rather than having to go through you would help that kitten's chances greatly.   Is there a chance of that happening?

This would also put the pressure off of you regarding your neighbor's kitten. 

Rest you gentle, Littlest One, dream you deep,   You are not forgotten.

Yes, please ask your friend to join, and to start a thread about her litter.  There are so many experienced people here who would love to help her, and a whole community of caring souls.