1 month old kitten is emaciated

Greetings to everyone in cat site

I have joined the forums to ask for suggestions and help for our kitten which is really thin.

So our dear house cat has given birth to 2 little kittens (I was actually expecting a 3 due to her size). A month has passed and the 2 have grown. Or so I thought... One of them is really thin as if his skin is didn't thicken and his body size didn't grow as much as his sibling. We can feel the ribs and spine by simply touching him. We can also see what appears to be his organs through his belly. We can see a black thing on his belly so I'm assuming it's his liver .  I have looked up through the internet about this condition. So far, the closest term I found is "emaciated", hence the title.

We have been feeding him the same food as his kitten brother and both are still under the care of their momma. While he may look so thin, he can still make noises like his sibling but lately he seems to be getting weaker.

At first, we thought this condition would pass however it still didn't change. I'm terribly sorry for this. I wish to act upon this somehow as soon as possible. 

Prepare for a bunch of questions!
How old is the kitten? Can you post pictures? Have you been supplementing him with KMR? That is usually the protocol when a kitten isn't gaining weight. Why were you unable to weigh them to detect the problem earlier? Why haven't you taken the kitten to a vet? He likely needs to see a vet.
I'm sure the advisors would like to see pictures of this black thing you speak of, to help determine what it is.

It sounds like your kitten has some problems, and at four weeks old, is not thriving. Have you seen a vet?

Is this kitten nursing mom still? What are you feeding? Kittens are not usually weaned at this stage.

This kitten sounds like it needs emergency care through syringe feeding, what we call supplemental feeding with kitten formula, and perhaps clear pedialyte for additional hydration. But it sounds like it needs extra nutrition and calories, asap!

Can you please provide additional information for us?

The poor fellow is gone about an hour after posting here

I'm too late to react and just lost our kitten. Had I looked after him much sooner I would have done something to help him. Looks like I'm not yet ready to take on bigger things responsibly... I hope the people reading this won't become like me. I've neglected the kitten and he paid the consequence. 

To answer to some questions below. Please see below. I do appreciate for trying to help me out

@newkitties

"Prepare for a bunch of questions!
How old is the kitten? Can you post pictures? Have you been supplementing him with KMR? That is usually the protocol when a kitten isn't gaining weight. Why were you unable to weigh them to detect the problem earlier? Why haven't you taken the kitten to a vet? He likely needs to see a vet.
I'm sure the advisors would like to see pictures of this black thing you speak of, to help determine what it is."

 
Kitty is 1 month old. Sorry, he was given a burial now and I wasn't able to take pictures of him during his weakened state. It's the first time I have heard of KMR actually and no, we were not able to give him kitten milk replacer. We thought the condition would pass thus we didn't put much effort on checking him. Yes, we should have taken him to the vet beforehand if we didn't overlook his condition

@sarthur2

"It sounds like your kitten has some problems, and at four weeks old, is not thriving. Have you seen a vet?

Is this kitten nursing mom still? What are you feeding? Kittens are not usually weaned at this stage.

This kitten sounds like it needs emergency care through syringe feeding, what we call supplemental feeding with kitten formula, and perhaps clear pedialyte for additional hydration. But it sounds like it needs extra nutrition and calories, asap!

Can you please provide additional information for us?"

We weren't able to take him to the vet. We overlooked his condition. The mom is still feeding the two. I sometimes find her breastfeeding them. We started giving them cooked fish actually. We don't usually resort to food on pet store.  And we thought that they can take it due to their age. The thin one was able to eat them. I guess our way of feeding added to his poor condition. The other kitten seems really normal. His fur developed and his size is what we expected over 1 month. 

Liquid is coming out from the kitten's mouth when I last checked him. Guess I was really too late to act on him.

I'm sorry I failed my part for taking care of the poor kitten. I feel bad about her mom. She meowed at me differently after the body was being carried away. Again, to the people reading this, I hope you don't become like me who has overlooked and assumed that things can be okay. I need to work on the "responsible person" department.

May you take care of your pets carefully as they give you joy.

I'm sorry you lost the kitten. Kittens this age are still primarily dependent on their moms for milk from nursing. Can you provide the remaining kitten with kitten chow and wet cat food? It will reap a better outcome. Mom needs this too.

I'm sorry you found our site too late to help this kitten, but we're here to help with the remaining one!

So sorry for the loss.
We can be here to help aid and make sure the remaining kittens thrive though. Do you have a kitchen scale or mail scale to weigh them to be sure they are a correct weight? It would be a shame to lose another.
The kittens are still dependent on mom; and will primarily be drinking from her for several more weeks, but at 4 weeks you can begin to ween them from milk IF they are ready to do so. They should be fed wet kitten chow.
And have constant access to dry kitten chow to eat when they are ready.
I will not comment on the neglect of the kitten, other than it is a good thing you've owned up to your actions. I just wish you had acted sooner, but you did not know.
Sadly the fact is with kittens, any illness is most likely going to kill them without proper care. Thank you for at least trying, though to late. Take this opportunity to learn, and perhaps this can be a lesson to others reading who also do not know how to care for newborn kittens, education is key.
I'm glad the others are seemingly okay, but to be sure I would weigh them, give them a little check up, make sure all is well. They are the age to begin really socializing with people.
Thank you for coming to the site, and you are very much welcome here. Do not feel too badly for the kitten for too long, you didn't know any better. It is okay to grieve for now

Depreciated said:

 
The poor fellow is gone about an hour after posting here

I'm too late to react and just lost our kitten. Had I looked after him much sooner I would have done something to help him. Looks like I'm not yet ready to take on bigger things responsibly... I hope the people reading this won't become like me. I've neglected the kitten and he paid the consequence. 

To answer to some questions below. Please see below. I do appreciate for trying to help me out

Click to expand...

Good you do this "post mortem", taking your responsibility and learning from this.  His death wont thus be in vain,  the tragedy may thus be turned into future successes and happy ends.

 Perhaps this peculiar thing on his tummy was the cause?? Cancer??   My guess his fate was to go on early, his fate wasnt to be..

Many vets arent very good with weak kittens, but even a so so vet would discover a real, physical fault.    It wouldnt help with a  really big fault, but you would know at least.

If he had lived on, and you had not bought any KMR as yet, my suggestion would be to try and find raw goats milk.  Canned / powdered is an OK alternative, and better than inferior brands of kmr.  But raw goats milk can sometimes make the difference in difficult cases.

Last but not least.  You do have a thriving kitten and a healthy momma.  There may perhaps be a possibility you take on fosterlings?  Perhaps some shelter nearby has small orphans.    Just make sure you are reasonably sure they are healthy.  You dont want to draw some horrible contagion on your little charges.

RIP, little one!

I'm sorry for the loss of your kitten, and hope you will continue to ask questions about mom and the remaining kitten.

@Depreciated the team at TCS would like you to know that we are very sorry for your loss.  We sometimes learn the hard way, and you obviously feel very much for this little boy.

We will lock this thread now, out of respect for the little one, but you may feel you would like to create a memorial to him in our Crossing the Bridge forum?

And we welcome any new threads you may like to start if you would like any help with Mom her kitten.