One litter by two different males and abnormally small feral kittens

Hello,

I've been doing a lot of reading on this site. It is my understanding that a female can be pregnant with kittens from two different fathers. So first I have a few questions about that.

Does the queen mate with two or more males in the same day or within a couple days?

Can she be pregnant and a week later get pregnant again?

If so will the kittens from the second mating be born prematurely?

The kittens in the pictures are 10 weeks old. The tortie seems to be the appropriate size for her age. However, the black and white kitten and the orange and white kitten are abnormally small. I estimate them to be the size of a five week old kitten. They were born to a first time mom who was just six months old. She had six, but I believe three of the six died somehow when they were five to six weeks old. They were also abnormally small for their age. They were about the size of a three week kittens.

I wanted to trap and care for these kittens for eventual adoption, but I had just rescued a litter of six who are only four weeks older than these kittens. I had my hands full and my monetary resources were stretched very thin.

These abnormally small kittens had a very rough start. I knew their momma was pregnant and I knew when she birthed them. However, I was convinced that they didn't survive because she hung around my house for such long periods of time never leaving to go care for her kittens. This went on for a couple of days. Since I believed with all my heart that her kittens had not survived, I took her to be spayed. It was about three or four weeks later when I learned I was wrong. It was a miracle, but her kittens had survived! The only explanation I have is the kittens were cared for by their grandma who was still nursing her own litter of six born four weeks prior. Those are the ones I rescued.

Could these kittens be so small because they didn't receive adequate nutrition when they were just 3 and 4 days old?

Could they have been born prematurely due to the reasons I listed at the beginning of this post?

Could it be that their momma was only a small 6 month old kitten herself and she had such a large litter?

Momma weaned the biggest one (Tortie) a few weeks ago. She has been coming to eat the food I put out. She has just recently started to wean the other two (Orange/White & Black/White). They've been coming with her to eat dry and wet food for three days now. I have been mixing KMR with the wet food hoping that they may put some weight on. And I have also been adding pyrantel pamoate to it in hopes of eradicating the roundworms and hookworms they undoubtedly have. Other than taking them to a vet, is there anything else I could be doing to help them gain weight?






How old do the black/white and orange/white look to you? I wonder how long it will be before they reach 3lbs so that I can have them TNR'd. Since the group I'm with uses age to determine weight. They say kittens usually weigh 3lbs at 12 to 16 weeks. Since these kittens look about five weeks old even though they're 10 should I double the 12 to 16 week time period?

Don't double the time---the females will be super pregnant by then . Just wait until they look to be 3 pounds.

Maybe my perspective is off, but the little dudes look to be about the right size to me. Those are normal sized cat bowls, right? A 5-week-old would probably fit inside one of the bowls . The tortie looks older than 10 weeks---is there any possibility she's their aunt? Maybe their mother stole one of her mother's babies? She doesn't have the babyish look that 10-week-olds usually have.

I'm not sure what the maximum amount of time is that a cat can get pregnant by different males. They do usually mate with several males, of course depending on how many are around at the time. But, yes, kittens conceived later can be born prematurely. Kittens can only survive being a couple days premature.

A lot of factors can influence growth. I don't think a couple days of deprivation at 3-4 days old would still be showing its effects though. They should have compensated for that already.

I agree with W Willowy about the kitten ages, the yellow and black and white ones actually look the appropriate size for a 10 week old kitten, and the tortie looks to be much older, possibly closer to 14 weeks. Depending on the time of the grandmas litter, it is extremely common for close mothers to share the responsibility of their litters with one another, and maybe the tortie just got switched up.
As for the other, it is my understanding that a female in heat will only accept males during her cycle, which is around a week long (typically) and during this she can be with multiple males but the week difference does not make a huge difference in development of kittens. Once pregnant she will not mate again until after the kittens are born. So I doubt different fathers would affect the size ratio this much. (Unless one daddy was just a small cat?) but I'm leaning more so tortie being from a different litter.

@Willowy, Yes they are regular size food bowls inside a 9x13 baking pan.

I previously considered the tortie possibly being from the other litter of kittens, but I initially dismissed it.

However, after more consideration, I think you're right. I must've missed her when I snagged the other six kittens which means grandma had a litter of seven WOW Is that common?

@ haleyds, I agree with both you and Willowy. The tortie must be from the other litter. You estimated her age perfectly. The litter I was able to rescue are 14 weeks old now. I must've inadvertently left her behind when I snagged the others. They were a little over 5 weeks old when I got them and it seemed like they were the same size of the yellow and black and white ones are now. However, I went back and looked at pictures I had taken of them and they were smaller and looked more young kitten like rather than small cats.

One of my main concerns is that I get these kittens TNR'd as soon as they are 3lbs. I've got a standing appointment every Monday from now until the end of August, so I'll just do my best to estimate when they've reached 3lbs and trap them then. I just don't want to trap too soon and have to release because they aren't to weight. I've learned that it is extremely hard to trap the same cat twice. I wish they knew I'm only trying to help and not harm them.

  to both of you for replying and sharing your knowledge