Lifeless 4 week kitten

Sarthur2

No, I finally got him to eat about 5mls of KMR at around 6:15 , after he ate we played a little in the room, then I brought him out into the living room and set him on my lap, he was just kinda looking around at everything and mama kitty walked up and started cleaning him and cooing, he played with her for a min and then started nursing at around 6:25, he stayed latched maybe 5 mins? Then she got up and started licking one of our other cats lol
After that I took him back in the room and held him on my chest, he played with my fingers a bit and then I set him by his carrier, he walked in and tried to suckle the blanket but then soon fell asleep

Its 7:32 now

And so that means she's not dried up then? When he was nursing I put my finger by his neck and it felt like he was drinking but Idk how much he got or anything

Has he gained any weight?

It is not great that it happened but I once took a kitten home ( already separated from mom by who ever dumped him) and I didn't realize he was 4 weeks he lived off dry and one meal of wet. I took him to the vet after he had been with us a week and she was ahh weel he might be 5 weeks ... No older though , so my thoughts are if your little guy seems out of the woods that moms milk and messy wet mixed with kmr 4 times a day are better than force feeding for you to deal with. Some kits can take awhile to get the hang of eating wet but he'll get it

One question - did mom get pregnant from one of your males? If so, she really needs to stay away from them.

Sarthur2
I'm not sure if he's gained weight all like that because I don't have a kitchen scale, but his belly gets bigger when he eats but he was underweight when we took them all to the vet , I can't really tell if he's gotten bigger? But I think he might have a little bit or at least will be now that he's eating more..and he's starting to walk better and he tries to run but stumbles lol

howmany

Its not that he doesn't have the hang of eating, he has moved from the bottle to spoon feeding, he likes to lap from the spoon but still doesn't understand a like saucer plate to eat from..
And yeah I just wanna make sure he's eating enough and like I said I can't tell how much he gets from mom, so if I let him nurse from mom and then try to feed him and he doesn't eat Idk if its cause he got enough from mom or he doesn't want the other food cause he knows he can have mom's milk

talkingpeanut

Yea, she actually got pregnant from her brother....
I've considered that also being why the other ones might have died..I just thought they made it 4 weeks, they'd be okay..but I hears if the kits are in bread, they could have a lot wrong with them..
And moms been near the dad since the birth, but not til recently..and we plan on getting them fixed

applejacksalex said:

talkingpeanut

Yea, she actually got pregnant from her brother....
I've considered that also being why the other ones might have died..I just thought they made it 4 weeks, they'd be okay..but I hears if the kits are in bread, they could have a lot wrong with them..
And moms been near the dad since the birth, but not til recently..and we plan on getting them fixed

Click to expand...

Mom can get pregnant any time now and without going into heat. They need to be 100% separated.

talkingpeanut

I'll keep that in mind.

ALSO just like I suspected, he refuses to eat anything but mom's milk now...I tries to fees him some soft food mixed with KMR, and he like literally turned his head. And every time I pick him up to feed him now, he mews and tries to get away, he turns his head up to anything I try and give him...like I feel like he hasn't eaten enough today and Idk what to do. I'm gonna let him keep feeding from mom, I just know she's not gonna gibe him enough and then head not gonna eat soft food or anything from me either......

WHAT DO I DO?!

This is what he's eaten today:

10:10 ish - 7mls of KMR
12:00 - 5mls of KMR & a good amount of soft food
2:30 - almost nothing, maybe a bite or two of soft and 2mls of KMR
3:30 still almost nothing, but a few licks
6:15 - 5mls of KMR
6:25 - fed from mama
8:15 - FORCE fed five bites of soft mixed with KMR

That's literally all he's eaten today..
Mind you, between some of those times I was already trying to get him to eat, sometimes for like an hour.

Since noon he hasn't eaten all that good, and after he ate at noon I let mama lick him clean but didn't let him latch, he's pretty much refused food from me ever since.

Keep offering the soft food. He'll eat it again eventually. How often is he nursing?

Sarthur2
He only nursed once today at like 6:30
Then I forced him some soft food again at 8:20 he took about five little bites off my finger
Then at 10:30 I fed him formula from a teaspoon, he ate roughly 7-8mls
And then at 1 ish I tried to get him to eat from the spoon again, he got about 3mls of KMR and then kept refusing me so we let him nurse from mama, he stopped for a sec and ate a few more like us of formula and then went back to mom, and both mama and baby kitten are in the cat carrier together.

Ate a few more licks of formula**

I'm just doing anything I can to make sure he eats enough. He ate so well the day before but today he's refused a lot of food and I didn't wanna let him nurse again in fear he wouldn't want what we give him at all, but now I kinda have to let him nurse so I know he's actually eating..

I'm just so scared something's gonna happen to him cause he was underweight and anemic, all of his siblings passed from it and they went so fast and I don't want it to happen to him..I didn't want it to happen to any of them..
I'm so new to this and I wish I would've known then everything I know now, I would've taken care of all of them better, but I figured mama kitty had it fine...

Sorry for the long post I'm just nervous and this is the only place I can turn to for help.

I didn't even know they were all underweight until we went to the vet...I didn't know they were sick until it was too late...

Update:
It's 8:30am and he just pooped.
We had mama kitty and baby kitty in a closed cat carrier from like 5-8 am

Idk how often she nursed, but when I came in at 8 he was awake and we've been playing for a little bit he won't eat anything but pooped at 8:30
Also, his poop was like half hard half soft..like he pooped hard but then soft poop like kinda shot out of his butt but it was like a toothpaste substance? Just wondering if that's normal?

Toothpaste consistency poop is normal. So is firm poop if he's eating wet food.

Can you buy a kitchen scale to weigh him? That is really the only way to know if he's eating enough. Knowing he's gaining weight would help to alleviate your anxiety.

Sarthur2

I'm gonna try and buy one today..

How much should I let him nurse from mama kitty?

And is switching back and forth between soft food, to KMR, to moms milk gonna mess up his tummy?

And which should I try and make him eat more of?

I try and fees him KMR usually before anything cause he usually only takes a couple licks of it before walking away, and if I give him soft food before I try and give him KMR, he won't drink any at all.

Oh and right after in posted that he didn't eat but he popped, he ate a little bit of soft and formula