More About Runts

Interesting discussion about runts so since I am having firsthand experience this week I thought I would share. My foster cat Cher had 5 kittens, one died the same day. That left the 3 normal , actually big kittens, and a tiny little runt, half their size, with much less fur. We call him DoodleBug. He was fine for the first few days and then on day six I noticed him growing weak. The mom had not rejected him, he was just too weak to nurse. I contacted my foster team at the shelter and the vet gave me advice. Since he was too weak to nurse I fed him KMR with a syringe, but was not hopeful at all. I expected to find him gone the next day, BUT, found him nursing away! My theory is, he got shoved out and grew too weak to nurse.Once he was fed with the KMR, he went back into the fray! I give him private nursing sessions several times a day, by removing the others. I also am still giving him KMR once a day. Tonight I started weighing him. He weighs 7 ounces, at 9 days old. The others weigh around 14 oz.
Doodle is learning to work around his big siblings, he is a fighter! One of the other kittens opened his eyes today, he is the first. We already have a home for Doodle, one of my daughters friends wants him, her dad is a vet. If we let him go! It just proved to me how those little runts can rally and amaze us. My beloved cat Gina had a similar story, and is now a fine healthy girl. Our vet is amzing, he believes in holistic medicine for all animals. Sory to ramble, but I am just so happy about this latst developement. Cheryl

That is just wonderful! I'm glad you were able to save the baby!

Well he is holding his own, a very good sign. I will be watching him closely. I just gave him his KMR, he looks good. as you know, it is very difficult to lose these babies. Thats why I normally like to foster weaned orphans, my favorite! They are usually full of fleas and all, but if they survived in the first place, they normally do very well. But with this pregnant mom, it was me or nobody!