Please help - bottle feeding

Hi again. My cat Silvie had five kitties six days ago. Three are robust and doing well. Two are smaller and weaker. They all gain each day, although they have all gained a little bit less for the past two days. Averages about 1/2 ounce. The vet said we should supplement any of them that doesn't seem to get enough from mum, but especially the little ones. Well, it is a disaster! I have tried and tried but cannot make anybody accept the teats. I have used a dropper but I am soooooo scared of them inhaling any that I am shaking every time I try! I have experimented with holes in the teats and all that. Any suggestions? I am in tears trying to work out how to boost their intake. Silvie is a small kitty herself and she doesn't appear to be making a lot of milk. Also the vet said it seems she only has four good nipples (making any milk) - and their are five babies!!!
Please ---- any thoughts at all would be sooooo appreciated.

I'm certain you are doing fine. When they are little like that and squirming around like they do, it's difficult. I think when they are really tiny, it's difficult but you need to feed them with the dropper or bottle , drop by drop. They will get the idea in a few days I bet. I will see if I can't PM someone to be of some more help

Thank you! I am so nervous. I want them all to do well - bless them. But they really don't appreciate my efforts - squeeking, squirming and although they mouth at the teat, they are turning away and not at all wanting to suck or even let it be in their mouth. Very frustrating!

Hey there Aussie mum! I too am from Adelaide and my cat had kittens yesterday! Are you giving them something to push against whilst they are sucking? Like if you hold the bottle between your thumb and pointer finger, then it gives the rest of your palm for their feet to push against and your other hand to hold them, or steady them if they are on a towel. If you are worried that they might be getting it in their lungs, do the swing thing (Gayef explains it in detail in one of the first posts in the forum, the step by step one).
good luck :-)

Hi Aussimum. It's going to be difficult for you, as the kittens are used to suckling from Mum and so the teat feels odd and wrong to them. Have you tried different teats? Sometimes they will readily latch on to a different teat.

Make sure that Silvie is given a good quality kitten food, as much as she wants. Also, you can offer her some of the formula. This will help boost her milk production.

Something you can do is use your hand or a rolled-up towel to create a 'shield' so that the smaller kittens can feed from Mum by themselves without being pushed aside by the others. You will need to do this 3-4 times a day. It's important not to remove the other kittens from the nest while the smaller ones are feeding, as this may cause momcat stress and she may leave the nest to find the other kittens.