Question - Chubby kitty

Hi!

My kit Kiddie turned 2 weeks yesterday (update - he's the soul survivor of the litter my cat Toots had - Toots died the day after giving birth). Kiddie has been on formula since he was 2 days old and he's really really chubby now! I haven't weighed him yet but I'm wondering how much he should weigh at his age. He's 15 days old, he's on KMR and he has regular eliminations (poo once a day to twice a day and pee at every feeding at least). We feed him every 5-6 hours. Is that ok? How many tablespoon should he intake every 24 hours? I know most count in CC but I don't know what that is nor how to count in those measures...

Can anybody help? I wanna make sure I'm not overfeeding him... and if I am, is that dangerous? I feed him until he pushes the bottle away...

Thank you!

Zabby

Hissy will be the one to tell you for sure. She has been "Momma" to many an orphaned baby kitty before...I recon she`ll be along here soon and respond to your question.
In the meantime....congrats on keeping this wee one alive. I hope he grows up to be a big strong cat!
Any idea what happened with the momma cat and siblings???
I`ll be checking back to see how your baby is doing!
Linda

Hi Linda! Thank you... I'll wait for Hissy! Kiddie is our child!! We're like new parents, always talking about him, etc. I think that's why it feels weird when people say (and MAN have) that it's great he's still alive... because I think we don't even want to think that we could lose him... at what age will he be out of the woods, as an orphaned fragile kit?

Toots died from complications when giving birth. She was only 7.5 months old and the babies were big. There were 3. Kiddie was the first one out and she abandonned him on the basement floor, attached to his placenta. We found him later on. He was still alive. It took 8 hours between the 1st and 2nd kitten and 20 hours between the 2nd and 3rd kitten. The other two kittens were still-born (they got stuck in the canal too long). Toots lost alot of blood and went into shock. She died in the middle of the night, with Kiddie next to her.

I am of the opinion that kittens need to eat as much as they will take. And if you have a bottle baby, I think it is even more important to not worry about weight right now. So long as he is gaining at a steady pace, he will be fine. The time to worry would be if he is losing weight.

~gf~

Thank you! Oh, for sure right now no worries about him losing him! He's a little tub (in a very very very cute way!) He loves his feeding time!! He is a bit chubbier than the kittens I had before but they had to share their mom's nipples!

Hi Zab,

I hope you got my PM in responce to yours OK.
Use http://www.kitten-rescue.com/ as a great reference.
Should be feeding him ~ 54cc of formula every 4 hours. 54 cc is roughly 4 tablespoons. (thats TOTAL with water)
there is a great free conversion program here : http://www.joshmadison.com/software/ it has CC to tablespoon conversions under the "volume" tab.

If he is not struggling going potty and there is no chance of worms from fleas, i would say that he is just gaining weight and growing. Soon, you will have a VERY active and very comical baby on your hands and that tummy will disappear.

Im so sorry about Toots. Unfortantely noone can say that there is a time where he is "out of the woods" Fading kitten syndrom can happen at any time up until he is 2+months old. After 10-12 weeks i would say that he is "safe" from a sudden death, but i would not promise that to you or anyone.

Dont worry about FKS. Enjoy the GREAT experience that you are part of. Love that little baby with all your heart and trust in your judgement. Your doing great from what you are posting. Read use kitten-rescue.com as a great source and reference.
and post us some pictures of the little guy when you can. : )

Ric

Hey Ric, Thank you again... you're my godsend for every question I have!!

Ok, well, from what you say, Kiddie isn't drinking too much... In fact he eats every 5 hours, about 3 tblsp (sometimes 4). I saw another chart that says I should feed him every 6 hours but in the site you sent, it says to feed him every 4 hours. As it is, he eats, every 5 hours.

He still eats and sleeps, eats and sleeps, eats and sleeps. Should we let him just walk around a bit? I'm always afraid he'll get cold!

Oh you remind me of when i first raised bottle babies.
at two weeks you are doing great with the food. dont let the difference of 1 hour concern you from site to site. He is getting plenty of fluid nurisment from the KMR. If you feed Kiddie 4 tablespoons and he wants more, feel free to give him a little more. If he only takes about 3 tablespoons. thats ok too. You want to watch out for Sudden dramatic changes. like not eating at all or having green or no poopies or urine.
if his poo is mustard yellow and fairly solid. hes doing good.
his eyes should be opening and he should be purring and just starting to learn about play. if you notice all this. your being a GREAT momma kitty. If he wants to scoot around while you watch, go for it. let him push his chubbiness around and start to learn about the world. do not leave him this way unmonitored. You still want to make sure that his environement is warm, soft and safe. He will not chill buy having 10-20 minutes of play. at this stage he will not have much more than that before its sleepy time again.
feel free to hold him close to you as you want. If you catch your favorite show on CBC, let him sleep on you or near you. its all ok. the more you spend time with him and let him hear your heartbeat, the closer the bond you will share.
You are doing GREAT! :cheer:

YÃ[emoji]169[/emoji]!! I think I got me a healthy kit!! lol He's been purring since the first week (day 3 or 4) - especially when he tries suckling on my bottom lip after his bottle!! His poo is mustard and solid, he pees quite regularly (QUITE!) and his eyes have been opened for a little over a week. I will start letting him play around a little bit more. He crawls more than anything else. Crawls alot but he doesn't quite walk.
And we weighed him yesterday. He's about 9 oz, and chart says he should be about 7 oz so I guess he's not that overweight. He just has the biggest roundest belly!!! (normal?)

Originally Posted by zabby27

YÃ[emoji]169[/emoji]!! I think I got me a healthy kit!! lol He's been purring since the first week (day 3 or 4) - especially when he tries suckling on my bottom lip after his bottle!!

He just has the biggest roundest belly!!! (normal?)

Click to expand...

How cute.

How about some pictures?
the only concern that i would think with a round belly is worms. if that is not a possiblity from what you said, he just a little pudgie for his age. Their bellies are disproptionate from their legs at this age.
I am sure Hissy will comment on anything that we are missing to look for. it sounds like hes heathy and happy and just maybe a bit over fed. but if his potty habbits are ok he will soon shed any additional weight when they suddenly discover they can run and walk everywhere!

Zabby, it sounds like he is fine and you are looking after him very well. Remember, they will look like a little table-tennis ball on legs after their feeds and they do tend to look like little blimps until their body catches up with their tummy. You will know if you're overfeeding him if he has chronic diarrhea but, in my experience, kittens regulate thier own formula amounts well by, as you said, pushing the bottle away.

I will PM with regards to treating him for worms if he has them.

Zabby, can you clear out some of your PM's? I can't reply to you as you've exceeded your PM space, you chatterbox!

I think it's because we can no long PM one another! I only have 6 messages in there! lol
I checked here for the worm paste and was told by PetSmart and Pet World that they don't carry it and that it's better to go through the vet. I called two vets - one told me they only do worm treatment at 8 weeks and the other one, at 6 weeks. But I doubt Kiddie has worms. His mommy didn't and he has no contact with other animals. So I'll wait another 3.5 weeks and then bring him in for an examination, worm treatment as prevention and general check-up.

Ok, I'm leaving the office. I miss my kits; it's time for another feeding!!

Congrats to you! You're obviously keeping this kitten right?

Pictures Pictures

I've been following this baby since day one. You're doing fantastic. I want to see that big round belly.

Originally Posted by Kathylou

Pictures

Pictures

I've been following this baby since day one. You're doing fantastic. I want to see that big round belly.

Click to expand...

Ditto.
Lets see some Kitten tummy!

I'm delighted! He sounds very healthy to me. I'm so glad to hear this little one is doing so well.

I wanna see pics too!