I have a friend who knows nothing about cats and unfortunately a breeder sold him a breeding cat and provided stud services for him. Long story short, now that the kittens are in desperate need of help.
The queen was already very thin when he bred her so I was concerned about the kittens.
I went to check on his kittens last night. The kittens are a little over 4 weeks old but they are literally the size of newborns. Three of them are not too bad off but are still very, very small. Two of them I don't think are going to make it. They are literally skin and bones and walk hunched over. The momma cat is so thin that her hip bones protrude from her fur and her back bones do too. The guy who owns them is doing all that he can do considering he knows nothing. He does have dry food out for his queen all day long. The vet told him to feed his cat eukanuba (which of course I object to anyway) He didn't realize that the kittens were way too tiny for thier age.
I sat around for awhile observing momma cat and I noticed that she has diaherria and im sure that she's had it for some time and that's why she's so thin dispite being feed on a regular basis. I pointed out to him that she is losing all of her nutrients from having diaherrhia and that she will not be able to gain weight and that most likely she is not producing enough milk for her kittens.
I went home and got some KMR and some syringes and went to the store and bought some meat baby food. I mixed the KMR with the baby food and syringe fed all of the kittens. I told him to do that every day, several times a day untill they were able to each out of a dish.
My question to you all is are there any suggestions that you might have that I can give to him?
I know he shouldn't be breeding in the first place without sufficient knowledge but the breeder who sold him the cat did not let him know that and now we are at the point where the damage is done. I figure I can try and mentor him myself since obviouly the breeder who sold him the cat is not doing it or not doing a decent job of it.
Any ideas would be appriciated. I have already let him know the importance of doing his homework before he breeds.
I do have a queen that is due in a few days and I considered telling him that if he wants I can take his kittens and have her nurse them. The problem with that is I don't know how large of a litter she's going to have and that might put too much of a strain on her to nurse too many kittens. Do you all think that's a bad idea? I then thought maybe i'd take the two smallest, sickest ones and have her nurse them, but I am worried that if they should die while in my posession he will get mad at me thinking that I had something to do with them dying. I've already put myself out there though because if any of them should die now he might think it's because of the advice I gave him anyway.
What would you all do?
It makes me so mad that this could have all been prevented in the first place if the 'breeder' would have only sold breeding cats to someone with sufficient knowledge.
The queen was already very thin when he bred her so I was concerned about the kittens.
I went to check on his kittens last night. The kittens are a little over 4 weeks old but they are literally the size of newborns. Three of them are not too bad off but are still very, very small. Two of them I don't think are going to make it. They are literally skin and bones and walk hunched over. The momma cat is so thin that her hip bones protrude from her fur and her back bones do too. The guy who owns them is doing all that he can do considering he knows nothing. He does have dry food out for his queen all day long. The vet told him to feed his cat eukanuba (which of course I object to anyway) He didn't realize that the kittens were way too tiny for thier age.
I sat around for awhile observing momma cat and I noticed that she has diaherria and im sure that she's had it for some time and that's why she's so thin dispite being feed on a regular basis. I pointed out to him that she is losing all of her nutrients from having diaherrhia and that she will not be able to gain weight and that most likely she is not producing enough milk for her kittens.
I went home and got some KMR and some syringes and went to the store and bought some meat baby food. I mixed the KMR with the baby food and syringe fed all of the kittens. I told him to do that every day, several times a day untill they were able to each out of a dish.
My question to you all is are there any suggestions that you might have that I can give to him?
I know he shouldn't be breeding in the first place without sufficient knowledge but the breeder who sold him the cat did not let him know that and now we are at the point where the damage is done. I figure I can try and mentor him myself since obviouly the breeder who sold him the cat is not doing it or not doing a decent job of it.
Any ideas would be appriciated. I have already let him know the importance of doing his homework before he breeds.
I do have a queen that is due in a few days and I considered telling him that if he wants I can take his kittens and have her nurse them. The problem with that is I don't know how large of a litter she's going to have and that might put too much of a strain on her to nurse too many kittens. Do you all think that's a bad idea? I then thought maybe i'd take the two smallest, sickest ones and have her nurse them, but I am worried that if they should die while in my posession he will get mad at me thinking that I had something to do with them dying. I've already put myself out there though because if any of them should die now he might think it's because of the advice I gave him anyway.
What would you all do?
It makes me so mad that this could have all been prevented in the first place if the 'breeder' would have only sold breeding cats to someone with sufficient knowledge.
