I'm new and posted this in a different forum and someone suggested I come here. Cool site, hope someone can help me out. For background I run a private orphan kitten rescue but sometimes take in mama cats and kittens too.
I'm bottle-feeding these orphan kittens that were brought into a local shelter shortly after birth. For the first 10 days they were the healthiest tinies I'd ever had that young. Now however, they have developed diarrhea, which is nasty but pretty typical for bottle-babies. It's probably just a reaction to the formula, which is at best a poor substitute for mama's milk.
They aren't showing any signs of illness and my vet and I are treating them for the diarrhea, but it's not really getting much better. They are still gaining weight and have healthy appetites.
Last night I decided to put them with the mama cat of the six(!) 5-wk-olds that I have in my kitten closet. She accepted them and let them nurse, although it took them a long time to get the hang of it, poor little orphans.
The mama is weaning her kittens and doesn't seem that into them any more although they are still nursing. She is also in heat and pretty restless.
The tinies were really hungry a little while ago when I went to check on them. I know that she isn't producing that much milk and would have to work up to having enough so I expect to supplement. Poor thing, this would make 10 kittens, although only 4 are full-time nursers, her own 6 are eating lots of wet food. So I bottle-fed the tinies and now they are back in their box in the kitten closet, asleep.
So my questions are:
1. How should I handle this? The diarrhea would almost definitely clear up if they were back on mama's milk. But mama can't handle 10 kittens I don't think. I can probably handle the diarrhea myself, eventually, but they are sometimes pretty miserable since their tummies hurt and their little bums are a mess. They are still pretty happy kittens most of the time though, and basically healthy at 2 weeks old. I'm working on various fixes (acidolphilis did nothing) but you can't just keep adding stuff with kittens this small.
2. Should I take the mama's kittens away (they'd have to go to a foster home since they couldn't be here and be able to hear and smell mama)?
3. This is a technical question. Is there a way to get her milk to increase to the point where she can nurse all ten kittens?
I'm bottle-feeding these orphan kittens that were brought into a local shelter shortly after birth. For the first 10 days they were the healthiest tinies I'd ever had that young. Now however, they have developed diarrhea, which is nasty but pretty typical for bottle-babies. It's probably just a reaction to the formula, which is at best a poor substitute for mama's milk.
They aren't showing any signs of illness and my vet and I are treating them for the diarrhea, but it's not really getting much better. They are still gaining weight and have healthy appetites.
Last night I decided to put them with the mama cat of the six(!) 5-wk-olds that I have in my kitten closet. She accepted them and let them nurse, although it took them a long time to get the hang of it, poor little orphans.
The mama is weaning her kittens and doesn't seem that into them any more although they are still nursing. She is also in heat and pretty restless.
The tinies were really hungry a little while ago when I went to check on them. I know that she isn't producing that much milk and would have to work up to having enough so I expect to supplement. Poor thing, this would make 10 kittens, although only 4 are full-time nursers, her own 6 are eating lots of wet food. So I bottle-fed the tinies and now they are back in their box in the kitten closet, asleep.
So my questions are:
1. How should I handle this? The diarrhea would almost definitely clear up if they were back on mama's milk. But mama can't handle 10 kittens I don't think. I can probably handle the diarrhea myself, eventually, but they are sometimes pretty miserable since their tummies hurt and their little bums are a mess. They are still pretty happy kittens most of the time though, and basically healthy at 2 weeks old. I'm working on various fixes (acidolphilis did nothing) but you can't just keep adding stuff with kittens this small.
2. Should I take the mama's kittens away (they'd have to go to a foster home since they couldn't be here and be able to hear and smell mama)?
3. This is a technical question. Is there a way to get her milk to increase to the point where she can nurse all ten kittens?
