Well it's been a very long time since I've had to post a question on this site, but this is a new one for me.
My experience with newborn kittens isn't that vast. I once took in a pregnant stray who gave birth to one single baby (our problem with that one was the fact that mama didn't want to nurse the baby so we supplemented with KMR while also holding mama down so baby could nurse). I also fostered a litter of 2 week old orphans for my vet years ago. They had no problems bottle feeding and all were healthy so there were no problems there.
Fast forward to now. A pregnant stray showed up outside of our new house. We took her to the vet to verify the pregnancy and spaying wasn't an option for this vet because he guesstimated that the kittens would be born any day (His exact words were "any day to two weeks). Turns out that he was wrong and it was 3 weeks before the babies were born.
Some background on what occurred before the babies were born. When we took mama Luna to the vet, an ultrasound was done and the vet counted 4 babies. He told us that an ultrasound wasn't perfect so there were at LEAST 4 babies, but could be more. He showed us what he was seeing and counted the 4 babies. About a week after her pregnancy was verified we thought she was in labor. Her stomach was hard, she seemed to be in a lot of discomfort, lots of meowing and what appeared to be mucus leaking out of her. We waited and waited, and nothing happened. I have 9 of my own cats so we have had Luna in a large bathroom ever since we took her in (it's the size of a small room). So while we were waiting, we took turns checking on her and walked in and out of the room all day because nothing was happening and we had other things to do around the house. The next day, Luna appeared to NOT be in labor, so we assumed it was a false alarm. Called the vet who verified that false labor is possible but to keep an eye on her.
So another week went by and still no babies. Since we were now at the end of the the predicted birthing time, we called the vet who told us to wait another 2 days as long as she didn't appear to be in distress. So we waited and on the 3rd day (So at 2 weeks, 3 days past initial verification) the vet told us to bring her in. This time the first vet we saw was on vacation so we saw a different one in the practice. He did an ultrasound and an xray and was able to verify things like spines, fingers, etc. He predicted 3 more days until birth (and seemed a little surprised that the first vet was so far off), and he was correct.
However, this time on both the ultrasound and the xray, the vet counted only 3 kittens. He told us that one could be hiding, but he was 99% sure that there were only 3 kittens. He suspects that the "false labor" that we saw, may have been actual labor and she may have miscarried the 4th baby. And since we weren't in the room with her 24/7 he suspects that she ate whatever she birthed, which is why we saw no evidence of this.
So finally, the kittens were born around midnight on July 12th. 3 babies, just like the second vet said. Everything went fine with the birth. Mama seemed a little freaked out after the first one, and ignored them all (except for initial cleaning) until all 3 were out, and then instincts kicked in and she started nursing them. She didn't use any of the 3 birthing areas we had set up for her (of course not), so we put them into one of the boxes we had set up for her and in the morning she had moved them under a chair. She herself likes to hide under this chair so we figured that was where she definitely wanted them and would likely move them again if we put them back into the box so we have now set up a "cave" with the chair and everyone seems content.
There is definitely a runt in the litter. The first two kittens were born weighing about 3.4 oz (We have an old non-digital kitchen scale so the weights aren't exact). The third one weighed about 2.7 oz. But all seemed healthy and feisty and hungry.
The problem is that they all have their own nipple that they use and the little runt wants the one that is directly underneath one of her larger siblings. This results in the runt getting pushed away from the nipple as the bigger sibling kneads and squirms as he nurses from his top nipple. If she doesn't get pushed away, she ends up flipped over onto her back while she nurses. If we see this happen, we make sure to flip her over so that she is nursing while laying on her stomach.
All 3 were gaining weight - about .5oz-1oz a day...including the runt. Until 2 days ago. The runt only gained about .25oz. That concerned me, but she was still active and eating so I just made sure to keep an eye on her. That night, I noticed that she was having trouble breathing.
I know kittens can go downhill very, very quickly, so we rushed off to the emergency vet. Only about an hour had passed between the time we noticed the breathing issue and got to the vet. She was diagnosed with the beginning stages of pneumonia and given antibiotics. The vet didn't say this, but I personally suspect that its aspiration pneumonia due to laying on her back while she nurses.
So after 2 days of panic and worry, the little one seems to be doing fine now. Breathing is back to normal and she has gained an ounce over the past 2 days. We are still giving her clavamox twice a day.
I've been trying to be more diligent about watching them nurse, to make sure that the little runt isn't getting pushed away or being flipped onto her back.
So I have a few questions:
1. Has anyone ever had a runt who has successfully recovered from aspiration pneumonia? She seems ok right now but I know this stuff can change in the blink of an eye.
2. I know kittens are prone to using the same nipple every time they nurse. Is there a way to convince one to change nipples? I just came out of the room to write this because I spent the whole feeding session literally holding one of the bigger kittens up so that the runt could eat peacefully below him. He stayed latched and I just held his body up so the runt could be free underneath him. The kitten I was holding up didn't seem to mind that I was holding it, but this is obviously not an ideal solution long term. I tried to see if the larger kitten would accept a different nipple and he wasn't having it. Same with the runt. I've already tried separating them to let the runt nurse on his own, but mama Luna fights this. She nurses when she nurses and refuses to nurse when its not time. I know another option is to take the runt away and bottle feed him, but I don't want to separate him from his mom and siblings because even though he suffers at feeding time, I don't want to take him away from the siblings that he cuddles with all day long. I can do my best to be there for every feeding, but I obviously don't know exactly when this happens. I could easily set a timer and walk in there only to realize that Luna finished nursing them 5 minutes prior to me showing up. So will I be holding one kitten up as often as I can, for the next 7-9 weeks? Or can I convince one kitten to switch nipples? Or will the runt figure out how to stop being pushed away or flipped over every time she tries to eat?
3. Since we think that Luna miscarried a kitten, is this cause for concern as far as the other kittens go? I assume that if she miscarried and then ate what she miscarried, that something was likely wrong with that kitten. Does this mean there is a good chance of something being wrong with the other kittens? Or is it just a hit or miss thing with each individual one?
Sorry for the long post, but I really appreciate any advice or personal experience anyone can share!
My experience with newborn kittens isn't that vast. I once took in a pregnant stray who gave birth to one single baby (our problem with that one was the fact that mama didn't want to nurse the baby so we supplemented with KMR while also holding mama down so baby could nurse). I also fostered a litter of 2 week old orphans for my vet years ago. They had no problems bottle feeding and all were healthy so there were no problems there.
Fast forward to now. A pregnant stray showed up outside of our new house. We took her to the vet to verify the pregnancy and spaying wasn't an option for this vet because he guesstimated that the kittens would be born any day (His exact words were "any day to two weeks). Turns out that he was wrong and it was 3 weeks before the babies were born.
Some background on what occurred before the babies were born. When we took mama Luna to the vet, an ultrasound was done and the vet counted 4 babies. He told us that an ultrasound wasn't perfect so there were at LEAST 4 babies, but could be more. He showed us what he was seeing and counted the 4 babies. About a week after her pregnancy was verified we thought she was in labor. Her stomach was hard, she seemed to be in a lot of discomfort, lots of meowing and what appeared to be mucus leaking out of her. We waited and waited, and nothing happened. I have 9 of my own cats so we have had Luna in a large bathroom ever since we took her in (it's the size of a small room). So while we were waiting, we took turns checking on her and walked in and out of the room all day because nothing was happening and we had other things to do around the house. The next day, Luna appeared to NOT be in labor, so we assumed it was a false alarm. Called the vet who verified that false labor is possible but to keep an eye on her.
So another week went by and still no babies. Since we were now at the end of the the predicted birthing time, we called the vet who told us to wait another 2 days as long as she didn't appear to be in distress. So we waited and on the 3rd day (So at 2 weeks, 3 days past initial verification) the vet told us to bring her in. This time the first vet we saw was on vacation so we saw a different one in the practice. He did an ultrasound and an xray and was able to verify things like spines, fingers, etc. He predicted 3 more days until birth (and seemed a little surprised that the first vet was so far off), and he was correct.
However, this time on both the ultrasound and the xray, the vet counted only 3 kittens. He told us that one could be hiding, but he was 99% sure that there were only 3 kittens. He suspects that the "false labor" that we saw, may have been actual labor and she may have miscarried the 4th baby. And since we weren't in the room with her 24/7 he suspects that she ate whatever she birthed, which is why we saw no evidence of this.
So finally, the kittens were born around midnight on July 12th. 3 babies, just like the second vet said. Everything went fine with the birth. Mama seemed a little freaked out after the first one, and ignored them all (except for initial cleaning) until all 3 were out, and then instincts kicked in and she started nursing them. She didn't use any of the 3 birthing areas we had set up for her (of course not), so we put them into one of the boxes we had set up for her and in the morning she had moved them under a chair. She herself likes to hide under this chair so we figured that was where she definitely wanted them and would likely move them again if we put them back into the box so we have now set up a "cave" with the chair and everyone seems content.
There is definitely a runt in the litter. The first two kittens were born weighing about 3.4 oz (We have an old non-digital kitchen scale so the weights aren't exact). The third one weighed about 2.7 oz. But all seemed healthy and feisty and hungry.
The problem is that they all have their own nipple that they use and the little runt wants the one that is directly underneath one of her larger siblings. This results in the runt getting pushed away from the nipple as the bigger sibling kneads and squirms as he nurses from his top nipple. If she doesn't get pushed away, she ends up flipped over onto her back while she nurses. If we see this happen, we make sure to flip her over so that she is nursing while laying on her stomach.
All 3 were gaining weight - about .5oz-1oz a day...including the runt. Until 2 days ago. The runt only gained about .25oz. That concerned me, but she was still active and eating so I just made sure to keep an eye on her. That night, I noticed that she was having trouble breathing.
I know kittens can go downhill very, very quickly, so we rushed off to the emergency vet. Only about an hour had passed between the time we noticed the breathing issue and got to the vet. She was diagnosed with the beginning stages of pneumonia and given antibiotics. The vet didn't say this, but I personally suspect that its aspiration pneumonia due to laying on her back while she nurses.
So after 2 days of panic and worry, the little one seems to be doing fine now. Breathing is back to normal and she has gained an ounce over the past 2 days. We are still giving her clavamox twice a day.
I've been trying to be more diligent about watching them nurse, to make sure that the little runt isn't getting pushed away or being flipped onto her back.
So I have a few questions:
1. Has anyone ever had a runt who has successfully recovered from aspiration pneumonia? She seems ok right now but I know this stuff can change in the blink of an eye.
2. I know kittens are prone to using the same nipple every time they nurse. Is there a way to convince one to change nipples? I just came out of the room to write this because I spent the whole feeding session literally holding one of the bigger kittens up so that the runt could eat peacefully below him. He stayed latched and I just held his body up so the runt could be free underneath him. The kitten I was holding up didn't seem to mind that I was holding it, but this is obviously not an ideal solution long term. I tried to see if the larger kitten would accept a different nipple and he wasn't having it. Same with the runt. I've already tried separating them to let the runt nurse on his own, but mama Luna fights this. She nurses when she nurses and refuses to nurse when its not time. I know another option is to take the runt away and bottle feed him, but I don't want to separate him from his mom and siblings because even though he suffers at feeding time, I don't want to take him away from the siblings that he cuddles with all day long. I can do my best to be there for every feeding, but I obviously don't know exactly when this happens. I could easily set a timer and walk in there only to realize that Luna finished nursing them 5 minutes prior to me showing up. So will I be holding one kitten up as often as I can, for the next 7-9 weeks? Or can I convince one kitten to switch nipples? Or will the runt figure out how to stop being pushed away or flipped over every time she tries to eat?
3. Since we think that Luna miscarried a kitten, is this cause for concern as far as the other kittens go? I assume that if she miscarried and then ate what she miscarried, that something was likely wrong with that kitten. Does this mean there is a good chance of something being wrong with the other kittens? Or is it just a hit or miss thing with each individual one?
Sorry for the long post, but I really appreciate any advice or personal experience anyone can share!
