2 week old kittens

[frankthetank]

An acquaintance found some kittens a couple days ago outside her apartment complex~apparently the apt manager was sick of seeing "sickly" looking cats around and the cats were pooping in the playground of a nearby daycare so the apt manager set up live traps with one can of food and a hamster water feeder and caught the cats. Once the cats were in the traps though, the mgr would leave them trapped for DAYS without food and water. One was stuck so long that when B (acquaintance) saw it let out, the cat could barely walk. So B and her husband started letting the cats out at night when they saw them trapped because it was bothering them~apparently one of the cats was taken while in a live trap and locked in a barn and she thinks it died there. Well she had heard mewing for a couple days an was trying to find these kittens and then Tuesday morning found 3 baby kittens under a garage. She watched for a mom for the entire day and never saw one so finally tuesday evening she brought them in and went to get kitten milk and bottles. She was having trouble getting them to eat, use bathroom etc and asked for help.

DH and I took them in last night (wednesday). We set them up in a box w/ a heating pad, fleecy blanket and a stuffed animal that they snuggle up to. We have been feeding them every 2-3 hours. We believe they are 2-3 weeks old, their eyes are half open. My husband has bottle fed one of his cats years ago so he has experience but I have none. So far it seems to be going well. They are all eating well, have all been able to pee/poop w/ us stimulating the areas with unscented baby wipes.
We have looked up some info online and it says they should be eating about 32 cc's a day and to not at all overfeed them, but they seem SO hungry (ribs are sticking out, they were half starved) so I think we had fed them more then we were supposed to so far-how bad is this? We went thru one 1.8 ounce bottle and about 1/4 of another, split between all 3 kittens. I don't know how many cc's that is, but if it sounds like too much I will try to feed a little less throughout the day.

I would appreciate any advice, tips, words of wisdom...really anything from anyone who has done this before! They are three super cute babies, one is all grey and the other two are grey/white. One of the grey/white ones looks like he has a grey mustache(we are calling him mustache for now lol) the other one we are calling "runty" bc he is tiny and when we took him from B he was barely eating and smaller then the rest. He has eaten better w/ us.
I have already started posting him to friends of mine and have 2 people interested although they know the cats wont be ready for about 6 more weeks depending on how they do over the next two weeks.

Here are a couple pictures. We were struggling with the bottle while taking it so please don't judge the bottle pictures. We were trying to get them still enough to take it and they were squirmy, but I wanted to get a couple pictures to see if ya'll on here could help me figure out approx ages of them!

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This is the one with the mustache


All grey baby


This is a picture of all three of them taken when they were found.

We don't plan on naming them just yet, probably within a couple weeks or not at all so their new homes can name them when the time is right.

 

[frankthetank]

The kittens are still doing well. I was very nervous this morning because my attempts at bottle feeding last night did not go well and hubby had to take over but I got the hang of it. Each kitten likes to be fed a different way but I am figuring it out!
I am concerned about overfeeding...can anyone tell me the dangers of doing so? we plan to get a food scale today so we can weigh the kittens to calculate the daily intake...but the little all grey one seems to be hungry all the time!! They have all been eating typically .2 ounces per feeding~ I read on the can of kitten milk they should have 1 oz per 4 oz of body weight per day, so since I have no clue how much they weight I am worried we are either not feeding enough or too much.
The all grey one will eat the .2 ounces then not latch on again so I figure he is done but as soon as I put him with the others he chases them (kinda, they are still just learning the walking thing and are shaky) and tries to nurse off them. He ate .2 oz at 1030 with the others, then had another .2 at 1130 and now is trying to nurse off them again as I am getting ready to feed the others. So I am not sure if I should try to feed him every time he tries to nurse off the other cats or if he is doing that for comfort?
Also, what is the youngest age they can be bathed? Due to the cats trying to nurse off each other, two of them have some dirty smelly backsides. We are using unscented baby wipes to get them to use the bathroom but they don't really clean up the fur that is all stinky, but I don't think they will be ready for baths for another few weeks. Could having the dirty backsides cause harm to them?
Also, any clue on how often they should pee/poop? Currently I try to get them too each time they eat, but I don't wanna irritate the areas by doing it too often. Would certainly love any advice from anyone with more experience!

Thanks!!

 

[orangeishcat]

I wish I could offer help, but Hissy's website is probably your best resource- http://www.kitten-rescue.com

And also... eeeee look at those wee little claws!!

They're darling kittens!

 

[GoldyCat]

You're doing a good thing, and it sounds like you're doing it well if all the kittens are still alive.

1 ounce is approximately 30cc, so it sounds like you split 67cc among the three of them. That's not quite enough if you're trying to give them 32cc each. Since they're so skinny it won't hurt to give them a little extra until they catch up.

 

[calico2222]

It sounds like you're doing a great job! We found Gizmo, Missy and Corky at about the same age and bottle fed them. Honestly, I don't know how many CC's they got, we just fed them until they weren't hungry any more, then waited a few minutes and got some more in them. Gizmo was our problem child...he was the runt and it took a lot of coaxing to get him to eat. Now, he's the biggest one out of the three!

Bottle feeding kittens isn't an easy thing, and you are wonderful for doing this!

 

[frankthetank]

I am attached so so so much to these babies. They are so cute and I just love them. I have two potential homes, one person wants the female kitten but hasn't definitely said that she wants it, just that they are interested.
I have someone else coming this weekend, I went to HS with them and advertised the kittens on fbook, she has three other cats and is so thrilled at the prospect of getting a kitten once they are ready.
I am a little torn though...I want the runty one. As in, I wanna keep it. I don't know if we can/will yet, but I am very emotionally attached to him. To the others also, but very much to him. As you can tell by my signature, we have 9 cats already~ and I don't know if it is a smart decision to add a 10th.
The reason I am worried, is that the girl I went to HS with mentioned that she would like to let a kitten "choose her"...meaning see which one tries to bond w/ her etc. She said just let her know if any of them are spoken for already and was offline before I could explain the situation. I plan to explain in person this weekend...but IDK if I should assume the female is "off market" because someone else expressed interest, or give her to whoeever commits first?
Also, I need to decide if the runt is staying with me because if not and they bond, she would give him an awesome home. I do hope she loves the all grey one though. He is the most social and loving cat out of the three, so my husband thinks she will like it the most...fingers crossed?
IDK I am just conflicted. My heart is sad at the thought of giving the runt a new home! We only took these kittens in to raise them until they were ready for a home so I shouldnt be sad but thinking about it with that runt kitten, I am. He would need to stay w/ us the longest I think also, because he is developing slower. He walks w/ a weird almost limp on a hind leg~nothing too concerning yet bc they all walk a little wobbly still, but definitely something I want to get checked out at 6 weeks if he still walks funny. So I don't want to really promise him to anyone until I know he is going to be okay, if that makes sense?
I know I am rambling, but any advice is appreciated!