could this be it?

[eponaboo]

Firstly...

Weekly weigh in..

Salem 634g +104
Ginger 655g +107
Dottie 655g +164
Patch 703g +118

The babies are growing so fast now, they have kinda got chunky lol! They cry to be let out the playpen the minute i come down in the morning. They spend maybe 3 hours of free roaming time on the floor now, they are so fun to watch lol! They are all using the litter tray now and if I forget to move it out the playpen will cry for it whent they need to go potty lol!

No interest in weaning yet, we have smeared a little on lips and paws which they do lick off. But to be honest im not to worried yet as mum seems happy to still feed on demand!

So here is a vid of them during free play

 

 

[orientalslave]

They will start to wean themselves pretty soon.  Do you have food out in shallow dishes they can explore?

 

[eponaboo]

They will start to wean themselves pretty soon.  Do you have food out in shallow dishes they can explore?

Yeah we have to flatish bowls atm.

Disgusting discovery today, while the kittens were playing out of the playpen today one of them did an oopsy on the floor and there was this worm in it >_<

Rang the vets and they have put some worm stuff aside for me to pick up later. Seriously it was more gross than the time my daughter had nits lol!!!!

 

[orientalslave]

You need to treat mum as well as all the kittens!  And yes, worms from either end are gross!

 

[eponaboo]

You need to treat mum as well as all the kittens!  And yes, worms from either end are gross!

EITHER END?

Can humans get it from cats? I feel kinda grossed out right now and worried incase me or my kids can get it from them >_<

 

[orientalslave]

EITHER END?

Can humans get it from cats? I feel kinda grossed out right now and worried incase me or my kids can get it from them >_<

Yes - cats can vomit worms as well as poo them.  Yes, you need to take sensible precautions.  Don't let the kids handle cat litter, wash your hands well after scooping their trays, wear disposable gloves if you have health issues that make them more of a danger than to the average person.

Effective safe worm treatment is a must for any cat coming into a house with an unknown background.  Since I'm in the UK I would ask the vet for a Milbemax, and possibly another one 3-4 weeks later.  Since you mention the RSPCA I presume that is where you are as well.

Worming for kittens can be Panacur, and there is also kitten Milbemax which controls a wider range of worms.  What you can give to kittens depends on their size.  I gather roundworms are the biggest problem in kittens.

Avoid Drontal - they are available without a prescription and are very effective, but are so huge it's a nightmare to get one into a cat.

http://www.fabcats.org/owners/worming/info.html

 

[eponaboo]

well vet gave me 5 tablets, think it was that mili whatsit one, dark brown tablet for mum and 4 light brown for kittens. Mum ate hers right out of my hand which I'm thankful for lol. Kittens was a struggle but we got there in the end. Strange thing is Salem decided chewing a tablet was interesting and ate one of his mums dreamies lol. I put some food down and he turned his nose up at it lol. Oh well small steps i guess lol!
My eldest son cleans out the litter tray (he is 16) luckily he is always careful when cleaning it out if he had a hazmat suit im sure he would wear it lol!!

 

[orientalslave]

Yes those sound like Milbemax - tiny things.  I've not see the kitten ones but mum's sounds like it.  Very effectve.  Did he/she say if they need a second dose or not?

 

[eponaboo]

It was my mum picked them up for me, i did ask her if they said anything when she got them but she said they didnt. I did a little light reading and found out most treatments need redoing 2 or even 3 times.

Ok i have the packet here infront of me its milbemax, there was only one tablet for each kitten/cat on kittys vet label it says give on tablet once every three months. On the kittens vet label it says give 1 tablet once a month.

Im guessing i just get in touch with the vet in a months time for another dose?
 

 

[orientalslave]

Iit sounds like it. but ring the vets, the receptionists will be able to clarify.

 

[eponaboo]

well found no worms in the kittens but several in Kitties poop!

Little worried about Salem today as he was sick and seemed a little sleepy. Mum isnt feeding them very often anymore or for very long, its hit and miss with food sometimes they will lick the food  or take little nibbles and sometimes not. We had some kitten milk cartons so i warmed a little up and fed salem it with a syringe and he had quite a bit of it. So i dont know if i should keep doing that for him or all of them to suppliment mums milk or just wait and see if hunger forces them to take the food.

 

[orientalslave]

You often don't see worms after worming even if they have some. 

How old are they now?  And how has Salem's weight gain been?  Also, what sort of kitten milk?  Cimicat is the usual one in the UK for hand-rearing, and is what I think you should use for supplementing.  And I wouldn't supplement right now unless it's clear one of them needs it. 

Are you putting the wet food down in more than one shallow dish?  Kittens usually wean themselves by investigating it and walking into it.  At weaning age they investigate everything (including us!) by a mixture of licking, sucking and chewing.

Is mum OK and eating well?  She should be eating 2-3 times as much as usual at present.

 

[eponaboo]

They are six weeks now. Salems weight gain has been fine upto now but its only last couple of days he seemed less himself. The kitten milk is something i got from pets at home by beaphar. I make it up and put it in a little bowl and offer it after food. He will eat dreamies, crunches away on those if i put a couple on the floor for mum. I put three bowls of food down for the kittens and one for mum, but they seem to pay no interest in it, ive tried putting a little on my finger and offering it to them that way, they do curiously watch mum eat though. Thing is they have all eaten the food at one point and we thought great they have tried it and seem to like it, but then next time they wont touch it prefering to wait for mums milk lol.

Mum is always hungry no matter how much food she has, im guessing its a mixture of having the worms and feeding the babies, right now she seems to average about 8 felix kitten pouches a day.

Weighed the kittens yesterday (weekly weigh in...)

Salem 782g +148

Dottie 770g +195

Charlie/Patch 850g +73

Ginger 782g +115

 

[orientalslave]

Mum will be really hungry at present as she is feeding 4 kittens that aren't really eating much solid food yet, she has had worms and she might have been underfed when pregnant.  8 pouches a day is some going though!  I didn't count how much my foster I had last year ate, but I did notice the difference when she and the kittens were gone - I was buying food every time I was at the supermarket.  She also ate biscuits - I had James Wellbeloved kitten biscuits down all the time.

Dreamies are not really a good diet for kittens - they can easily fill themselves up with something that's not well-balanced.  It's really hard to be sure from a distance, but I think I would stop giving Dreamies for the time being.  I've never given any sort of milk, just water.  It's possible that by now I would have taken Salem to the vets (I would take mum & all the kittens in a big carrier) just for a check.  Although this is written for hand-reared kittens it might help:

http://www.gccfcats.org/pdf/articles/Weaning(BKilroy).pdf

BTW have you tried some different make foods?  None of mine really like Whiskas, they prefer Felix.  You could try some of the adult flavours as well to see if that makes a difference.  My two new kittens were on adult wet food when I got them from the breeder, plus two types of kitten biscuits.

 

[eponaboo]

There is dry food down all the time with some fresh water next to it, as for the dreamies hes only really ever had a couple. We started out on whiskas kitten food but even kitty wouldnt eat that lol.

 

[eponaboo]

The three boys will wolf down any food put infront of them now, but the female barely eats, today she ignored the bowls put down for the kittens and tucked into mums bowl which was a different flavour. I think we have a fussy princess in the making lol!

Also all of them but Salem (the smallest) can now climb out of the kitten pen made for them, im thinking maybe some chicken wire or something across the top?

 

[eponaboo]

So I decided to take the pen down, the babies get to go in the living room and kitchen and now have access to the upstairs landing (which seems to be their fav place atm lol! They are all eating solid food all the time now. Mum went into heat a couple of days ago and wouldnt let any of the babies near her to feed so its lucky Dottie decided food was a good thing lol! Charlie/ Patch (Charlie is the name his new owners have given him) has discovered growling works great at getting his own way, he even growled at mum when she came over to see the treat i was giving the kittens. She basically shows no interest in them now apart from the odd chirp at them. Mostly she will go to a room they arent allowed in or sit on the windowsill where they cant reach her.

The babies are now 7 weeks old and we decided to send Dottie and Charlie to their new owners when they are nine weeks ( family of mum and two college age girls) because mum works and the girls are home at college atm. So it gives them time to settle in before the girls return to college.

I rang the vet yesterday to sort out Kittys appointment for spaying and ginger and salems first jabs (forgot to ask about chipping them to so will see if they can do that while they do the jabs) she goes in on the 14th of this month at 9am, the kittens will get their jabs when i go to pick up kitty in the evening, its going to cost me around £200 for everything lol >_<!

Last weekly weigh in as its getting impossible to get them to sit on the scale anymore lol

Dottie 877g +27

Ginger 893g +123

Salem 885g +103

Charlie 983g + 201

Dotties smaller weight gain is due to trouble getting her to eat food at first. As you can see the biggest eater is Charlie closely followed by Ginger, they are always first to the food bowls and always last to leave them lol!

I will add a new video of them sometime today or tommorow maybe so you can seehow big they are getting now

 

[rosti]

Congratulations on your adorable kittens!

 

[eponaboo]

Congratulations on your adorable kittens!

Ty

I finally managed to upload a vid of them so you guys can see what they have been getting upto/into lmao! For some reason though only 50 odd seconds uploaded but im to tired to mess with it lol but you get the idea

 

[aeevr]

Awesome video! What was playing on the TV - with the mice running around?