helping kitten gain weight

[armejy]

A few days ago, my brother rescued this orphaned kitten so now I'm caring for her. She seems about 7-8 weeks old and I'm feeding her a mixture of wet food and moistened kibble. She's quite thin though. Is there anything I can add to her food to help her gain weight?

 

[shebaa]

If she is eating on her own then I would leave it be. If not, then you can mix pate wet food with water, put it in a syringe and feed it to her. You can also get her some tomlyn nutri cal supplement for kittens. It contains nutrients and calories. Kitten wet and dry is gonna contain more nutrients and calories that kittens needs. I say for 7 -8 week old, normal weight range would be 1.50- 2lbs.

 

[Furballsmom]

then you can mix pate wet food with water,

... with water, or unflavored pedialyte, or kmr

Give her 3-4 small meals maybe more daily. Once she's about six months old, then you can decrease to about 2-3 meals daily. For each meal, let her eat as much as she wants to consume. Thank you so much for helping this darling baby!

I'm not sure if I'm seeing anything in her ears other than maybe just dirt?, - have you had a chance to get her in to a vet? They can look at her ears for mites, doublecheck for worms etc. If she has worms, that will make it difficult for her to gain weight.

 

[armejy]

... with water, or unflavored pedialyte, or kmr

Give her 3-4 small meals maybe more daily. Once she's about six months old, then you can decrease to about 2-3 meals daily. For each meal, let her eat as much as she wants to consume. Thank you so much for helping this darling baby!

I'm not sure if I'm seeing anything in her ears other than maybe just dirt?, - have you had a chance to get her in to a vet? They can look at her ears for mites, doublecheck for worms etc. If she has worms, that will make it difficult for her to gain weight.

Thank you!! I haven't been able to get her to the vet yet since my local vet charges around $50 for non-emergency visits and I'm 16 so I can't afford it myself. Sadly there's no animal shelter here that I can take her to so someone else can take care of her, and the vet has specifically told us that they're not taking in strays. But!!! She's already been gaining weight slowly and I'm going to buy deworming tablets and pest medicine (? Bravecto) for her according to her weight. I'm going to weigh her again tomorrow and then I'll reply here with her current weight. Also, when I got her I gave her a quick flea bath with dish soap, the way Kitten Lady on Youtube does. Then I wiped her face with a damp warm cloth. In the photo that I posted I think she might have had a tiny bit of eye crusties because it was taken in the morning. I raised two other orphaned kittens in January and they're both big, healthy cats now so with the new kitty I'm looking out for anything that seems out of the ordinary. Thank you for your reply!! This website and the wonderful people on it have helped me so much with raising my kittens.

 

[Furballsmom]

I'm not an expert regarding flea applications, but perhaps @sarthur can help you

 

[shebaa]

I would not give bravetco until at least 3lbs, even though it states 2.60 lbs min. As a kitten foster, if needed, we are given revolution for them. Also I think you would need to see the vet in order to be prescribed flea meds. They're gonna want to see any new pet before prescribing anything, its a pain! And I do not trust any over the counter flea meds, but thats just me!

 

[armejy]

I'll reply here with her current weight

I just weighed her and she's currently at exactly 800 grams (28.2 oz). She's also much less bony than when I got her. I used this website to roughly determine her age based on her milestones since her weight wouldn't be an accurate indicator.
How Old Is That Kitten? Kitten Guide: Eight Weeks

 

[shebaa]

I just weighed her and she's currently at exactly 800 grams (28.2 oz). She's also much less bony than when I got her. I used this website to roughly determine her age based on her milestones since her weight wouldn't be an accurate indicator.
How Old Is That Kitten? Kitten Guide: Eight Weeks

I say she's at a good weight. On that site it says for 7 weeks, weight range is 770 - 800 grams. You just wanna make sure she gets shots/boosters and deworming. Kittens are prone to sickness and worms