How Accurate are X-Rays for Determining Cat Pregnancy?

[Sarthur2]

H hteft

I meant I wouldn't even give them the option of co-nursing at all right now. Indipoo seems to be struggling. Is she eating enough wet food?

I would try putting them on Kenzi when you normally supplement them. Kenzi may not agree, and the babies may not agree, but it's worth a shot. They're a week old and smaller than Kenzi's babies. If it doesn't work, continue supplementing them yourself, of course.

 

[hteft]

@sarthur2

She is eating mostly wet food mixed with kmr and dry kitten chow whenever she wants it.

I have to keep encouraging her to eat more. In my opinion she needs to eat more than she is.

She seems exhausted overall, With Indipoo struggling how can I give her more of a break and help her?

I will try one of the tiny's on Kenzi next time they are due to supplement. See if she accepts that one, then try both.No I won't encourage them to co-nurse. I just thought if they did that each one would naturally take and feed 4.

 

[Sarthur2]

It doesn't work that way, unfortunately. Cats don't think like we do.

I think by supplementing the tinys right now you are helping Indipoo as much as you can.

Let me know how it goes with Kenzi.

 

[hteft]

A tech from the vet returned a call to me this evening. My vet was open today and I had called to let them know Kenzi had her kittens, etc. I told them what has been going on with the Tiny's and with Indipoo struggling a bit. They told me to increase the amount of kmr in her canned food. And they want me to feed her canned cat food snacks every few hours throughout the day, rather than just having the canned at mealtimes. 

They suggested that when I supplement the tiny's to also supplement one of the other 4 during each supplemental feeding, so that everyone will get a little supplement, while the tiny's get a lot of supplement. Doing that as well now. 

I tried the tiny's with Kenzi earlier. Kenzi was fine with it, the babies weren't. I am supplementing them next to Kenzi's nest for now to try to get them used to her and see they will eventually latch on and nurse. 

 

[hteft]

I have a question, does anyone know how to tell if a kitten has flat chest kitten syndrome? I have never actually seen it and to me it looks like a few of Indipoo's kittens have flat chest, in particular the tiniest ones. None of them have a hard time nursing or with breathing. 

Here are today's weights. @sarthur2  the tiniest gained a bit more today than he/she did yesterday. One of Kenzi's didn't gain much for some reason. 

Indipoo's Kittens: 

Kitten                                 9/7                      9/8

Black/white                    5.3 oz                  6.1 oz

Red                               5.5 oz                  6.0 oz 

Green                            5.6 oz                  6.1 oz. 

Tiniest                           3.3 oz                  3.8 oz  

Tiny 2                            3.6 oz                  4.1 oz

Orange                          6.0 oz                 6.8 oz 

Kenzi's Kittens:

Kitten                             9/7                      9/8

Torti                             4.1 oz                4.9 oz

Torti/Tabby                   3.9 oz                4.3 oz

 

[NewYork1303]

If you post a few pictures for @catwoman707  she can help identify it, I believe. 

Here's a thread about it:  
[thread="290989"]Flat Chested Kitten Syndrome  [/thread]

 

[catwoman707]

 
If you post a few pictures for @catwoman707  she can help identify it, I believe. 

Here's a thread about it:  
[thread="290989"]Flat Chested Kitten Syndrome  [/thread]

Hi there,

I have not jumped in to your thread until now as I see you have great help already!  

However, are you saying those 2 tinies that are a week old you think may be flat chested?

If you can please post front and side view pics.

 

[Sarthur2]

The weight gains are very good! Whatever you are doing, just keep it up. I am anxious for the tinys to double their birth weights, but their gains were much better today.

I know you must be getting exhausted already, but I want you to realize that these kittens are doing well so far due to your efforts.

Catwoman is the expert on flat-chested kittens. She will take excellent care of you in this department .

 

[hteft]

    

tiny4.jpg

• hteft
• Sep 8, 2015

        

tiny2.jpg

• hteft
• Sep 8, 2015

Other tiny kitten :

othertiny1.jpg

• hteft
• Sep 8, 2015

    

othertiny2.jpg

• hteft
• Sep 8, 2015

     

othertiny3.jpg

• hteft
• Sep 8, 2015

Thank you again for looking at these for me. I really appreciate it!! 

 

[hteft]

@NewYork1303   Thank you for the link to the thread on flat chested syndrome. I am going to hop over and read the thread. I am posting pics for Catwoman707 to see as well. Very nice of her do. 

 

[hteft]

The weight gains are very good! Whatever you are doing, just keep it up. I am anxious for the tinys to double their birth weights, but their gains were much better today.

I know you must be getting exhausted already, but I want you to realize that these kittens are doing well so far due to your efforts.

Catwoman is the expert on flat-chested kittens. She will take excellent care of you in this department

.

Thank you! No not exhausted, I love feeding them. I have had so many bottle babies over the years that you get used to feeding every few hours. Never had a Mama cat, so it has been a bit different. I am eagerly waiting as well for them to double their birth weighs. At the same time, I am very grateful they are gaining and putting on padding. They were so bony when they were born. They are eating more too, so that will help them gain. Almost every feeding today they have wanted more and eaten almost 4 ml at a time. 

I posted the pictures for Catwoman to see. I have heard of flat chested syndrome, but never seen it firsthand. When I was checking on all of the kittens earlier, I noticed that the two tiniest chest areas look different than the other kittens. I am unsure if that could be because they are so much smaller, or if they do indeed have flat chested syndrome. Thankful there is an expert with flat chested kittens on here, that way if they do have it I can address it with the little corsets you can make. 

 

[Sarthur2]

I'm so glad the tinys are eating well. The corsets really do fix the problem fairly quickly!

 

[hteft]

Oh yes they are eating great! That is good to know about the corsets too. 

 

[catwoman707]

Granted, now I am saying this based on the pictures, and the fact that you noticed the different appearance of their rib cages, but yes, they certainly do appear to be flat chested.

Please review the thread where I walked a member through the making of the corset, and pay close attention to the details, as they are critically important to the success, and when done correctly works amazingly fast, especially in babies so young and small.

How is their breathing compared to the others? Activity? Do they seem more low keyed than the others?

It's not a bad idea to have this confirmed with a vet, but basically just confirming it, not looking for the solution, as vets are not hopeful with these little ones, but they CAN be saved!!

My husband swears I should patent this vest )

Let me know once you have read through the thread, ask questions and please explain to me what you understand about how to correctly make one.

 

[hteft]

@catwoman707I think you should patent too! Tomorrow, when I am not tired I will go over the details on the thread to make sure I understand it correctly, then go from there with making them corsets. 

Their breathing doesn't seem much different. Occasionally, I have thought they looked to be breathing faster than the others, but that isn't all the time. They aren't as active as the others. You can see that mostly when they feed, but I thought that was because they are so much smaller. They are a LOT smaller than the others. In fact they haven't come close to doubling their birth weight yet. 

I Googled flat chested syndrome earlier and saw that in litters of kittens it can be hereditary. I am going to look over the other kittens again to see if any of the others also appear to be flat chested. There is one who sleeps with his mouth open all the time. Hopefully it is just these two. I will also call my vet in the morning and see what they say about checking them out. 

I will absolutely do that! I want to make sure I do it correctly. Do I ask the questions on that thread or in this one? Or PM? 

Thank you again! I really appreciate all the help I have received on this site!! 

 

[Sarthur2]

H hteft

You'll ask your questions on this thread .

And the tinys may be less active because they are smaller, but they will move and breathe and grow better when the flat chests are corrected. The sooner the better .

 

[catwoman707]

I haven't read through this entire thread, but I did notice their weights and have a great concern for the 2 tinys and their weights, although as of very recent, they do seem to be gaining better. Just way behind.

Are you planning to have them seen for a vet to confirm flat chests or do you want to go ahead with treatment if you are unable to take them right now?

The front of their chest would be flattened rather than bowed outward.

 

[Sarthur2]

catwoman707

H hteft has been supplementing the tinys for a few days because the mom doesn't seem to be making enough milk. She also has 6, and the tinys are getting rooted out. They are actually finally drinking about 5 mL apiece at hand feedings now.

 

[catwoman707]

Oh I see, that explains the recent gains then. 

Thanks for that info!  

 

[catwoman707]

Also wanted to mention, while it may be called hereditary, it's most often seen in small/premature kittens.

When cats conceive they can conceive on different days with one or more partners, which may very well be why the 2 are a substantial amt smaller than the sibs.

I would not suspect the bigger ones to be flat, also you said you notice a difference in their breathing while eating, this is when you would likely see it the most. Breathing and eating/swallowing combination, because they breathe less, so if there is any shortness existing already it would be that much clearer during eating times.