What a heartwarming story! Beautiful mama and 6 very cute babies! She is one lucky kitty to have found you! Thank you for stepping up for her! Great job and big hugs
The 2.4 is a little low, but not bad for a litter of 6. A healthy birth weight is 3.5 ounces, so let's look for good gains in the next few days. Watch carefully for a runt struggling.
Well I was wrong when I weighed them. My boyfriend helped me out and our runt is 3.3. They are all above him/her but all doing great today. Lilly is eating like a horse. She was refusing her kitten chow and opted for five, yes I said five, all together cans of food yesterday. Didn't mean for her to have that much but I left and my daughter fed her not knowing I did too. She finally ate some kitten chow late last night and this morning but will not have anything to do with the replacement milk.
Thank you everyone for your kind words. We have big animal loving hearts over here so when she found us there was a reason. We love her to pieces and will continue to do everything so she has the best life ever. I love the kittens but Lilly holds my heart.
I'm actually glad to hear that she's eating that much! You may want to stock up on cans because she needs all she can eat to feed her kittens right now.
That weight is much better, but continue weighing and watching out for a struggling kitten. It happens often when there are six.
She probably needed the food after labor and delivery. I doubt she'll eat five cans a day, but maybe 2 or 3.
The kittens need to gain 6-10 grams per day, or about a half ounce. They should double their weight the first week. So if there is little or no weight gain the kitten is struggling and not thriving, usually from not enough milk.
Not getting enough milk results from being bullied off the nipples by stronger kittens, or by a weak sucking reflex.
Ok she has had kitten chow twice today that I seen and three cans of food so she is eating very well. No crying kitties and all seem to be sucking every time I go in there. I will be watching like a hawk. If need be can I feed them the replacement milk with a bottle?
Is it normal for the babies to sleep for a while and not suck all the time if their bellies are full? I would assume if they are hungry they would be crying out not sleeping.
You are correct! They cry when hungry. The rest of the time they nurse, sleep, nurse, sleep. As they mature, they will begin crawling around the nest a bit.