How Much Does 12 Week Old Kittens Suppose To Weigh?

[Calishell]

He didnt seem to mind. He just laid there and let them do it and started licking and cleaning them

 

[Jewel Blackcat]

My daughter brought home an 8 week old kitten recently that was emaciated and we went through something similar. Here's what I learned... emaciated kittens need small meals four or more times a day of wet food. They will be dehydrated as well. You can keep out a bowl of dry kitten food for them but they likely won't eat it in the beginning because they need wet food for the moisture content. Tapeworms hurt your chances of successful weight gain and they are transmitted by fleas. It's likely an emaciated cat or kitten has fleas even if you can't find any on them. Treat for fleas. Assume any kitten that is severely underweight already has a tapeworm. Feed quality wet food the first two days so making sure they have had ten or so meals. After every meal... rub them down like a momma cat bathing them. Soon, they will begin making noises when they are hungry and start looking to you for "the noms". Be sure to scoop their litter pan every time they use it so it is always clean or they may develop potty issues. It's not necessary to see one, but when you groom, look for any rice like blobs on the kitty's butt. It would be a tapeworm segment and indicate you need another dose of dewormer. Sometimes you worm them once, and they swallow a rogue flea that got away when you weren't looking. (They sell tapeworm meds at tractor supply otc if you can't get an appointment with the vet soon enough.) We decided to wait to spay our emaciated kitten until she has put on enough weight. Our vet actually won't perform the surgery until a cat is AT 6 months because recent studies have shown an increase in other health issues with early neuter/spay. She weighed just over half a pound at 8 weeks (terrifying) and now at 12 weeks she is just barely under weight but is still on track to be a healthy adult. By the time we do her surgery she will be perfectly healthy, have her shots done, no fleas, no mites in ears, and will be well prepared for it. There are many other things to watch for in the meantime... like ringworm, eye problems, respiratory infections, etc. Hopefully none arise while you are waiting for the surgery, but if they do you have time to treat. You'll definitely want to have the vet do a fecal for parasites and blood check for viral infections when you have the shots done. I chose to use revolution for flea control because we live in an area where heartworm is a problem, but there are other good options available now as well that are otc. I can't stress this enough... internal parasites will KILL a kitten because they can't get the proper nutrition from their food. Almost all kittens have at least one type of parasite. Some have all of them.