Jewel and Her Babies!

[CritterLove99]

Background: I have recently brought in a pregnant stray that gave birth April 8th. I was able to get her to the vet for her first vaccinations, and the kittens are scheduled for their first deworming and vaccines in two weeks. The kittens seem healthy, bright eyes, no goop or anything in eyes or nose or genitals, hitting weight and behavior milestones, starting to wrestle each other and explore etc.

Concern: I'm worried about one of the kittens who has lost some weight this evening. I've been weighing the kittens twice a day and perhaps this has caused unnecessary concern. Looking at just the morning weights, a.k.a. daily overall gains, she looks okay except for today May 1. During the day today, between her morning weigh in at 830am and her evening weigh in around 9pm, she lost about 22grams which is way more than I've ever seen. She was much more active today - out of the cat cave for the first time this weekend, trying to run, lots of playing, but it still shocked me to see this loss regardless of the extra activity. She has lost some weight during the day before only to gain even more overnight, but idk if that is normal or not.

I do have a miracle nipple and I can get formula if needed. I'm unsure if my vet will be able to take a look anytime soon - we only have one in town and I'm in a very rural area, ~2 hours from any other vets, but will certainly give them a call if morning weight shows no gains.

Here is her weight history starting from the 19th (my scale from before that date was crap and it took forever to get a good one delivered!) These are just the AM weights showing overall 24 hour gain:

Date	AM	g Gained
19th	275.40​
20th	290.60​	15.20​
21st	313.00​	22.40​
22nd	325.10​	12.10​
23rd	343.20​	18.10​
24th	366.00​	22.80​
25th	373.20​	7.20​
26th	390.40​	17.20​
27th	407.40​	17.00​
28th	411.10​	3.70​
29th	419.50​	8.40​
30th	433.50​	14.00​
31st	447.80​	14.30​

Looking at those she seems fine, but here are her twice daily weigh ins, and you can see she lost quite a bit last night which worries me:

date	time	g	gained 12hr	gained 24hr
Wednesday	AM	275.40​
19-Apr	PM	282.10​	6.70​	6.70​
Thursday	AM	290.60​	8.50​
20-Apr	PM	298.50​	7.90​	16.40​
Friday	AM	313.00​	14.50​
21-Apr	PM	323.30​	10.30​	24.80​
Saturday	AM	325.10​	1.80​
22-Apr	PM	325.40​	0.30​	2.10​
Sunday	AM	343.20​	17.80​
23-Apr	PM	351.40​	8.20​	26.00​
Monday	AM	366.00​	14.60​
24-Apr	PM	359.00​	-7.00​	7.60​
Tuesday	AM	373.20​	14.20​
25-Apr	PM	373.70​	0.50​	14.70​
Wednesday	AM	390.40​	16.70​
26-Apr	PM	390.70​	0.30​	17.00​
Thursday	AM	407.40​	16.70​
27-Apr	PM	400.20​	-7.20​	9.50​
Friday	AM	411.10​	10.90​
28-Apr	PM	411.70​	0.60​	11.50​
Saturday	AM	419.50​	7.80​
29-Apr	PM	418.50​	-1.00​	6.80​
Sunday	AM	433.50​	15.00​
30-Apr	PM	425.30​	-8.20​	6.80​
Monday	AM	447.80​	22.50​
1-May	PM	425.60​	-22.20​	0.30​

Am I making a big deal out of nothing? I will update as soon as I do the morning weigh in, but I just wanted to get opinions from seasoned folks too. This is my first time caring for kittens and I don't have much support out here. Our single vet is very overwhelmed and it's difficult to get appointments but like I said I can call first thing in the morning and perhaps with any advice her I can convince them it's urgent if it really seems to be. They don't seem to know much about kittens - when they were born and I asked how much they need to gain per day they said they didn't know. I had to find that information here tbh. Thank you in advance for anything you all can offer!

 

[CritterLove99]

Just realized the first table is calculated using AM weights, and the second table 24 hour column is done using PM weights. Not even sure why i made the 24 hour column on the second one...hope that doesn't confuse things too much

 

[StefanZ]

I think its most importantly to see the daily changes. Measured at the same moment each day.
As they tend to be over 10g daily - occasionally upp and down - I dont think this is any big problem.

But yeah, its somewhat surprising to see the dips can be this much during daytime...
I suppose its both intensive playing, sweating, and prob peeing and pooing too.


But as you do worry, yeah, its probably wise to let the vet check her up.... Most vets arent very experienced with young kittens, but if she has some serious problem, he will prob discover this.

 

[Sarthur2]

The kitten sounds fine to me! At 3 weeks and 3 days old, she already weighs almost a pound — which is the target weight for kittens at one month.

Weighing twice a day is unnecessary and causing you to overthink this. They sound especially healthy and vigorous, and weight loss can be explained by additional activity, cutting baby teeth, and a short growth plateau. It’s not unusual and does not signal problems.

Also, the kittens do not need vaccines and worming until they are 8 weeks old, so please change your appointment. Your country doctor sounds like he knows more about livestock than household pets.

You’re doing a great job and thanks for taking mom in. Will you keep her? Do you plan to spay mom and kittens?

I hope this helps alleviate your worries!

C CritterLove99

 

[CritterLove99]

Thank you both so much! I'll call the vet and discuss the appointments too. I just calculated the exact dates and it would put us at 7.5 weeks instead of 8 weeks.

 

[CritterLove99]

Oh and I won't be keeping them unfortunately. I've already adopted another stray cat this year and I have another kitty already too. I got mom vaccinated earlier this year and she has a spay appointment this summer.

I'm putting up an adoption flyer at my vet for all of them hoping to find good responsible homes. I figure advertising there at least it will be folks who already go to a veterinarian. I'll ask for a rehoming fee and I made a questionnaire about their home/family etc too. Probably a bit overboard but I really want them to go to good homes. Too many folks here don't spay/neuter and let their cats roam outside all day. I also already made spay/neuter appointments for the kittens this fall and I'm trying to get vouchers for them so the new owners will have that locked in. The vet said it's easy to transfer over the appointments and vouchers too if I can get them.

 

[Sarthur2]

You are on top of everything and sound very responsible!

Please do keep us posted. We’d love to see pictures of mom and her kittens. Also, it’s good to keep mom and babies together for 16 weeks. If she particularly favors one of her kittens, maybe they can be adopted together. Bonded pairs of the others as well — sometimes 2 kittens are easier than one because they have each other as playmates.

 

[CritterLove99]

OK I AM WORRIED AGAIN!!!

I just weighed her (had morning work meetings so had to wait til 1030) and she is only 400 grams this morning!! Called the vet and they don't have a doctor in today but they said the techs will do their best, earliest appointment is late afternoon. I also found a smear of bright orange on the puppy pee pad. I don't know if it is poo or vomit or what, but will bring to the vet too. I haven't seen any poo from them yet, mom is still cleaning it all so far.

I've seen her feeding with my own two eyes all weekend, last night, this morning...I don't know what is going on. She is currently feeding on mom now.

I hope the vet can help. I will pick up formula today too but any other advice appreciated.

 

[Sarthur2]

Yes, do get powdered formula and unflavored pedialyte to use to mix it with instead of water. Get a small, needleless syringe as she likely will not take a bottle for supplementing.

She may need Albon suspension for infection.

Orange poop is usually indicative of too much bile in the stool. If this is the case, with supportive care this should resolve once she gets over the hump.

It seems the crisis time for kittens is right around the 3-week mark. If they get through whatever it is, they are usually fine.

Also, her weight is still good; it’s the steady losing that is concerning.

C CritterLove99

 

[CritterLove99]

Thank you, i got powdered formula and unflavored pedialyte during my lunch break, just got back now. The smallest needleless syringe I could find is 3mL, hopefully ok. I do have miracle nipples - just realized they are knockoffs but hopefully good enough. Will keep you all posted.

Thank you again or your support.

 

[CritterLove99]

Of course I get everything prepped and then she wakes up and starts to feed from mom. Fine by me though, as long as she is eating! I'll be ready to step in again when needed.

In the meantime I reviewed my kitty cam from this morning and I noticed something else. This morning when I came in and found that orange smear, I also found the kitten in question out of her box in the corner of the room. I had thought she had somehow escaped even though I was sure the box was too tall for this - but watching the cam I see that right afer she had this little diarrhea episode mom took her out of the box and placed her in the corner of the room. This was about 45 min before her weigh in time. Then every 5 minutes or so mom would run over and check on her. She went back and forth between the kittens in the box and the kitten she placed in the corner. When I came in I put the kitten back in her box and mom hasn't moved her again, and she's been acting normally towards her ever since.

 

[CritterLove99]

Just before we left for the vet found a mustard colored stain on the bedding, also brought a pic of this to the vet.

Went to the vet, no fever (yay!), though lots of orange goop during that thermometer check..yuck. She weighed 15oz at the vet check-in this afternoon so she gained back quite a bit since this morning which is good news. The tech gave all the kittens and mom dewormer.

Kitten also got an xray which showed a slightly large stomach/intestine? but the tech said that the doctor would review this tomorrow when she got in as she was not experienced enough to say whether this was really an issue or not.

She said the doctor would call if she had additional recommendations tomorrow after reviewing everything, and I should call if any new symptoms come up.

She was energetic and playful after getting home, wrestling with her mates. She is now eating right from mom again.

Thank you again for your input and support!! I'll keep you all posted on progress and send pics soon. I feel prepared and ready to help this kitty through whatever this may be. Hopefully just a little bump in the road.

 

[CritterLove99]

sorry for all of the messages. i wanted to say by 'mustard colored poop' i mean like poor people mustard, not like grey poupon. so it was like neon yellow. lol. ok anyways, will update again if anything changes. thank you again for the support i am so so thankful!!

 

[Sarthur2]

Bright yellow can sometimes mean coccidia. This would require a round of Albon to cure.

Good to hear that she’s eating and gaining again!

 

[CritterLove99]

I haven't gotten a call from the doctor yet - hopefully no news is good news. The appointment was with a vet tech since they had no doctor available the day I went in.

No new diarrhea or anything that I've seen since that first episode.

Kitten was a bit lethargic on Wednesday and didn't seem to gain any weight that day, but today she gained a good amount and was very energetic and playful again. We are back up to about 435 grams as of this morning, yay!

Here are a few pics of the whole family. I don't have any good pictures of the kittens from this week, so these are from when they are a bit younger. Still cute though!

 

[CritterLove99]

Update: Friday evening found another orange smear, and Saturday watched the same kitty in question poop out a little pile of orange poo. I should have taken a picture right away but was more concerned about getting it cleaned up before the gang went tromping through it.

I do have a picture after the cleanup of the color if it would be helpful to post. It was the same color as before, like a burnt orange color and soft serve ice cream or toothpaste consistency. She also has developed a bit of dark black/brown crust coming out of her eyes. Not a lot, but none of the other kitties have it. It isn't something I'd be worried about if I found it in my adult kitties but I figured it's worth noting. It seemed to be a one time thing that I just cleaned up today but I'll be keeping an eye on it now.

She is very energetic now and gaining plenty of weight daily (between 8 and 20g per day) so I'm not too concerned but I was hoping the orange poo phase was over. No more neon yellow that I've seen though. She and mom and siblings will be getting a second dose of dewormer in two weeks. No other advice yet from the vet beyond that. Should I be worried that she's got orange poo again?

 

[Sarthur2]

Did you hear back from the vet yet? I think you should send the picture of the poop you cleaned up to the vet. The kitten may need Albon.

Keep the eyes clean with a soft damp cloth, and it’s great the kitten is eating and gaining!

 

[CritterLove99]

I brought the first poop to the vet when I went there. I haven't heard from them yet. I was thinking of calling them back today to give them an update but I know they are so busy all the time. It's really hard to get a hold of them since their phone is always busy and VM is always full.

I'll keep the eyes clean with the damp soft cloth like you said. Thank you again for the advice and encouragement all!

 

[CritterLove99]

I did try calling the vet back but was on hold for 30-45 min both times before I had to get back to work. But no more orange poops since then yet and her eyes have cleared up too. No more days of weight loss either - she's up to 531 grams! Fingers crossed all stays well. Here's a recent picture of her cuddled up to me:

 

[CritterLove99]

I'm not sure if this should be another thread, but I'm having some troubles with mommy now. I called the vet this morning and explained the issue but they said they can't help as they have no openings today. I do have an appointment for next Wednesday but I'm worried that isn't soon enough because mommy is breathing really fast the last two days, possibly more and I just didn't notice til now.

She is breathing fast and shallow between 50-110 per minute. It seems to go on and on too, not just a bout here and there. Never open mouth breathing though and it doesn't make any sound at all. No coughing or anything.

It seems better in the early morning when the kittens are less active, and worse when they are most active during the afternoon and evening. She seems pretty nervous when they are playing and running all around. She is very vocal and restless during these times.

To my eye she also seems to have lost quite a bit of weight this past week. I keep trying to weigh her but she really won't have it. Otherwise I see no other symptoms. She is just as active as she has always been, her poo is normal, not dehydrated (skin snaps back quickly). I hope it's nothing serious but I wanted to get ya'lls opinion if you have seen anything like this in nursing mothers.

There is one other vet in town that usually only does Tues/Thur for 2 hours but rumor has it he started Saturdays this month so I'm going to try giving him a call first thing tomorrow morning too. Any advice or thoughts appreciated.