Kittens

[tormented]

My and my Aunt are bottle feeding 10 kittens. Three different litters, all 3-4 weeks old. The first litter we have had since they were 5 days old, there are four of them. Their mom had gotten hit by a car*. The other 6 kittens had all been here with in the last week. Two different litters, both containing 3 kittens. The first litter of 3's mom had either ran away during a real bad storm we just had or was killed during it. The storm ripped of roofs of some buildings. The second litter of three, was also a result of that storm, but they are plump little kittens and probably would have been better being left where they were found. I feel like the mom would have come back. But two of those kittens dont want to eat off the bottle, oneof those refuses to eat at all. We have had them for 3 days. And the one has only gotten a few drops at all. 

Okay is my actual question.. We have some foster kittens, one has been snuggling with them and they try to nurse off of her (she is about 5 1/2 months old) Could she start lactating? 

*The mom was not ours. She was a friend of our's cat. To sort of defend her about not getting her cat fixed- her husband doesn't believe in it. Which even she doesn't understand. 

 

[StefanZ]

 
My and my Aunt are bottle feeding 10 kittens. Three different litters, all 3-4 weeks old. The first litter we have had since they were 5 days old, there are four of them. Their mom had gotten hit by a car*. The other 6 kittens had all been here with in the last week. Two different litters, both containing 3 kittens. The first litter of 3's mom had either ran away during a real bad storm we just had or was killed during it. The storm ripped of roofs of some buildings. The second litter of three, was also a result of that storm, but they are plump little kittens and probably would have been better being left where they were found. I feel like the mom would have come back. But two of those kittens dont want to eat off the bottle, oneof those refuses to eat at all. We have had them for 3 days. And the one has only gotten a few drops at all. 

Okay is my actual question.. We have some foster kittens, one has been snuggling with them and they try to nurse off of her (she is about 5 1/2 months old) Could she start lactating? 

*The mom was not ours. She was a friend of our's cat. To sort of defend her about not getting her cat fixed- her husband doesn't believe in it. Which even she doesn't understand. 

Im beginning to write answer, I will continue immediately

Ok, first, there seems to be an emergency arising.  If they hadnt eat so many hours, the risk is big dying has began.   With these, you must be vigorous if you want to try and save them!

1.   Keep them warm.

2.  Try to get some fluids in them.   Some sort of pedialyte is best, but even common water should do for a beginning.

3.  Give them glucose sugar.  Lend from a neighbour if necessary.   You can smear it on their gum, it perks energy in them - works quickly as glucose is absorbed into blood already in the mouth.

This useful even if they arent warm enough as yet.

Brand name of glucose may be Dextrose or Dextropur.   You can get in in your usual shop, in sugar and bakery pulvers shells.

They have surely also glucose sugar in the sports apartament - although this will be flavored - but you can still use it.

If you nor your neigbours dont have  glucose sugar, you may use white caro syrup, or honey.

4.   Dont forget to stimulate them.  If not evacuated, they wont be hungry, exaclty alike humans.   If much full of unemptied wastes, its even directly dangerous.

We had cases of seemingly dying kittens, but when they were emptied, they immediately come back to life....

A dropper or a small syringe is much easier than a  bottle!

Use fleece for them!   It helps them to feel like with mom!    Also, fleece and flannel dont fastens in their nails, so its an extra advantage.

You can also wrape the bottle in fleece, so when the kittens hold the bottle with fleece, it will feel almost like momma.

What kmr do you use?   Goat milk is useful.  Best is fresh, but bottled is OK too.   You may perhaps need to dilute it a little.

A good site for helping orphans is  www.kitten-rescue.com

Its good this young female tries to help them.  Its worth much!

Yes, theoretically she can get fluids form her nipples, - perhaps even real milk - but you cant count on it.

But if she DOES gets milk - its not nothing abnormal, nor sickly process,  no!   

ps.  Do you have access to a good vet experienced with helping weak kittens?   In difficult cases can for example tube mating be a good help.

But tube mating done by a newbe is difficult and very dangerous.  You must be shown by an experienced person, and get the proper gears.

The problem is, many vets dont know it either.

But if you often help out with small kittens, it will be a good idea for you to learn it.  If not now, so further on.

Tx a lot for helping all these our small brethrens and sisters!

God bless you!

*vibes!*

End of THIS message.

Ps.   When I tried to look at your other posts, I saw several are in this Forum, the P&K.   But I dont see any other threads by you - this is the first.

Had you managed to hide your questions in others peoples threads??  

 

[StefanZ]

RE "keeping them warm".    Small kittens cant keep their warm themselves.  And especielly not if they are weak or sick.  So in practice, "keeping them warm" usually means  "do warm them up actively".  Carrying at your chest, having a cat mom taking care, using a warming pad on low warmth temp, or a rice filled sock, where you warm up the rice by microwaves.

Even a red-light lamp may be useful.

Be sure its not TOO warm.  Too warm may be almost as dangerous as not warm enough....  Both drain energy, and if bad enough - kills.

 

[tormented]

They are all together, and some of our older kittens like snuggling with them. Warmth isnt a problem. THey all eat except one now. THe one that has refused to eat, and right after i  wrote this, started eating. He just latched on the the bottle's nipple and started eating. The other one won't latch, but eats. You have to squeeze some into his mouth, but he will eat it. 

When we just had the original four I had a large soft beanie baby cat in with them. Now they dont snuggle with it at all. Just with each other. They make a pile when they sleep, its pretty cute. 

My mom's dog (he is a lab/shepherd mix, well that what I think anyways) loves to lay with them in any empty kiddie pool and clean them. 

EDIT: A couple days ago we had a scare though, three of the original kittens had stopped eating and were lethargic. We were able to get two of them to eat some canned KMR. The two bounced back(and got some Corn syrup), but we were worried about the third one. We thought he wouldn't make it through the night. He wasn't swallowing anything, so we didnt try to feed him any Corn syrup or KMR. But then I looked at him (a couple hours after we took him away from the rest of the kittens) and he was sitting up, so I fed him some KMR and now he is great. It was really weird. 

We use Pro-Ag KMR and Hartz Kitten Milk replacement. The lady who gave us the last batch also gave us some canned Pro-Ag KMR. 

None of the kittens are really weak except for that scare, when we thought three were going to die. Even the one who was refusing to eat acted like all the others. Maybe his body was eating the fat he has! Ha. Yea, you can feel the fat under their skin, makes it easy to tell the one black kitten from the other two!

 

[tormented]

When I see that they are obviously cold I put a heating pad in there. But with there being ten of them, they have been keeping warm by themselves or with the help of older kittens snuggling with them. Most of the time they are on the warm side of the house, which is just a few degrees lower than outside. We live in the south so its been pretty warm on that side. 

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• tormented
• Oct 19, 2014

This is my moms dog, Gary, with seven of the kittens. I think later that day my mother, aunt, and I went and picked up the other three kittens.

 

[StefanZ]

 
We use Pro-Ag KMR and Hartz Kitten Milk replacement. The lady who gave us the last batch also gave us some canned Pro-Ag KMR. 

None of the kittens are really weak except for that scare, when we thought three were going to die. Even the one who was refusing to eat acted like all the others. Maybe his body was eating the fat he has! Ha. Yea, you can feel the fat under their skin, makes it easy to tell the one black kitten from the other two!

Its surely true its often easier to save orphaned kittens, than  weak kittens where there is some fault in them, and thus, become rejected by mom.

Which is luck for a couple of your protegees.  Being orphans after a good mom, they did had some reserves to spend later on.

Hartz kmr doenst has the best reputation.  Works for some, but for some not at all...   Can you get goat milk?  Its almost always a safe bet.

Good luck!

 

[tormented]

Hm, Im not sure if we can. But we mainly use the Pro-Ag KMR, it seems to work for us pretty well. We get it at our local Feed Store. 

Yea, I am pretty sure that the mother of the last batch we got was someones pet. For her kittens to be that plump, she probably ate well, which most stray cats don't. SO I wish the person who found them would have left them be :/ 

 

[tormented]

4.   Dont forget to stimulate them.  If not evacuated, they wont be hungry, eexactlyalike humans.   If much full of unemptied wastes, its even directly dangerous.

We had cases of seemingly dying kittens, but when they were emptied, they immediately come back to life....

Actually, I am pretty sure they are all going on their own. But thats what Gary mainly does, he cleans their butts. Its gross, but cute at the same time, he is such a mother hen.

If only he would be that way towards our chickens............