My Two Kittens Are Driving Me Nuts! Please Help!!

[Binx&Buddy]

I have two male kittens about 2 months old. Originally I got binx from a good friend of mine, he said that the mom was done with the kittens, and I could have whatever one I wanted. After a few days I felt bad he didn't have anyone to play with so I went back and got one of his brothers, buddy. Buddy has a really bad habit of trying to nurse on me, he won't take no for an answer. Binx never tried doing this until buddy had been here for a few days, and trying to nurse on me basically since I brought him home. Now they are both trying to do it. My friend I got them from suggested I do what the momma cat was doing, she would hiss at them when they tried nursing on her and then pick them up and put them next to the food bowl. Both of them are eating regular food. Binx is smaller than buddy, I have to assume he was the runt. Buddy will eat both the soft food, and the hard kitten food. Binx won't touch the hard food, but eats the wet canned food no problem. In fact I think he eats too much, because pretty much every night he will hop down off me onto the floor and throw up. I've tried to regulate how much he eats, but he will cry and cry and cry until I feed him. Hell still have food left in his dish, and will start meowing non stop, I'll grab a can of cat food and he will have climbed up anything nearby and gotten to where I'm in the process of opening the can, acting like he's starved and hasn't eaten in days. I don't know what to do. Its hard to just ignore him when he's staring at you and crying, I know he's just ate, he's got water, his litterbox is clean, I'll be petting him and he'll still sit there and cry while I'm petting him. Any suggestions? I'm totally at a loss. Oh, and other than him throwing up every night there's no other symptoms that anythings wrong, well besides him acting like he's been starved for days.

 

[talkingpeanut]

How often are you feeding meals of wet food?

They are very young to leave mom, and they'll need time and affection from you. Are you playing with them?

You can try dipping a corner of a blanket in kitten milk replacer and giving them that to suck. There are also toys that they can snuggle with heartbeats. That might help to calm them.

Can you encourage your friend to spay his cat?

 

[StefanZ]

The behavior you describe is fairly normal, even if they overdo it a trifle. After all, its nice they both see you as their momma, no?

Really, the only somewhat concerning is his throwing up. throwing up now and then is completely normal, but every day is to overdo it. Perhaps its as you think, he eats too much at once. Especielly in the evening...

Leave something for them to nimble on during the night, so he knows he isnt forced to eat big meal before its night...

Do not use any low fat products, small kittens need full fat and protein rich products. Its also more filling up, better saturating their hunger.

 

[vyger]

Since they are so young and obviously missing their mom I would get them a couple of nursing bottles and some kitten milk re-placer and let them nurse themselves to sleep instead of giving them food at night.
It's pretty cheap ---https://www.amazon.com/Pet-Ag-Nursing-Kit-Bottle-Carded/dp/B003WRL8SG
so your not out much by trying it. We give kids pacifiers, why not do the same for kittens.

 

[ashade1]

Good advice, I also want to mention that the vomiting may be from round worms, have they been wormed?

 

[Sarthur2]

They are too old for bottles, but a new makeup sponge in a dish of formula is another good pacifier to suckle if they don't take to the blanket.

 

[Willowy]

The little guy throwing up is concerning. If he vomits all his food up, he won't get the necessary nutrients to grow properly. He may be eating too much for his little stomach. Try giving him a small amount at a time, maybe 1 tablespoon, wait 10 minutes before giving him another tablespoon, etc. It will be time-consuming but you shouldn't have to do it for very long, just until he gets bigger. If you don't see any results from that, talk to the vet. The little guy really needs all his nutrients right now!