Newborn kitten weight

[Milly & Kits]

Hi all,

i'm probably being a helicopter cat-parent... We have newborns (now 2 weeks old as of today) and all are gaining weight well -most are fatty arbuckles and gaining between 15-20g a day. I have one that only just lost their dried up umbilical cord today (that was becoming a concern - looks absolutely fine and healed well) but they aren't gaining as much weight as the others (in all there are 4). Now I would guess that because there are 4, at least one would be the 'runt' be weaker than the others. I started weighing them every day since Nov 23, and little Earl Grey had been doing good gaining about 10-15g every day, but in the last 48 hours they have teetered off gaining less than 10g, and tonight since yesterday only 6g.

Do I just keep an eye on them, make sure they're feeding and sticking with the weighing? Is this quite a normal thing? They are all starting to get a little rambunctious, wriggling around, eyes open, heads up, some are pretty speedy, but this one just seems a little behind.

I'll had a picture of my gran-cat babies.

 

[StefanZ]

10-15 gram a day is perfectly OK, even if its less than littermates.

Im not sure I get you, the raise is slower now just for Little Gray, or for all?
We see the 6g as a minimum for sound raise, but if ALL had a dramatical much less raise, its alarming - probably momma has a lack of milk.

So, begin with giving momma more food, be sure its calcium rich. Goats milk is usually a good supplement!

And prepare yourself for some handfeeding. Get home a good kmr, perhaps based on goats milk.
Observe kittens whom have momma, are often reluctant for bottle; so get bottle with miracle nipper (works well for many), but also prepare some nnedleless syringes.

Ps. Are there fighting for the nipples? If so, be sure Little Grey gets extra time alone with momma

M Milly & Kits

 

[Sarthur2]

Kittens grow at different paces. They can plateau for a day or two with smaller gains, then get a growth spurt and eat like pigs and gain lots. What you want to see is a steady gain and no losses.

As StefanZ said, just keep an eye out and have powdered KMR on hand (give a dish or two a day to mom for the extra calcium she needs while nursing), but they sound very healthy overall!