Pregnant Cat Advice Please

[Sarthur2]

Yes, I would call and ask, because he doesn't sound out of the woods yet. If he'd been any younger, or smaller, or you caught it a day later, I shudder to think what might have happened.

It's so hard for them to fight this when they are so little. In fact, pneumonia usually claims them. You are lucky so far!

I wouldn't normally recommend a steroid for one so young, but he's actually almost there, he just sounds like he needs more of a boost. We'll see what catwoman707 thinks. She may not agree. My concern lies with the fact he's not nursing mom enough. That tells me he's just not up for it yet. He keeps trying, but he's not well enough. Plus the coughing .,.

Let's see how he is tomorrow.

 

[lovelife]

Ok I will wait and see what @catwoman707  thinks as well. Baby is alert and active, so that is good as well. His eyes are bright and he is very interested in his surroundings. 

On thing I noticed with him nursing on Mom is that he roots around for the nipple, then is tasting and spitting out the nipple out and moving on to the next nipple. 

 

[Sarthur2]

You know, I wonder if her milk has gone sour since he's not nursed much. That might explain things. Not sure if there's a way to express her milk to get to new milk. It may explain his poor nursing behaviour and his renewed interest in the KMR. Either way, he must eat. He may need to get past sour milk to do so though! Plus the supplementing.

 

[catwoman707]

You know, I wonder if her milk has gone sour since he's not nursed much. That might explain things. Not sure if there's a way to express her milk to get to new milk. It may explain his poor nursing behaviour and his renewed interest in the KMR.

I was just typing that very same thing!

Something doesn't taste good for him to do that......that would explain his lack of nursing.

Like I mentioned before, just supplement as if he is not nursing at all.

Yes, I would call and ask, because he doesn't sound out of the woods yet. If he'd been any younger, or smaller, or you caught it a day later, I shudder to think what might have happened.

It's so hard for them to fight this when they are so little. In fact, pneumonia usually claims them. You are lucky so far!

I wouldn't normally recommend a steroid for one so young, but he's actually almost there, he just sounds like he needs more of a boost. We'll see what @catwoman707 thinks. She may not agree. My concern lies with the fact he's not nursing mom enough. That tells me he's just not up for it yet. He keeps trying, but he's not well enough. Plus the coughing .,.

Let's see how he is tomorrow.

We are on the same page, my last post where I was feeling worried, I must have misread it, @sarthur2  and I both know all too well just how fragile they really are.

One minute they seem bright eyed and alert, the next they seem to take a turn and at that time, you need a miracle to bring them back.

So we might sound overly cautious but for good reason. 

I also fully agree, and thought this myself, pneumonia in a baby this young, well they just don't make it. If he was any younger, smaller, or had you waited for things to be more obvious, you likely would have lost him, so watching him like a hawk is a good thing )

I do think it was caught in time, just stay vigilant, and clearly there's a problem with mom's milk, so that's a good thing to know, at least he's not not nursing due to lack of interest or appetite but the taste is bad to him.

As far as the steroid, let's just see how it goes, tmrw he should show more improvement, if he seems to stay the same or not as good then yes I would say go for it, as long as improvement continues I'd say let's wait on that for now.

Also, what is his weight?

 

[DreamerRose]

A human breast pump ought to work, the nonelectrical kind, to express some of the milk. It would fit over the breast entirely, but that's fine. You squeeze the bulb like a turkey baster, place it on the breast, and release. It creates a vacuum that sucks the milk out. What's more likely if the kitten hasn't been nursing is that her breasts have stopped lactating. In that case, there's nothing you can do except feed the kitten. This could very well be what's happened as the kitten is going from nipple to nipple trying to get milk.

 

[lovelife]

@sarthur2  @catwoman707@DreamerRose   I don't think you guys are overly cautious at all! This is my first experience with a kitten this young being sick. Your input has meant the world to me and my family!  In hindsight, I now know that on Monday when I originally did call my vet and no vet was available, I should have taken him to another vet then. Thankfully it was caught in time. 

If Mama's milk had gone sour, would my other cat still nurse off of Mama? Mama has continued to nurse my 9 month old cat right along with the baby. 

Since the 9 month old is still nursing off Mama, I don't think her milk has dried up. 

I know from past experience with amoxicillian that altered sense of taste and smell are among the side effects. I do wonder if that is playing a part in baby not wanting to nurse. 

Oh yes supplementing him with kmr and as much as I can get into him each time. He is eating between 3 ml and 6 ml each time. 

His weight is 18 ounces exactly. That is the same as the past two days. He hasn't lost any weight, nor gained any. 

What should I do about feeding him during the night? Right now I am feeding him every hour or so. 

 

 

[catwoman707]

If he is getting enough during the day and evening, I would say once during the night I would feed him, that should do fine.

He is at a good weight for his age too. 18 oz at 3 1/2 weeks is pretty big, average is about 1 lb at 4 weeks, so this is a good thing for him too.

Your 9 month old?! Haha, taking advantage or what!

Shoot, why let it go to waste he thinks.......

 

 

[lovelife]

Lol yes Cory (the 9 month old) is taking full advantage of a free milk bar! Mama's milk came in a week or two before she had the kitten. She was forcing Cory to nurse and now she still encourages him. 

Ok I will only get up once in the night with him then. Is between 3 ml and 6 ml at a time a sufficient amount of kmr for him? For some reason I was under the impression he should be eating at least 15 ml of kmr every two hours. 

 

[catwoman707]

Here's the scoop.

For each 100 grams of weight, they have 4 mls of tummy capacity.

So his weighing 18 ozs, that's over 500 grams, meaning he has 20 mls of capacity.

Daily volume of milk is about 135 mls needed to gain and grow as he should.

So it doesn't sound like he is eating nearly enough, although hard to gauge what he nursed from mom.

3-6 mls is not enough, he should eat alot more then that.

Are you sure he weighs that much? Even anywhere close he isn't eating enough.

This is where the scale is so handy, he needs to gain weight every day, he hasn't been so he does need a good amt more.

Are you using a bottle or a syringe?

Sorry I don't remember. Syringe I think. If the syringe plunger moves super freely he should suck it down on his own from the syringe. If it doesn't glide easy enough, pull the plunger out and roll the rubber part outer edge in butter, makes it glide VERY easily!

 

[lovelife]

That is a lot more than he is eating! Yes I am 100% sure he weighs 18 oz. I weighed him twice to double check. It is hard to gauge how much he is eating from Mama. I fed him a few minutes ago. He ate 3 1/2 ml for me. Mama gave him a bath and he nursed on her for a few minutes as well. I put him back in his nest and his tummy feels fulls round and full, so hopefully he did get enough in that time. 

I am using a syringe to feed him, but am thinking of trying a bottle. He doesn't suck it down. He bites/sucks/swallows it down. It does glide easily though. What more can I do to get him to eat more? 

And, his breathing is way better tonight! Not nearly as heavy as it was earlier. 

 

[lovelife]

I called the er vet and talked to a technician. She told me it is not surprising that baby stops eating after a few ml's because when you don't eat, your stomach literally shrinks from lack of food. She told me that when he stops eating the way he has been, that I need to take my time and continue to feed him drop by drop with the syringe in order to expand his tummy and stimulate his appetite back up. Also told me to keep the amount of kmr at 10 ml for the next few feedings as he is also nursing Mama a bit and because he hasn't had more than 6 ml at a time for me. 

That is what I did. He nursed on Mama for a few minutes. After he played for a bit, I fed him. He ate 4 ml for me and wanted down. I let him play a few minutes, then went at it drop by drop much to his disgust. We did take little breaks in there, but he got the full 10 ml of kmr and his tummy looked so full! 

She told me that tomorrow if he still will not nurse properly then to up the amount of kmr to 12 ml until he is back to nursing fully from Mama. 

 

[Sarthur2]

You are doing such a fantastic job with this little guy! You also received excellent advice from the ER tech. She is correct in that you needed to up the amount of KMR and go slowly to get it into him. He may do better with a bottle with a larger slit in the nipple.

At 18 ounces he needs a total of 144 mL's of formula each 24 hours. If you hand feed him every 2 hours it's 12 mL's per feeding. Again, hard to know how much he gets from mom so the 10 mL is good to shoot for. I'm just glad to hear he's maintaining and not losing.

It's probably good the 9-month-old is keeping the milk bar going! Keeps mom from being miserable and keeps the milk fresh. I agree that it could be that baby's taste buds are altered by the amoxicillin. Is he on it for 7 days or 10? And how is his breathing/coughing today? Are you continuing to steam him? If he does not improve, the steroid would help.

Keep up the vigilance, and glad Catwoman and I are on the same page! [emoji]128522[/emoji]

 

[DreamerRose]

I think you ought to stop the older kitten from nursing. He is bigger and stronger and can easily empty a breast before the newborn can get to it. No wonder the little one is frustrated. There's no milk in the breast when he gets to it.

 

[Sarthur2]

Maybe you can limit the amount of time the 9-month-old nurses to see if it makes any difference. I know that your cat has previously not been happy unless the 9-month-old is with her and nursing, along with the new baby.

 

[lovelife]

Update: We rushed the baby to the vet this morning. He was gasping and breathing heavy and off and on breathing out of his mouth. Thankfully he is ok. The vet said baby is actually on the mend, the pneumonia is clearing up nicely and there was only a small amount of crackling in his lungs. The gasping, heavy breathing, and mouth breathing are from the amount of congestion that has loosened up. I asked about steroids and they said no to steroids because of his age. However, they did prescribe children's Benedryl twice a day. And continue to steam him. 

They got 18 ounces on their scale as well. The vet said the reason he isn't nursing is because of the congestion. And he does want Mama to continue to nurse the 9 month old as well. He said it may be another few days before baby will nurse from Mama and we don't want her milk to dry up, etc. Told me to just continue to encourage baby to nurse while supplementing him. They gave me a can of Hills A/D high calorie food. I have to puree it in the blender with the powdered kmr and water. Then rotate it so that one feeding he gets kmr and the next feeding the kmr/Hills A/D mixture. He did also say to feed him between 10 and 12 mls every feeding, and if he wants more of course let him have more. 

Baby now has a name, his name is Looki. Story behind the name, when checking on baby I tend to say "Looki, looki who's awake" . My kids think it is the perfect name, so his name is Looki. lol We may change the spelling on that though. 

I am so relieved he is ok! 

 

[catwoman707]

Very glad he was seen, it reassures that he is coming along and getting better, and 18 oz is a big kitten! So that's very good

The benedryl is very good, a way to clear out that congestion faster so he can get back to being a nursing kitten!

 

[Sarthur2]

I'm also glad he was seen. It sounds like you are getting good advice from the vet. [emoji]128522[/emoji]

 

[lovelife]

@catwoman707, @sarthur2  I have been getting great advice on here too! Yes it is reassuring, because when I saw him gasping that way it really scared me. I had just gotten up and was checking on him, getting ready to feed him. I went out in my bathrobe to warm the car up, threw on some clothes, bundled him up and rushed him to the vet. Lol They took him right in and the relief vet was very nice and understanding as well. Lookiie is doing a lot better today! A few hours after the first dose of benedryl, he started nursing on Mama again. I did supplement him as well. But today, when I tried to supplement him, he flatly refused and spit out the KMR. I realized he wanted his Mama. And he has been nursing great all day on Mama. I don't know if I should try to supplement him more because of how good he is nursing. 

The vet told me to give him benedryl twice a day as needed.I gave him a dose at 6 am. He isn't breathing heavy at all, although they said as needed, should I go ahead and do another dose as a precautionary measure? (It has been over 12 hours since the 6 am dose)

 

[talkingpeanut]

I think yes to one more dose of Benadryl tonight, just to make sure he has an easy night.

 

[catwoman707]

I think yes to one more dose of Benadryl tonight, just to make sure he has an easy night.

Agree, another dose is probably a good thing.

Use your scale to see that he is nursing enough.

If he is of course no need for supplementing now, but need to be sure he is not just nursing for a couple minutes and holding the nipple in for nurturing/comfort purposes.