Small but healthy kittens

[SDillon]

Hello there! A couple weeks ago we took in a pregnant stray kitty, she is very friendly and affectionate and very young. On Sept 20th she had an appointment to go to the vet for a check up but she had her kittens before we could get her there. The appointment was for 430pm, and she had her kittens around 230-3pm. So I called the vet, they told me to get mama on some high quality kitten food and to just keep an eye on everything. She had 4 kittens, So far things seem to be going well, mama is eating, babies are nursing what seems like lots, mama is seeming tired but relaxed and still very affectionate. Today they kittens would be 5 days old, they all seem quite small, not premature, just little, mama is quite a small cat herself so that could be why. They are all just so precious

 

[Norachan]

They're so precious!

Have you weighed them? If you have kitchen scales that weigh in grams please use those. You need to weigh them every day at the same time to make sure they are gaining. I'll post some links to our kitten care articles. It's a good idea to stock up on kitten food and KMR in case you need to supplement feed the kittens. The mother may appreciate some KMR too to help her gain weight.

Weighing Newborn Kittens (and How This Could Save Their Lives) - TheCatSite

How Old Is My Kitten? [An Illustrated Guide] - TheCatSite

The Essentials Of Kitten Nutrition - TheCatSite

 

[Sarthur2]

You received excellent advice from Norachan !

Do begin weighing as it’s the only way to know if they are getting enough milk and growing. You’ll want to see gains of 6-10 grams minimum per day per kitten, and more is always fine!

Feed mom as much wet food as she wants and always leave dry kitten chow out 24/7 along with fresh water. Give mom a dish or two a day of KMR during her nursing days for the extra calcium she needs.

Kittens should weigh about 4 ounces at one week; 8 ounces at 2 weeks; 12 ounces at 3 weeks; and about one pound at one month — then begin gaining about one pound a month thereafter for a few months.

Do weigh in grams for now though. It’s good all appear healthy and are nursing well. I’m sure mom appreciates a safe place to be with her kittens. She looks very sweet. Thank you for taking her in!

 

[SDillon]

I weighted them tonight, it's not the best scale I have but I'm sure it's better than nothing and i will continue to do so daily. The orange one is 73g, the grey and white one is the smallest at 67g, the black one is 91g and the white one is 87g.
I will weight again tomorrow around the same time and see where we are at. They look like they have gained weight over the past couple days. They are so sweet! Mama is eating lots of her food, and I will pick up some KMR tomorrow to have on hand and give to mom, she is a little thing herself I'm very happy we were able to give her a warm safe place to raise her babies, she seems incredibly grateful

 

[Sarthur2]

Oh my, the kittens really are tiny! Any weight under 90 grams is considered premature birth weight. They really need to gain, and the smallest needs to double its birth weight.

Pick up a 1 or 2mL syringe from a pharmacy while you are out tomorrow, and begin supplementing the kittens 2-4 times a day. Buy a can of powdered kitten formula (never Hartz brand and not pre-mixed) to help them gain weight.

Here is a helpful video from Kitten Lady:

Syringe Feeding — Kitten Lady

 

[StefanZ]

I weighted them tonight, it's not the best scale I have but I'm sure it's better than nothing and i will continue to do so daily. The orange one is 73g, the grey and white one is the smallest at 67g, the black one is 91g and the white one is 87g.
I will weight again tomorrow around the same time and see where we are at. They look like they have gained weight over the past couple days. They are so sweet! Mama is eating lots of her food, and I will pick up some KMR tomorrow to have on hand and give to mom, she is a little thing herself I'm very happy we were able to give her a warm safe place to raise her babies, she seems incredibly grateful

I want just to mention, goats milk is often an useful alternative. Its not better than a good kmr, but its cheaper.... And yes, in a pinch you can give it to the kittens too.

I agree with my collegues whom gave you excellent advices.

 

[SDillon]

I put new batteries in our kitchen scale this morning, it was a bit finiky last night the number were kinda jumping around I also realized I had the scale on the carpet and wouldn't settle on a number so I wanted to weight them all again this morning just to make sure we had the right numbers down, I put the scale down on a hard surface and with fresh batteries the scale worked much better, I'm wondering if I didn't weight them properly last night cause we had a significant weight increase overnight,
This morning at 7am the orange one weighted in at 141g, the grey/white one weighed in at 137g, the black one weighed in at 160g and the grey one weighed in at 175g.
That seems like a large jump for just a few hours. But I weighed them all twice this morning and that's definitely what they weight today..

 

[StefanZ]

Puh, so they are biggy bastards every one! Doesnt matter much, just measure the same way how much they add daily.

 

[Sarthur2]

They are doing beautifully!

Get the KMR anyway because mom needs it, and the littles can drink it when they are weaning down the road.

 

[SDillon]

The bigger grey kitty is 181g today went up 6grams from yesterdays weight, the black one is 171g, went up 11g. The little grey/white one is 148g today also went up 11g, and the orange and white kitty weighted in at 157g went up 16g from yesterday. We will be 1 week old this afternoon I started giving mama some KMR with her meals and she is throughly enjoying it.

 

[Sarthur2]

Fantastic! They are all exceeding the one-week goals and gaining beautifully! Thank you for the update!

 

[SDillon]

We are all doing great today. Gaining like crazy!! They are all so adorable.

 

[Norachan]

We are all doing great today. Gaining like crazy!! They are all so adorable

That's wonderful! Do you have names for any of them yet?

 

[SDillon]

That's wonderful! Do you have names for any of them yet?

We do! The black one my daughter named Midnight, the orange one is Ember, the mostly grey one is Dusty, and the grey and white one is stormy

 

[Norachan]

Those are good names!

 

[SDillon]

Update on the kittens they are still gaining weight at a fantastic pace and three of the opened there eyes over the weekend

 

[Norachan]

That's great news. What are your plans for this little family? Are you going to keep the mum? Do you have homes lined up for the kittens?

It's still early days, but you should make an appointment to get the mother cat spayed when the kittens are around 6 to 8 weeks old. Female cats come into heat soon after giving birth and it's not uncommon for them to be pregnant again by the time the first litter is weaned

 

[SDillon]

That's great news. What are your plans for this little family? Are you going to keep the mum? Do you have homes lined up for the kittens?

It's still early days, but you should make an appointment to get the mother cat spayed when the kittens are around 6 to 8 weeks old. Female cats come into heat soon after giving birth and it's not uncommon for them to be pregnant again by the time the first litter is weaned

Well my mom is going to take the mama, she's still a bit skittish so very affectionate but a little scared of loud noises and such and my mom lives alone and has the time and funds to care for her. We have a loud house what with kids and all lol
We are going to keep one of the kittens though, likely the little grey and white one, and we are working on finding good homes for the others, we have some tentative homes lined up if all goes well, we will keep them as long as we need to though, I'm going to be pretty picky about where they end up.

And yes, we are planning on getting mama fixed asap.