- Joined
- Jul 10, 2019
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So my cat had three kittens on July 2nd (8 days old now) and two of them are perfectly healthy, but one of them is very small and weaker than the others. She is now practically half the size of the other kittens when after she was born, she was only slightly smaller.
This kitten nurses fine when the other kittens don’t push her off of her favourite boob. I sometimes take her mom alone and put her on a boob until she’s done eating. She just doesn’t seem to be growing at all. She feels frail and tiny, but is warm and can crawl all over her mom and siblings.
It should also be noted that her lower jaw seems to come up a bit short and her head, to me, looks a little oddly shaped. Despite those, she has little issue latching.
She also has little yellow crusties on her eyes. The other kittens get wet stuff on their eyes when they start opening, but it’s clear. She doesn’t even have the little spot in the corner where you can see that they’re starting to open (which is usually when the liquid starts coming out).
Does anyone have any idea what might be wrong? She’s hardly grown at all but eats like crazy. Is it possible that she’s actually not getting enough milk? Should I start bottle-feeding to make sure?
If figure that if she’s eating and moving around that she’s at least got a decent chance, but I doubt that chance will get her far if she doesn’t start putting on the ounces.
^^ Here she is in the middle of her two sisters
^^ Here is one of her sisters to show her eyes at 8 days old
^^ Here she (the small kitten) is from an almost side view
^^Here she is from the front so you can see her crusted eyes
^^This is what her mouth looks like when closed. That little gap up there is always present. Not on her sisters.
^^ I think these photos show how her bottom jaw seems just a little bit short or small or something. It just looks off to me
^^This is what she looks like in my hand. My hands are women’s-average sized at best.
Any advice would be helpful. I’m probably going to start bottle feeding soon but if anyone has any ideas as to why this might be happening I would be very grateful.
This kitten nurses fine when the other kittens don’t push her off of her favourite boob. I sometimes take her mom alone and put her on a boob until she’s done eating. She just doesn’t seem to be growing at all. She feels frail and tiny, but is warm and can crawl all over her mom and siblings.
It should also be noted that her lower jaw seems to come up a bit short and her head, to me, looks a little oddly shaped. Despite those, she has little issue latching.
She also has little yellow crusties on her eyes. The other kittens get wet stuff on their eyes when they start opening, but it’s clear. She doesn’t even have the little spot in the corner where you can see that they’re starting to open (which is usually when the liquid starts coming out).
Does anyone have any idea what might be wrong? She’s hardly grown at all but eats like crazy. Is it possible that she’s actually not getting enough milk? Should I start bottle-feeding to make sure?
If figure that if she’s eating and moving around that she’s at least got a decent chance, but I doubt that chance will get her far if she doesn’t start putting on the ounces.
^^ Here she is in the middle of her two sisters
^^ Here is one of her sisters to show her eyes at 8 days old
^^ Here she (the small kitten) is from an almost side view
^^Here she is from the front so you can see her crusted eyes
^^This is what her mouth looks like when closed. That little gap up there is always present. Not on her sisters.
^^ I think these photos show how her bottom jaw seems just a little bit short or small or something. It just looks off to me
^^This is what she looks like in my hand. My hands are women’s-average sized at best.
Any advice would be helpful. I’m probably going to start bottle feeding soon but if anyone has any ideas as to why this might be happening I would be very grateful.