Two Week Kitten Losing Weight, Otherwise Healthy

[yasmine2020]

Hi!

I have a mom cat and two foster kittens, eighteen days old. One kitten is growing fast, and the other one is... not. Its weight has stalled for about a week(!) and slipped down a little in the last couple days. Top weight was about 115g, now it's about 105. The healthy sibling is approaching 200g.

Thing is, it's eating like a champ (I know this because it poops a TON. Healthy, firm, yellow poop) and is pretty active. It's hitting its milestones--its eyes are mostly open, and it learned to purr when it nurses--it's just not getting any bigger.

FWIW, the mom gave surprise birth in the shelter; when the vet had examined her a week before, they didn't even realize she was pregnant! Odd, because she's a small and light-built cat. When the kittens came to me they were about five days old and only about 75g. They didn't start opening their eyes until day 14 or 15; I strongly suspect they were born premature.

I've been giving supplemental feedings as much as I can, although it's very resistant to the bottle and syringe both. It got dewormed a few days ago as well. I took it to the vet yesterday and its glucose was good, although it was a little hypothermic, and it's not dehydrated either.

At this point, I'd love tips to help it survive, but that seems pretty unlikely at this point. What I really, really want is a diagnosis, because I'm perplexed as to how it can eat so much and still shrink. Does anybody have diagnoses, experiences, or advice?

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! Welcome!!
There might be information you can use in these;
Fading Kitten Syndrome: 11 Things You Need To Know

Hand Rearing Kittens: What You Need To Know To Save A Newborn’s Life

Would there be anything in this website that might help?
Kitten Care - Home — Kitten Lady

 

[Sarthur2]

If it’s meant to survive it will, and the kitten sounds like it wants to. Continue supplementing and hope for the best. How much and how often and which formula are you giving?

Also, are the eyes clear? No gooky stuff?

 

[yasmine2020]

If it’s meant to survive it will, and the kitten sounds like it wants to. Continue supplementing and hope for the best. How much and how often and which formula are you giving?

Also, are the eyes clear? No gooky stuff?

The eyes are clear, I think... they're still squinty and it's really hard to tell. The kitten feels pretty emaciated, and its belly is a bit swollen (although that might just be milk--the vet didn't remark on it yesterday, and I know they handled it plenty). It seems more lethargic this evening :/ but the flip side of that is that it's accepting the bottle a lot better. I'm trying to feed it every two hours, and right now it's snuggled between a heating pad, its sibling, and a bottle filled with hot water.

We'll see what happens. The preemie kitten forum on here was good guidance, but really just... we'll see what happens.

 

[StefanZ]

The eyes are clear, I think... they're still squinty and it's really hard to tell. The kitten feels pretty emaciated, and its belly is a bit swollen (although that might just be milk--the vet didn't remark on it yesterday, and I know they handled it plenty). It seems more lethargic this evening :/ but the flip side of that is that it's accepting the bottle a lot better. I'm trying to feed it every two hours, and right now it's snuggled between a heating pad, its sibling, and a bottle filled with hot water.

We'll see what happens. The preemie kitten forum on here was good guidance, but really just... we'll see what happens.

Exactly WHAT kmr are you giving?

Re the lethargy. Give it glucose sugar / dextrose. HOW it depends a little on which kmr you are giving. If mix it with the kmr or give straight on the gum...
If you cant get glucose / dextrose proper, most rescuers in USA use white karo syrup. Honey is OK too.

This gives both energhy, AND some extra calories for free.

For the same reason, pedialyte is good. Unflavored clear pedialyte for babies. This too inholds some glucose, and if you mix out the powdered kmr with it, you get some extra calories for free....
Also, this way you dont need to dilute the powder with town water. Town water tends to inhold lotsa of chemicals.
For a healthy kitten it obviously doesnt matter much, but for a fragile weak kitten it may be the difference.
So, try to use filtered or bottled water, or water from a good well. Or pedialyte.

Can you get raw goats milk? Its no remedy for everything, but sometimes it can tip the scale...

Re the swollen belly; you can try to give it a drop or two of simethicone in each meal, the same as for human babies with colic.


I wonder how much it gets from momma?? It may be so, he is too weak to suckle properly... Yes this happens. In such cases, handfeeding becomes double important....
And if you wish and need, you can give handfeeding more often, even down to every hour. Little at a time but often.... Its often the trick with weak kittens. Burp afterwards.

 

[StefanZ]

The eyes are clear, I think... they're still squinty and it's really hard to tell. The kitten feels pretty emaciated, and its belly is a bit swollen (although that might just be milk--the vet didn't remark on it yesterday, and I know they handled it plenty). It seems more lethargic this evening :/ but the flip side of that is that it's accepting the bottle a lot better. I'm trying to feed it every two hours, and right now it's snuggled between a heating pad, its sibling, and a bottle filled with hot water.

We'll see what happens. The preemie kitten forum on here was good guidance, but really just... we'll see what happens.

The amount for a 125g kitten is in the range of 40 ml kmr or goats milk a day. More is OK if it wants, but shouldnt be much lower.
If the kitten with Gods will and yours help adds, the amount shall increase too, of course. Roughly 8+ ml / 30g body weight and day.