Weaning question/possible URI

[Sarthur2]

How is he acting? How much went up his nose?

 

[emmaleesmith90]

Well I am at work right now, so I'm not sure at the moment. But he seemed okay after it happened. He just sneezed for a minute and then went about his business. He curled up to me and was purring for a while. He may have seemed a little sleepier than normal but we fed the rest of it little by little on our fingers, so it took a little while. Maybe he was just tired. I'm not sure how much went up his nose, but it happened both times when we tried to feed him the gruel. His nose was covered in it, but I have no idea how much he got up in it.

 

[Sarthur2]

It sounds like he'll be fine. Let me know later after work how he's doing. Does he go all day without eating?

 

[emmaleesmith90]

My boyfriend is taking care of him while I'm at work and he insists he is acting just as crazy as normal lol. He gets crazy at feeding time and acts like he's starving and tries to claw the bottle. Well, we use a syringe because it works better for him. But I know he's not starving because his belly is nice and round when he's done eating and he gains an average of 14 grams a day.

 

[emmaleesmith90]

No I always make sure someone can feed him every 4 hours. If my boyfriend and I both work I take him to my moms so she can take care of him. And will do. Thank you so much!

 

[Sarthur2]

That's great! He sounds fine! [emoji]128522[/emoji]

 

[emmaleesmith90]

Okay good!! I'm going to keep a VERY close eye on him the next few days. My family thinks we are crazy for being so paranoid and protective of him. But he's like our baby now! You get very attached when you bottle feed lol.

 

[emmaleesmith90]

Sorry I totally forgot to update! Twitch is doing just fine.

 

[Sarthur2]

That's good to hear! [emoji]128522[/emoji]

 

[emmaleesmith90]

Okay so we tried again yesterday because we had a scare with the syringe. But I had the vet listen to his lungs and they said they didn't hear anything and he's acting like his normal, crazy self. But he absolutely loves the gruel and he's doing a much better job of licking it up rather than suckling it. We made it thicker than the first time, about 3 parts kitten food to 1 1/2 part formula. It's like a thick milkshake. When he's done eating he climbs on my lap and meows in my face for more. My question is if he is eating the gruel fantastically do I still need to give him bottles? I'm very nervous to now. Also, should I feed him gruel every 4 hours like I was with formula? He just wants to keep eating, he doesn't know when to stop himself. And when should I introduce water? I'm nervous to do that too because I tried putting some of his formula into his shallow food dish (container lid) and he sucked a bit up his nose.

 

[emmaleesmith90]

He ate like 4 1/2tsp of gruel and when I weighed him last night he weighed 528 grams.

 

[Sarthur2]

If he is eating the gruel well, you can give him more of that instead of his bottles. It's almost impossible to overfeed a growing kitten, so let him eat as much of it as he wants every 4 hours. In between he should learn to eat dry kitten chow. A dish of water should always be available.

Glad he's eating so well now! [emoji]128522[/emoji]

 

[emmaleesmith90]

But I seriously think he would just keep eating. Like he always wants more lol. Which is good I guess, but I honestly think he would eat himself sick. But I want to keep him on a canned food diet because I've read that it is better for them. What if he sucks the water up his nose? Should I just keep trying? And he finally used the litter box! I set him in there last night after his 8:30pm feeding and he peed and pooped just like that. But then he peed again at 4:30am and would not pee so I ended up stimulating him at 1:00pm and he peed a river. Why do you think he wouldn't go on his own?

 

[Sarthur2]

As long as he is getting wet food, or wet food mixed with formula, he is getting all the fluids he needs.

Do not force him to drink water. He will drink it when he is ready, which will be when he is older. At that point, it will not go up his nose.

If he wants more food, give it to him. He is 17 ounces at 5 weeks old, which is good, but he needs to weigh at least 2 pounds (32 ounces) at 8 weeks. So he wants more food because he is growing and hungry!

As long as you keep putting him in the littter box before and after meals, and at various other times, he will learn to use the box when he needs to go. He would have peed eventually had you not stimulated him.

 

[emmaleesmith90]

So I should just wait until he decides to go on his own? Even if it takes several feedings? He does have like a mix of runny poop and toothpaste consistency. So I don't want him to get dehydrated. But he has had runny poop almost the whole time I've had him, except when we switched to powdered formula for about 6 days and he was constipated. The vet said it might just be something we have to deal with until he's weaned because he tested negative for everything and they have him antibiotics anyway, which didn't get rid of it. So we would give him pedialyte to keep him hydrated.

 

[emmaleesmith90]

And I will feed him more at his next feeding. I'm just so glad he likes real food so much. It's a big relief!

 

[emmaleesmith90]

I have a 5 week old kitten that I've been caring for since he was about a day old. We just started weaning him yesterday and he's doing great, he loves his gruel. Normally I take him to my moms so she can feed him while I'm at work. But now he's getting very mobile and her house is not an environment where I'm comfortable letting him roam around (4 cats without vaccinations). I usually just kept him in his big plastic container, in a separate room, away from all the other animals but now he can get out. So I would be gone for like 9 hours. Would he be okay going that long without food? I don't like the idea of leaving him alone for that long, but I don't know how I would keep him from getting out of his container. We feed him every 4 hours right now, including at night.

 

[talkingpeanut]

That is too long to go without food. At this age, he should have dry kitten food down all the time. He can then have the wet food feedings every 3-4 hours. I would worry about the unvaccinated cats as well.

 

[StefanZ]

As I see it, the biggest problem is you cant have him in that plastic container more than perhaps one week more...  After it you must find some other solution.

9 hours without food isnt not good, but is not necessary a catastrophe. The easiest solution is to give him access to dry kitten food.

Its the other which is a problem.

 

[emmaleesmith90]

Well at home we have it so he can climb out of his container and he has an area with his litter box where he can run around. He's not always stuck in his container. It's pretty much just his bed now. But I think he is too young for dry food. He isn't chewing his wet food, he just licks it up. And we mix it with formula now to make a thick milkshake consistency. He's only been eating gruel for about 24 hours.