What should I do??

[hmckinney]

Me too. thanks @sarthur2

i just fed her some formula and she's keeping it down so far! the mylicon came with a REALLY nice, tiny, slow syringe so i used that and all of it got in her mouth + she didn't have any issues with it coming up her nose or choking.

i think i need to throw away my giant 5 mL syringe because it squirts stuff out a lot faster + more of it at a time.

oh - she had some diarrhea. it wasn't totally runny but it was pretty stinky. i'm wondering if she has some irritable bowl or if it's coccidia.

i really hope it's not coccidia.

 

[Sarthur2]

I'm betting coccidia. Ask for the antibiotics for that. She's clearly got something. You may want to get them all treated since whatever it is may be contagious. Ask for medicine for all of them.

Yes, ditch that big syringe! I always recommend a tiny 1 or 2 mL syringe. So much easier to control.

Hoping she does okay through the night, and that the mylicon helps. Use the mylicon syringe to feed her tonight, and ask for a tiny syringe at the vets office tomorrow.

 

[hmckinney]

yeah i am def throwing it away asap. the tiny one is so much easier to handle.

okay. it must have been what took the other lil guy. i'll get enough for all of them- if they don't charge individual exam fees for all of them i might take the whole litter in.

thanks again. i'll keep you updated.

oh but shay hasn't thrown up again yet. i think the mylicon helped.

 

[Sarthur2]

Awesome! [emoji]10084[/emoji]️

 

[hmckinney]

two feedings later and she's still keeping everything down!

she doesn't like me very much though lol.

 

[Sarthur2]

This is fantastic to hear! Will she nurse mom again? Anymore diarrhea?

 

[hmckinney]

no diarrhea! she hasn't nursed on mom yet though. i'm hoping she will soon.

took her to the vet.. they did a fecal and didn't find anything. gave her some wormer though, and some fluids, and told me to keep supplementing til her appetite was back. said it could be worms or she could have just had a bad tummy ache lol. i got dewormer for the rest of the kittens too.

 

[Sarthur2]

Why do you think she's not nursing mom again yet?

 

[hmckinney]

good  news- she started nursing on mom again!!

i THINK she got nudged out of nursing a few times b/c of her siblings and got dehydrated.

 

[Sarthur2]

That's good news! Keep a good eye on her. I think that was a close call. It could happen again!

 

[hmckinney]

yeah i think it was. i'll def keep an eye on her and the rest to try and make sure it doesn't happen again.

she's been consistently nursing every time mama gets in the box! thank goodness.

 

[Sarthur2]

Oh, so glad to hear it. Amazing how fragile they are, yet also so resilient at the same time. Good save on your part! [emoji]128522[/emoji]

 

[hmckinney]

thank you i think it was the mylicon that really turned her stomach down, so thank you for the help too!

i looked down at them this morning (i have the box beside my bed so i can check on them during the night) and lil shay was on her back pawing and playing. it IS really surprising how quickly they bounce back sometimes, haha.

 

[Sarthur2]

I'm just glad the mylicon did the trick! [emoji]128077[/emoji]

 

[hmckinney]

yeah, i'm totally keeping some on hand from now on!!

so the babies are doing really well. they're continuing to nurse, and now they've started be a lil more active. wobbling around, trying to walk, bopping each other with their lil paws... they are so precious.

 

[hmckinney]

babies were being a bit more noisy than usual today, so i decided to give them their first taste of kitten food! i blended up some kitten food + formula into a nice not-too-thick, just a sliver thicker than formula consistency and bottlefed them with it. they really took to it, with Shay drinking about 6mL when she usually doesn't like to be bottlefed at all. after that and nursing on mom for a bit they quickly went to sleep.

 

[Sarthur2]

Hmm. Sounds like they were hungry and needed the supplementing! [emoji]128077[/emoji]

 

[hmckinney]

whew! okay, the weaning process has started. @sarthur2, what kind of food do you think is best to offer them- dry, ground up bits, bits with formula, bits with water or whole pieces with water or formula? i've had different advice from different folks.. and i'm not really sure what might feed them best.

 

[Sarthur2]

I prefer kitten chow softened with KMR, or Gerber turkey or chicken baby food, which I mixed with KMR and Gerber plain rice cereal to make a mush. Mine weaned easily on both. Then I switched to Fancy Feast classics and dry kitten chow, and they were good to go.

 

[hmckinney]

Awesome! I'll go pick some up. thanks.