Hello! My cat had her kittens yesterday, (I’ll include an explanation for why she had kittens at the end of the article for anyone interested.).
Basically I weighed the kittens when they were born and just weighed them again today, and noticed this one kitten which was the first one born hasn't gained much weight yet. I know it's super early but It's gained only 6 grams since it was born 24hrs ago, but the other two have already gained over 20 grams each in weight.
I also noticed this kitten I'm worried about possibly has diarrhea as it has poop smeared on it's legs and tail where as the other two do not. I noticed this kittens mouth is also a bit purple/dark compared to the other two babies whose mouths are bright pink. It also appears to be breathing a bit harder than the other two, I wouldn't say it's agonal breathing, just definitely a bit more effort in its breaths than its siblings. I also noticed that this one has more trouble nursing than the other two, i know this probably sounds crazy but it almost seems like the other two "bully" this kitten off the nipples. It's like they sense or feel when this kitten finds/looks for a nipple or starts nursing and they both immediately even if they're latched on to a different nipple already start searching for the nipple this weaker kitten is on and take it over.
My question for those of you more experienced, because this is the first litter of kittens I’ve ever dealt with, is should I give this kitten more time? Should I go ahead and step in and try at least supplementally feeding this kitten and see how it goes? Or should I fully step in and take over to try and help this kitten?
I have hand raised other animals I’ve helped rescue that no longer had mothers. A few puppies, a few deer, a few calves, and some squirrels. But I’ve never had to make the choice of stepping in when mom is still here. All advice is appreciated!
***for anyone wondering why our cat had kittens. It was never our intention, we had appointments scheduled for both our kittens to be fixed, they’re male and female rescued from different locations they were both around 4-5 months old when we took them in, they are not siblings. Our female was scheduled first and our males appointment was scheduled for 2 weeks later when our vet could fit him in. But on the morning I was taking our female in our vet called and asked to reschedule because they had an emergency come in first thing in the morning. So I thought no big deal, she hadn’t gone into heat yet and our male kitten would be getting fixed in a couple of weeks anyway. Unfortunately literally 4 days after her appointment needed to be rescheduled she went into her first heat. We did our best to keep them completely isolated from each other but unfortunately at one point our 3 year old accidentally let our female out of our room and that’s when we think they mated before we realized she was out. Our male was fixed the next week, but by the time our vet could get us back in for her spay she would only a week shy of full term so we decided to let her have them. All the kittens already have trusted loving homes to go to once they’re weaned. And our female has an appointment to be spayed when the kittens are 6weeks old.***
Basically I weighed the kittens when they were born and just weighed them again today, and noticed this one kitten which was the first one born hasn't gained much weight yet. I know it's super early but It's gained only 6 grams since it was born 24hrs ago, but the other two have already gained over 20 grams each in weight.
I also noticed this kitten I'm worried about possibly has diarrhea as it has poop smeared on it's legs and tail where as the other two do not. I noticed this kittens mouth is also a bit purple/dark compared to the other two babies whose mouths are bright pink. It also appears to be breathing a bit harder than the other two, I wouldn't say it's agonal breathing, just definitely a bit more effort in its breaths than its siblings. I also noticed that this one has more trouble nursing than the other two, i know this probably sounds crazy but it almost seems like the other two "bully" this kitten off the nipples. It's like they sense or feel when this kitten finds/looks for a nipple or starts nursing and they both immediately even if they're latched on to a different nipple already start searching for the nipple this weaker kitten is on and take it over.
My question for those of you more experienced, because this is the first litter of kittens I’ve ever dealt with, is should I give this kitten more time? Should I go ahead and step in and try at least supplementally feeding this kitten and see how it goes? Or should I fully step in and take over to try and help this kitten?
I have hand raised other animals I’ve helped rescue that no longer had mothers. A few puppies, a few deer, a few calves, and some squirrels. But I’ve never had to make the choice of stepping in when mom is still here. All advice is appreciated!
***for anyone wondering why our cat had kittens. It was never our intention, we had appointments scheduled for both our kittens to be fixed, they’re male and female rescued from different locations they were both around 4-5 months old when we took them in, they are not siblings. Our female was scheduled first and our males appointment was scheduled for 2 weeks later when our vet could fit him in. But on the morning I was taking our female in our vet called and asked to reschedule because they had an emergency come in first thing in the morning. So I thought no big deal, she hadn’t gone into heat yet and our male kitten would be getting fixed in a couple of weeks anyway. Unfortunately literally 4 days after her appointment needed to be rescheduled she went into her first heat. We did our best to keep them completely isolated from each other but unfortunately at one point our 3 year old accidentally let our female out of our room and that’s when we think they mated before we realized she was out. Our male was fixed the next week, but by the time our vet could get us back in for her spay she would only a week shy of full term so we decided to let her have them. All the kittens already have trusted loving homes to go to once they’re weaned. And our female has an appointment to be spayed when the kittens are 6weeks old.***
