Queen fostering extra kittens

[Nowheretorun]

Hello all!
One of my queens had a single kitten in the night. We were not surprised as she has had a singleton in the past. Another of my queens (I have 3), is enormously pregnant and due on Sunday. Historically the second queen has had 8 kittens and she required help feeding them. We ended up feeding 3 for her and she raised the other 5 successfully.
My question is this, will the queen with 1 kitten be able to successfully foster 3 kittens from the other queen, when she has been feeding only 1 for 5 days? Will she be able to adapt and produce enough milk?
Anyone with experience with adding foster kittens to a small litter? I’m obviously going to try and track weights but just looking for a heads up or anyone else’s experience.
Thank you!

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. I only have one experience with this. A young cat - first litter - had 3 kittens, one stillborn. About two weeks later, 4 kittens - just a little older than the original two - were dropped off by someone to the foster caring for this stray. The foster immediately placed all four with this young mother. She took them willingly and with no milk supply problem. Hope others can come along with similar success stories!

 

[vince]

Nursing moms will often accept kittens from another litter readily. If you can swaddle or rub the adoptees in something that smells like the adoptive mom, it may help the initial meeting. Did this before and it worked.

 

[Sarthur2]

I would put the newbies on her but be prepared to supplement initially. If she does not reject them, her milk supply should quickly increase from their suckling. Weighing will help you to know.

Do you plan to spay all these queens soon to stop the breeding cycles?

 

[StefanZ]

Nursing moms will often accept kittens from another litter readily. If you can swaddle or rub the adoptees in something that smells like the adoptive mom, it may help the initial meeting. Did this before and it worked.

Yes. Its even not unheard of they do accept, even fetch, orphans from other species of animals.

So, double safe it by rubbing of smells of her kitten to the others, monitor in the beginning - but it should go well with any luck.