2 Week Kittens - Help Please

Humblebee

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Hi everyone,

My Moms cat recently had kittens and then unfortunately Mama cat developed an infection and passed away. :( My husband and I offered to foster the orphan kittens as my schedule is more flexible than hers and I’m more able to care for them. She brought the kittens to me at 11 days old and as of today they are 14 days old. (There are four of them)

The first 24 day I had them we put them on KMR powder formula mixed with water, (2 parts liquid to 1 part powder). There were multiple poop explosions, orangey brown in colour and soft/mushy but not totally liquid. We also purchased a scale and realized that they were quite small and underweight.

Because their stool was quite soft and explosive we decided to air on the side of caution and start mixing the KMR with unflavoured children’s pedialyte to protect against dehydration, (2 parts pedialyte to 1 part powder). We began doing this the 2nd day that we had the kittens here with us. During this day there were no poops at all and the kittens all gained between 5-9 grams (depending on each kitten individually).

It’s now day 3 of us having the kittens with us and still no poop.. I have continued to mix their KMR powder with pedialyte and today I watered the formula down with an additional 3TBSP liquid hoping that would help them poop.

I am feeding every 2-3 hours depending on the kitten (there is a very small one that is fed smaller quantities more often). I’m basing the amount per feeding on the Maddies fund stomach capacity chart and I am weighing the kittens in the morning and evening in order to check for growth.
I am stimulating the kittens to pee and poop with each feeding as well, I have used a warm moist cloth as well as soft tissues. All four of the kittens have been peeing after every feeding and the urine is a soft yellow colour with a normal fragrance. There’s just no POOP. :(

I called our vet today (that we use for our own fur babies) and she was saying if they don’t poop by tomorrow to bring them in, so if need be then we’ll do that.

I’m trying to figure out next steps.. And if there is anything else I can try at home before rushing to the vet, (I’m not against going but their rates are super steep so if I can help these babies out at home that would be great.)

Any advice is greatly appreciated. :)
 

Sarthur2

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Do NOT dilute the KMR - they need all the nutrition they can get. DO add 2-3 drops of olive oil to soften their poops. It usually helps! Their poop should be toothpaste consistency.

How much do they weigh and how much are you feeding them?
 
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Humblebee

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Okay, thank you. :)

I’ll try the olive oil in their next feeding (in 30min).
How long should I keep adding oil to their formula? And how long does it normally take to work?
 
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Humblebee

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Do NOT dilute the KMR - they need all the nutrition they can get. DO add 2-3 drops of olive oil to soften their poops. It usually helps! Their poop should be toothpaste consistency.

How much do they weigh and how much are you feeding them?
Oh, okay. I had read that it was good to dilute the KMR if they weren’t pooping. But I’ll stop and go back to the regular 2-1 ratio.

As if this morning they’re:
164grams - giving 6ml per feeding every 2-3 hours totalling 48ml
174grams
198grams
188grams
For the other 3 that are a bit bigger I’m giving 7ml per feeding every 2-3 hours totalling 56ml.

I’ve been using the Maddies fund chart as reference. https://www.maddiesfund.org/assets/...Bottle Feeding and Stomach Capacity Chart.pdf
 

Sarthur2

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Great! They are a bit underweight, but hopefully will begin to catch up soon. You are feeding correct amounts - yay!

Use the oil as long as you think they need it. :)
 
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Humblebee

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Great! They are a bit underweight, but hopefully will begin to catch up soon. You are feeding correct amounts - yay!

Use the oil as long as you think they need it. :)

Thank you so much for your responses, I’d be totally lost without this forum and all I want to do is try my best for these sweet itty bittys. :)
 
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Humblebee

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I’ve added 3 drops of olive oil into each of their bottles for the last 3 feedings and still no poop. :(

They all made chunky weight gains today but I assume some of that must be stool..
 

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Re more water, which is a good idea. Better than diluting more the kmr, its better to give them a few drops with water or pedialyte inbetween the feedings. Its more work for you, but they get water and they get the nourishment.
 
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Humblebee

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I’m continuing to give olive oil in each feeding, I’m getting so worried about the no poo situation.

As of 7am today it’s 2 full days with no poop, how many days is okay before it’s an emergency? I’m completely new to this and I’m terrified of losing these little guys.

I did but glycerin suppositories and I was attempting to give them this morning but I couldn’t seem to get it to work. Even though I made them super tiny the kittens hates it when I tried to put them in and then after I did get them in they would pop right back out of their little bums. Do you have any tips or tricks to help with suppositories?

I was going to try to take them to the vet today but our regular veterinarian isn’t available until tomorrow at 8am which would put us at 3 full days with no poop. Would that be okay? Or should I take them in to a different vet this evening?
 

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:cheerleader: Keep up the good work! I would monitor how the kittens are doing & see if you can wait to see your regular vet.
Are they crying, unable to stay asleep from discomfort, not playing, not eating? If the answer is yes, then by all means get to A vet as soon as you can; otherwise, keep on with what you are doing.
Our fellow member Hissy has a great website: www.kitten-rescue.com.
Also, please consider using the mini Miracle Nipples as kittens seem to get much less air while suckling.
The Miracle Nipple Brand
Thank you for joining TCS, bless you for caring for those tiny orphans and please keep us posted - you are doing a great job!:vibes::heartshape::cheerleader:
 
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Humblebee

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Thank you everyone for your input, it’s greatly appreciated. :)

WE HAVE POOP! Glorious poop! Yesterday I ended up whittling down glycerin suppositories and giving them to the babies, within 5-10min they each pooped. All of them had a small hard poop plug followed by much healthier looking consistency and colour of stool. So I’m hoping our constipation issues are over now.

Yesterday evening we ending up going in to the vet as it was easier to fit into our schedule and it went well I think.

Overall the kittens are looking healthy and starting to make some nice weight gains, (although they still measure small for their age). We decided to do eye ointment for conjunctivitis as two of the kittens have a bit of weepy eyes. Otherwise the vet was pleased with how they’re all looking.

One of the kittens has been having issues swallowing and seems to regurgitate her formula then breathe it in and cough on it. :( The vet felt it is likely she has an esophageal defect and recommended a tiny dose of antacid to help soothe her belly and try to help her eat a bit better, (her weight gain has started to slow down and it’s difficult to feed her, she gets frustrated and doesn’t want to eat because we have to use a syringe and go drop by drop so she doesn’t regurgitate it. Hopefully it helps her.

As of 7am this morning their weights are: (in the same order of kittens in my post above with weights)
200g - feeding 8ml every 3ish hours, 56ml daily
210g - feeding 8-9ml every 3ish hours, 56ml-63ml daily
232g
235g
For the last two that are bigger we’re feeding 9ml every 3ish hours, 63ml daily

I’m continuing to weigh them every morning and night so that each day we can figure out how much they should be eating and what portion size.

Still adding olive oil to their bottles as well 2-3 drops, I thought it was better to be safe then sorry until I see another poop, especially after the difficulty they had prior.

Also still mixing their KMR formula with pedialyte, I’m not sure how long I should be doing this for? I kind of felt like there was no harm in it so why not continue? What do you all think?
 
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Humblebee

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Here’s a photo of the wee ones for you all :) napping before they’re next meal.

Fortunately we had kept the enclosure from our sweet hedgehog who had passed away, it’s making a great safe place for these little ones while they’re so tiny,
B86A666C-16DC-4197-891E-9609EA02C8AF.jpeg
 

Sarthur2

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Very good! Continue with the olive oil and mixing with pedialyte. Both will only help. If anyone gets constipated again, use the glycerin. As far as the kitten who chokes, go slowly and hopefully she will outgrow this soon. It may just be a reflex. If she can learn to suckle on the syringe it should get better.

Keep up the great job! :)

H Humblebee
 
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Humblebee

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Sarthur2 Sarthur2 I didn’t know I could tag people! That’s so helpful. :)

We had poops yesterday and then none again today.. I’m wondering why they seem to have so much trouble? Is it okay to use the suppositories every couple days? Does this mean they’ll never be able to poop on their own?
 

Sarthur2

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Use the suppositories daily if necessary. And no, it does not mean they will never poop on their own. They will! They are still adjusting. It’s also okay if they don’t poop every single day. It sounds like they got pretty well cleaned out yesterday. Give it until tomorrow. :)
 
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Humblebee

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Sarthur2 Sarthur2 Okay, thank you. :)

I have noticed this evening that we have a bit of sneezing, no nasal discharge or anything like that but a few sneezes here and there. Is this something I should be overly concerned about?

I’ll continue to update as we go. :)
 
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