Am I overfeeding this kitten?

Sarthur2

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Great! Give it a couple of days and we’ll take it from there. :)
 
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Qu9ke

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Great! Give it a couple of days and we’ll take it from there. :)
Hey. Once again thanks for all the help. I had another question. I ask here because each site seems to have slightly differing answers... I guess because each cat is different I dunno. What would you say is the average minimum weight for a 4 week old and 5 week old kitten? It is looking like it is going to be close. I’m not sure yet if she will grow 1.75 ounces minimum in one week or not, but if she doesn’t that seems awfully low to me.

Also I did have to take her to the vet and was recommended Miralax. One serving caused her to poop big three times in one day. So that’s good anyways.
 

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Glad the Miralax worked!

So the average weight of a four-week-old is 16 ounces (one pound), but being a little under or over is fine. It depends on build and appetite. When my litter was little, the three males were always over the average and the lone female was always under. They are five years old now and all (and their mom) live with me, and the males are much bigger than the female. I think your gal will be fine as long as she’s healthy and growing! :)
 

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Add to above: Each week a kitten should gain about 4 ounces, so at 5 weeks should weigh on average 20 ounces, and so on, resulting in a two-pound kitten at 8 weeks. Now, my vet neutered my males at 12 weeks and they were all over 3 pounds. I had to wait another week or so for my female to hit 3 pounds to be spayed (that was my vet’s requirement). So it’s fluid as long as they are healthy. Remember it’s an average!

Kittens should gain about a pound a month the first 6-8 months. Most of my adult cats weigh around 10 pounds. A couple are 15 pounds. My smallest female was 5 pounds 6 ounces recently at the vet and she’s very healthy, just a very small cat. :)
 
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All right. Well it is looking she may be a tad over 12 ounces when she is 4 weeks which means she only gained around an ounce in one week. Has me a little concerned especially considering she started out at around 3.3 ounces which I consider to be normal. I know of one website that says they should weigh at least 13 ounces at week 4 while another says 12 ounces. The one that says 13 ounces is basing growth off of a 7g growth per day which some sites consider to be the minimum. I guess those are absolute minimums based on averages maybe. I just wish she was growing more. I have to feed her, let her walk around, then feed some more after to get as much food in her as possible (without force feeding). She averages around 15ml per feeding more or less 6 times a day. So... 90ml in one day for a kitten that now weighs 11.71ounces. She had around 107ml in the last 24 hours because there were a couple times I managed to get over 20g down. I’m judging by the weight of the bottle in grams before and after she eats to determine how much she takes because the ml measurements on the side of the bottle aren’t all that accurate, and from what I have found 1 gram equals around 1 ml. So she usually takes around 15g before quitting each time. She seems playful and energetic enough.

Also on a side note I got her to use the litter box for the first tonight. So that’s cool.
 

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For her weight she is eating the proper amount. It’s 8mLs of formula for every ounce, so 11.71 x 8 = 93.68.

What brand formula are you using? Is it powdered? Are you mixing it with 1 part formula and 2 parts water? Does she seem appropriately active and healthy?

She may be a runt who catches up later. Of my four kittens, the runt is now the biggest! I never would have believed it when he was little. Some kittens who are behind begin to catch up once they begin weaning and eating soft wet food. Is she cutting her baby teeth yet? If not, she may be younger than you think.
 
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Well... I think it is safe to say it is impossible for her to be younger than I think considering when we got her she still had her umbilical cord. Plus we took her in assuming that day was the day she was born. Can’t get younger than that. I also don’t know what you mean by cutting her baby teeth, but her teeth are definitely there. I can feel them when she play bites my hand. She seems playful and walks around a lot.

Oh. And I am giving her goat milk. That is what I raised the last kitten on as well. At first I was afraid to do it, but many seemed to be for it, so I gave it a shot. I follow the mixing instructions (2 unpacked scoops with 8oz of water).
 
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Can weight fluctuate downwards throughout the day as they grow? I weighed her for the heck of it an hour ago, and she weighs a little less then than what she did last night a few hours ago. She weighed at 332g last night, but an hour ago she weighed at 333g... but that was after she ate around 17g worth of goat milk so subtract 17 from that and I believe she could be dropping weight all of a sudden. I don’t understand it. She still seems so playful and purrs. The only possible way she isn’t dropping weight is maybe if she peed a lot more than I realize making her appear lighter than usual. I typically weigh her right before feeding and stimulation, so she doesn’t have food in her but does have pee. That’s how I started doing it so I figured I would just continue that for consistency. Well, this time just because I was curious I weighed her in the spur of the moment right after I fed her 17g of goat milk and after she peed. So she lost weight from peeing but gained it back and then some in the food she drank. Well... despite that the scale was teetering from like 327g to 333g. That doesn’t seem right. That’s why I wanted to ask if it is typical for weight to maybe some times dip down before it comes back up throughout the day, or perhaps I need to feed her more frequently?
 
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Every 4 hours or 6 times a day. She usually likes to stop around 12ml or so at first at which I let her play around, and afterwards I’ll offer the bottle again so she will eat a little more so that she can meet her daily required intake if she needs to grow more than what she’s been doing. I try to squeeze at least an extra 3 or 4 ml after her play time just to make myself feel better if she will eat it. She usually does but some times stops short. On the bright side her last feeding 4 hours ago she ate around 30ml. She broke her record hard out of nowhere. I had to refill the bottle partially twice just because she surprised me when she ate her second serving. I honestly didn’t expect too much she would eat the first serving which was around 21ml, so I was surprised when she downed the second too. Hopefully that will help the growing some.
 

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Just continue as you are doing. She seems healthy, and certainly ate well for you today so far. In the next week or ten days you’ll be able to introduce her to soft foods, and she will soon be able to lap her own formula from a dish. :)
 
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I really do thank you for your patience. This is my second kitten so I am still a little green if you know what I mean. She is either a naturally smaller cat genetically (despite having what I thought to be an average birth weight) or she has a huge growth spurt in her future I guess.
 

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It will be interesting to see which way she goes! I’m glad to be of help. Do keep us posted on her progress. :)
 
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Since she will be 4 weeks old soon, should I change the frequency of feedings to 5 hours and then 6 hours around weaning age, or should I stick with what I got going on now a bit longer if I have reason to believe she will get more nutrition that way? My original plan was to hit 6 hour feedings by 5 weeks old when the weaning should start. I don’t know what is more important... to feed her as frequently as necessary despite how old she might be, or stick to the plan and feed her as much as her age says I should even if her growth looks like it is slowing. It’s just one big balancing act trying to figure out what move is more important.
 

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I think you should stick with four-hour feedings for now since she is gaining slowly. I think you have to go with how the kitten is doing as opposed to following guidelines. For now it seems she needs to continue eating more frequently.
 
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Will do. All I know is even if she only took in 12ml each feeding, if she was fed every 3 hours instead of 4, she would still end up in the long run eating more per day than in 4 hour feedings if she ate 15ml each time on average. I am finding this all to be a big balancing act, but I do like the idea of sticking to 4 hours just to give her digestive system a break a bit. I do plan on getting an opinion from the vet. All I am looking for is for the vet to say that she is still technically healthy. I know there are some kittens who are just exceptions to the rules and develop slower and are still considered healthy. I am interested to see if the vet can determine how healthy she is to give me a little more peace of mind. Considering how fragile kittens are, I would much rather err on the side of caution. I’ll post progress as she grows up here if anything significant occurs. Thanks.
 
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I think you should stick with four-hour feedings for now since she is gaining slowly. I think you have to go with how the kitten is doing as opposed to following guidelines. For now it seems she needs to continue eating more frequently.

I just wanted to give an update. The kitten is doing well and is very playful. She often likes to snuggle and wrestle. She is going to be 13 weeks old in a couple days. Thank you for the advice. Hopefully that may be the last one I will raise because I know if I raise more I will want to keep them too.
 

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Sarthur2

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Aww, thanks so much for the update. I love a happy ending. So good to hear that she’s thriving, and that is thanks to your very excellent care. It is too easy to get attached! Watch out or you’ll end up with 9 cats like me! :lovecat2: I love them all!

What’s your plan for getting this beauty spayed?
 
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Aww, thanks so much for the update. I love a happy ending. So good to hear that she’s thriving, and that is thanks to your very excellent care. It is too easy to get attached! Watch out or you’ll end up with 9 cats like me! :lovecat2: I love them all!

What’s your plan for getting this beauty spayed?
I was planning on doing it when she is around 4 or 5 months old. That is how I did the previous kitten I raised a year ago (she’s doing well too). I figured I would give her plenty of time to grow but not wait so long that she goes into heat.
 
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