Bottle Baby Sneezing/coughing While Feeding

[egatron]

I would worry too much about my adult cat. Mine is not a spacious flat, and the mom cat is generally very hostile towards other neighbour cats. But she is currently living in a neighbour's balcony with her kittens, which is basically a small, dry and cozy nook.

I guess it wouldn't be a good idea to offer the kitten to her instead? Although even the thought of it makes me cringe, they would be unsupervised.

I do plan to find homes for the kittens.

 

[talkingpeanut]

Please spay the mom as well!

 

[egatron]

I would love to, but our yard houses nine female cats in total and I couldn't possibly afford it all if I were to start getting them spayed :/

 

[talkingpeanut]

Where are you located? We can help you to find a low cost clinic.

They will produce countless kittens, and it’s way more expensive to care for them than it is to spay. You will make a huge difference in their lives!

 

[egatron]

I live in Turkey and I honestly don't think any vet clinic around here would spay/neuter ferals brought in by locals at a low price, if at all. Unfortunately that isn't common sense here yet.

I agree with you, but that's not my reality :/

 

[chromecat]

I am going through the same - second guessing myself for literally everything as this is the first time I foster such a small kitten. We had the biggest scare a couple of days ago - basically kitty regurgitated some milk and sneezed to try to get it out. So we held her upside down and patted her back gently - she pretty much vomited almost all she's been given 10 minutes earlier. I started panicking, monitored her constantly, consulted the vet etc.
Vet said aspiration pneumonia symptoms will kick in quite early - 12/24 hours after the episode at risk. No antibiotics were deemed necessary without symptoms, so we just waited.

She is absolutely fine now, she sneezes occasionally because she is greedy and attacks the bottle. And we see the same thing, she tries to scratch the teat and the bottle and ends up scratching herself. We basically feed her trying with a firmer burrito style, she still wiggles out of it but we manage to feed her a little and calm her down. You could try feeding him more often so that he doesn't get desperate. I also noticed that due to her feeding habits (sometimes we manage to give her a lot, sometimes she just wiggles too much and she takes less than she should) her weight fluctuates a bit, but as long as it goes up steadily and you see other body improvements, I think that's fine.

You're doing a great job!

 

[chromecat]

P.S. Next time you get a visit from the vet, ask him/her to trim your kitten's nails. We didn't dare do it ourselves but our vet trimmed Naboo's nails and our hands (and her own face) are doing much better now

 

[Sarthur2]

You can also feed your kittens on your lap, tummy down, with the bottle resting on a rolled up towel. This will allow the kitten to “mother” (knead) the front paws on the towel while nursing instead of on you. Kittens knead their mom’s tummies while nursing.

 

[bklyn]

I'm wondering if it's possible this kitten has a Upper Respiratory Infection, as sometimes they manifest atypically in really young kittens. It's possible that feeding exacerbates breathing difficulties, and that's why he's favoring certain positions. I would try feeding him with a humidifier nearby or in the bathroom with the shower running (when steam's created) to see if that helps. Beyond that I'm not sure why he would be sneezing so much, as it seems the size of the hole in the nipple is not the problem. Definitely do not feed him while on his back though, the vet should not have suggested that.

 

[egatron]

chromecat - I think I might be fostering your kitty's brother from another mother! I never witnessed any vomiting though, and good thing, because I think I would spend a couple days without any sleep at all if I did! I really appreciate the info on pneumonia. It eases my mind to hear from someone who is in a strikingly similar situation to mine. Oh, the anxiety these tiny milk processors cause...

Our vet offered to visit us to trim his nails, so that's great. But he's doing much better with that also, I think he's getting used to the burrito

bklyn - He actually isn't sneezing that much anymore (in general - he rarely sneezes while feeding now), at least not enough to make me think he might have even a mild URI. I'm not as stressed as I was feeding him anymore either, I don't feel the need to pull the bottle back with the slightest sound coming from his throat, which helps him nurse in peace I guess. I can certainly try a humidifier, he sleeps by a radiator (not right next to it) and I had wondered if that could make the air too dry for him.

He is 4 weeks old today and a little thinner compared to his siblings but going strong! He's playful, his canine teeth are coming along nicely, his eyelid (which he clawed) has almost completely cleared up. He will be dewormed in a week as our vet advised. Our vet also informed us that if he has any viruses in his system, we might see them act out due to his weakened immune system after the dewormer. So, now I can move on to worrying about that!

 

[bklyn]

That's great to hear he's nursing better! I would definitely use a humidifier (just plain water, no essential oils or anything) if he's next to a radiator, or move him further. I haven't personally seen viruses come about after deworming, which I start at 2-3 weeks and repeat two weeks after that. Really young kittens don't have much ability to fight off viruses completely, so if he's been exposed to one you will likely see symptoms of it regardless of the deworming. Even when kittens are sick, my vets will recommend deworming since there's always a possibility that that's what's causing them to feel sick to begin with. Since he's been indoors for a month now, the risk of exposure to different viruses should be low and I would try not to stress much about that. You've done a great job so far and every week that goes by is a huge milestone!

 

[egatron]

One of the vets at the clinic was willing to deworm him at 2 weeks, another vet we saw opposed it until 4 weeks, and our regular vet said she can do it when she visits us again for my adult cat's yearly shots in a week, which will be week 5 for the little one.

His stools were irregular in his first week, then they were soft and kind of mucousy, sometimes with white specks in them. I asked our regular clinic about it, then took a sample to another vet, and got two very different opinions as I said above (okay at 2 weeks - DEFINITELY NOT until week 4). I had to change formula brand on week 2 because what we used before was out of stock, and started using a brand that was richer in fibers but poorer in vitamins. I did this gradually and it didn't seem to upset him much, in fact his poops got firmer and the white specks disappeared. Since this brand helped with his stools but wasn't as nutritious as the first one, I went ahead and bought a third brand which is more similar to the first one ingredientwise. I now feed him a mix of these two and he rewards me with a poop every other day On the fiber-rich formula alone he went without going 2-3 days. I hope I'm doing right with this. Now again, I see whiteness in his stool sometimes but it isn't anything firm - looks more like undigested formula, which makes sense as I went from feeding 9 cc to 10, to 12 rather fast. His belly is a little distended, but not hard. I really want to believe the vet who couldn't find anything in his sample, but the truth is I'm looking forward to deworm him!

I might ask to get it done sooner than week 5.

 

[lacy2000]

I’ve dewormed kittens as soon as 1 week, but that was only in an emergency. I usually deworm at 2 weeks if they diarrhea. I deworm at 4 weeks if they have normal poo just for precaution. The mucus and white specks definitely sound like worms to me. How old is he now?

 

[chromecat]

How is the little one going?

 

[egatron]

Sorry for the very, very late update but here's how the "little" one is doing right now:

She has turned into the most playful little kitty and she weighs about the same as my adult cat does.

Thank you for all of your tips and insights. I couldn't have done it on my own!

 

[talkingpeanut]

How wonderful!

Has she been spayed yet?

 

[egatron]

Not yet, as my vet advised waiting until she's 6 months old but she will be very soon