Cemetery Stray Kittens’ Weight

StrayMama

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Mama had her kittens sometime between Thursday evening at 10p and Friday morning at 7:30a. There were 5 kittens. Black, 2 Black and White, 1 Orange, 1 Dark Orange. One of the black and white was basically skin and bones. Moving around, but differently than the rest.

The runt (the smaller of the black and white) passed away by 6p on Friday. We tried heating pad and feeding it. It wouldn’t eat. Mama kept separating the others from it. My heart is broken.

So, we have 4 remaining. The Dark Orange is clearly the biggest. Even it’s features look older. I didn’t check their weights on Friday. Didn’t realize I should until I noticed Black is quite small as well. I started weighing them on Saturday. I weighed them again this morning, 24hrs later.

Black - SW: 58g CW: 63g Gain: 5g
Black&White - SW: 88g CW: 92g Gain: 4g
Orange - SW: 99g CW: 101g Gain: 2g
Dark Orange - SW: 103g CW: 111g Gain: 8g

As you can see, Dark Orange is the only one that has gained the 6g - 10g guideline. At what point should we be concerned about these lack of gains?
 

Sarthur2

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I think you should supplement all of them right now every 2 hours during the day. All are on the small side, with the black one being dangerously small. Anything under 90 grams is considered premature.

They should be okay through the night with mama, and hopefully more milk will come in. Or, she probably has plenty but the kittens are so tiny they are not strong sucklers yet, which is why you should supplement with a syringe not a bottle.

Here’s a helpful video:

Syringe Feeding — Kitten Lady
 
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StrayMama

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Well, the orange kittens are almost 200g now. The black and white is just ober.

The black one is still very tiny. I tried supplementing it. It wasn’t interested. Even after I put a drop on its tongue. The process was also upsetting mama. She tried to swat the syringe from my hands. If I have to push the supplementing more aggressively, I certainly will.

In the meantime, I’ve been making sure it gets individual nursing time with mama - 20/30 minute sessions 3 times a day. When everyone else is sleeping, I put it to mama and pet her to keep her in place while it nurses. I don’t know if that’s the right thing to do. It’s just what my parents did with a puppy in a litter years ago - and it worked well.

Sometimes she’s fine with me touching her babies. Other times, she’ll swat at me.
 
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StrayMama

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Wish we could edit posts... Black and white is just over 160g
 
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StrayMama

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Update: The kittens seem to be doing well. They’re 4 weeks old today. (Pictures are from last week) Their personalities are exploding. Orange is observant. Black is needy and always has to be held. Black and White is feisty and an instigator. Dark Orange likes to cuddle and try to bite you. They run, play with each other, climb us, and try to bite us. They’ve had such great gains for awhile now. Their weight gain has slowed down some though. All but one only gained 2-4g since yesterday. Since they were all small to begin with, it makes me nervous - especially itty bitty black. At this age, should I still bottle feed them or start offering a dish of KMR or a slurry of KMR and wet food?
 

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StrayMama

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Also… When should they have their first vet visit? My vet said 8 weeks. But I thought they needed to go sooner for deworming and shots.
 

vince

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I've had month-old kittens eat from a plate. You might as well start trying. KMR right now, perhaps mixed up into a thin "smoothie" with some pate kitten food. You'll most likely have to convince them that it's food--try getting one to lick it off your finger, then gradually move it on subsequent attempts to the dish.

Kittens often walk in their food at first. Be prepared for messy kitties! They'll soon learn what the dish is for.
 

Sarthur2

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They are a 1-2 weeks from really eating yet, but no harm in trying! And you can certainly supplement if you think it’s needed.

They go to the vet at 8 weeks for first everything.
 
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StrayMama

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They’re 5 weeks old today. One kitten jumped up and started eating Mama’s wet food on his own this morning. So, we put a plate of wet food down, and they absolutely devoured it. No convincing necessary. Should we mix with KMR? Or is just straight wet kitten food ok?
 

vince

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I suppose some KMR can't hurt. Their little bones are growing, which takes calcium, which the KMR liberally provides. The big thing is to feed them good-quality food in whatever quantity they will eat. Kittens is little eating machines!
 
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StrayMama

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How often do we give them canned food at this point - since they’re also still nursing from Mama?
 

Talien

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How often do we give them canned food at this point - since they’re also still nursing from Mama?
Feed it to them whenever you feed mom and give them as much as they will eat. If they inhale what you give them and look like they're still hungry then give them more, if they leave some just put it in the fridge for later. At 5 weeks it's probably getting close to when she'll start weaning them so the more they get used to eating on their own the better.
 

Sarthur2

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Kittens need to eat wet food 4-6 times a day, plus dry kitten chow for in between. They grow so fast and need tons of nutrition. Stock up! I go through cases and cases during the first few months. It’s not cheap.
 

Kareywood

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Hi stray mama, my dog found a stray kitten(maybe 6-7 months old) in our fenced in backyard in mid April. after searching for her owner for a month with no one claiming her, we opted to keep her. Nyxie is a doll! Like your stray, she turned out to be pregnant. We’ve never had a litter of kittens or puppies before and are very unsure about how to care for her 4 newborn kittens. They were born on 5/24 (which I think is just a couple days after your kittens were born).

our kittens just turned 5 weeks old today. They weigh about 17 to 21 ounces and are walking (still pretty clumsily) and playing and using the litterbox. I’m just so worried about getting them to eat enough during the weaning process!
hope your kittens continue to do well! Are you planning on keeping mama cat? Or any/all of the kittens?
 
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StrayMama

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Yes, our kittens were born a few day earlier on 5/21. Raising kittens is so far off from what we thought we were doing when we picked up Mama. 😂

We initially were only planning to keep Mama. But I think the smallest MAY stay as well. She’s a house favorite. The rest will for sure be moving to new homes when they’re ready in 5ish weeks.

I’ll likely continue to weigh them for awhile during weaning - to give myself peace of mind that they’re gaining well. They’ve been packing on the grams since starting wet food a couple days ago. We’re having litterbox struggles right now. Not everyone wants to go in the correct place.

I hope your kittens continue to do well too!!
 
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StrayMama

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The kittens will be 7 weeks old tomorrow. They’re doing well. I’m contemplating when to introduce them to our dog and senior cat. I want them to be socialized with dogs, kids, and other cats before finding new homes for them. What age is best to begin the process? Most articles I see are for introducing cats older than the kittens.
 

Sarthur2

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I think you could start slow introductions any time now. Do supervised short periods of time first, and lengthen at your discretion. Watch for over-stimulation and stress in both your residents and the kittens.
 
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