Foster Kitty With 9 Newborn Kittens

[kittymom527]

All is well today and last night. I weighed them around 11pm then gave any that were squawking a drink. Everyone gained weight, and a good amount of weight. I got up this am and fed them again but couldnt get them to drink very much. They all got a little bit, except for the runt who seems very hungry all the time so I am trying to feed him twice in a sitting. I am at work now, and wont see them until 5 pm tonight but they are with mom, so I am feeling good about the progress in the last 2 days.

I think the oil is helping the mom. She is no longer afraid of me touching the kittens, I think she knows I am helping them. See seems much more content. I think there are 5 nipples working.

 

[Sarthur2]

K kittymom527

It's great to hear that they are gaining and doing well. It's good that the runt wants plenty of food. Feisty runts are survivors!

I'm glad to hear mom's tummy is better. Continue oiling her.

Please ask the vet about her 3 nipples that don't work.

Now that she trusts you, perhaps you can separate and rotate them when you are home until bedtime, and over the coming weekend.

Thanks for your efforts!

 

[ileen]

That's great two more nipples are working now. Keep up the great work.

 

[mazie]

I know you are terribly busy, but when you get the chance, we would love to see pictures of the little tykes and mom!!!

 

[kittymom527]

These are from a few days ago with all oh her babies

 

[kittymom527]

These are from a few days ago with all oh her babies

 

[kittymom527]

Another one

 

[ileen]

Look at that look on her face in the first photo! To me, she's looking at you saying 'how is this my life now?'. Cute little fluff balls. Can't wait to see more pics as they grow.

 

[kittymom527]

Feet

 

[Sarthur2]

Cute!

How are the kittens this evening?

 

[IndyJones]

I can tell you have one female tortoisehells are always female unless they are Klienfelters cats.

 

[kittymom527]

Kittens are good and sleeping like rocks right now. All the weights are up. Mom is not eating too much though. She is eaying about 3 cans a day. Will not touch the dry food.

 

[Sarthur2]

How is the supplementing going?

 

[kittymom527]

It's hard. They dont like it and I am exhausted. They are gaining weight but I think it's because I am so persistent in feeding them. It takes me hours per day.

 

[Sarthur2]

It's a good thing you are being so persistent, since the kittens do not realize how vital this is to their survival.

It's much better to struggle through the feedings than to find kittens who are lethargic and failing, and then trying to revive them.

Just so you know, kittens should weigh 8 ounces at 2 weeks, 12 ounces at 3 weeks, and 16 ounces (1 pound) at one month. With 9, yours may be a tad lighter, but these are your goals.

Are they starting to open their eyes yet?

Hang in there! We are rooting for you! It will be more fun when the kittens can eat on their own.

 

[kittymom527]

So I must be doing ok, the 2 smallest ones are 5oz and the largest is 7. something. Today is day 8. Most are 6oz right now. Do you know how long I will have to supplement them? Hopefully not the full 8 weeks. Plus we have a vacation scheduled so not sure what I would do if someone had to feed them multiple times per day. Yes all of their eyes are open and they are venturing out. I need to figure out how to keep them contained. The mother will move them out of a box, so that is not working. Currently I have them set up underneath a table with a blanket covering like a tent. I have a dog crate that I borrowed but have been told not to use it because the kittens may pick up germs from a dog... any thoughts on that? In another week they will be all over my guest room and I need to keep them safe.

 

[Sarthur2]

K kittymom527

Hooray! You are clearly doing a stellar job of supplementing with those weights!

You will need to supplement until they are able to eat slushy food on their own, which is usually at 5 weeks old, some may be ready at 4 weeks.

Their baby teeth come in by 4 weeks, so that is when you begin offering pate-style wet food mixed with KMR to make a gruel. From there they will quickly progress to eating kitten chow softened with KMR.

Once they begin eating, you'll want to set out several disposable aluminum cake pans from the dollar store filled with non-clumping litter (since they often try to eat it), so they can litter train.

Clean the dog crate with clorox and water and you can use it. Ultimately, they will need the whole room to be contained in and play in, so you'll want to kitten-proof it.

When is your vacation planned for?

This link may help you:

Kitten Development Stages - Illustrated Guide

 

[Willowy]

Awww, so cute! Well, at least it will be easy to tell which ones are boys and which are girls (in case you don't know: the red ones are boys, the torties are girls).

I had a litter who started eating their mother's kibble at 3 1/2 weeks---I don't know why, since there were only 4 of them and their mother had plenty of (very fattening!) milk. So the kittens will let you know when they're ready for solids, usually around 4-5 weeks. That will take a lot of the burden off the mother, and you. The worst part is around 3 weeks, right before they start on solids, when they need too much formula/mother's milk to keep up with, so make sure the mama has a lot of nutritious food, and be ready to supplement extra.

Try to keep the litter together until at least 10 weeks, so they can learn proper kitty manners from mama and each other. 8 weeks is acceptable but I find that they do a lot better at 10-12 weeks.

 

[kskatt]

Well, you can't really count on the reds being boys. I had a litter of a silver tabby, a calico and three reds (they do all have white); all five were girls. I had wondered about the w/ white part, but I notice mommy (here) looks to be solid red.

Awww, so cute! Well, at least it will be easy to tell which ones are boys and which are girls (in case you don't know: the red ones are boys, the torties are girls).

I had a litter who started eating their mother's kibble at 3 1/2 weeks---I don't know why, since there were only 4 of them and their mother had plenty of (very fattening!) milk. So the kittens will let you know when they're ready for solids, usually around 4-5 weeks. That will take a lot of the burden off the mother, and you. The worst part is around 3 weeks, right before they start on solids, when they need too much formula/mother's milk to keep up with, so make sure the mama has a lot of nutritious food, and be ready to supplement extra.

Try to keep the litter together until at least 10 weeks, so they can learn proper kitty manners from mama and each other. 8 weeks is acceptable but I find that they do a lot better at 10-12 weeks.

 

[Willowy]

Well, you can't really count on the reds being boys.

Not 100%. But since some of the girls are torties, that means that their daddy was dark. So if there are any red girls, that means they would have a different father; a red male. And that's definitely possible, especially with a large litter, but I think it's somewhat unlikely that she specifically would have mated with a dark male and a red male.

So yeah, you can be 99.9% certain the torties are girls, and most likely the reds are boys but give them a look just in case.