How To Help Kittens To Feed - Mom Is Feral, Semi-unfriendly

[madana]

Long story short, I currently am trying to help a feral cat I'm calling Domino. She is not exactly hostile, but is not an ex-pet. She came to my property looking for food but always ran if I looked like I might dare step outside. I trapped her Friday and thank goodness, as she gave birth to 6 kittens over the last 2 hours tonight. She tolerates me ok but that is all.

She looks to be young - maybe 1.5 or 2 years old. I'm not sure as I have limited experience with cats. (I did foster another pregnant cat from the local colony this spring, but she was an ex-pet and very friendly and let me handle her babies no problem, so it was an entirely different scenario.) She did mostly ok on the birthing, though she had some hiccups with cleaning at least one of them quickly enough, and she is not too interested in helping the kittens nurse. I'm not sure if it's exhaustion, inexperience, or both. She is very protective of them, though.

I have been able to reach in and re-position the two that seem to have trouble getting a nipple, and despite a lot of hissing she hasn't tried to bite me - yet. The problem is because of her position in the cage, I can't tell if those two are latched on or not, and the last one born I can't even see as he is under her chest. Since she's not friendly, I can't just encourage or help her to lay out more fully so I can make sure all 6 have nipples. I'm sure at least one is not nursing as I still occasionally hear crying, and I'm sure if all were latched on, it'd be total quiet.

I don't want to overreact or rush too quickly to thinking of bottle feeding, but two of the three who I think aren't suckling were more runty to begin with. Does anyone have any suggestions of how I can get Domino to change position so I can ensure all the babies have a nipple? Also, we had a carrier, litter box, and food/water bowls in a big, big dog cage in a setup recommended on various feral cat association websites. She didn't like the carrier - would nest on top of it instead of inside - and she gave birth to the 1st baby in the litter box, which wasn't good. We swapped the carrier out for a shallow plastic bin lined with towels in the hopes she would use it, but she hasn't. She's just lying on towels on the floor in the cage. Eventually I'd like to try to move them into the bin at least just so I can put clean towels down for her if she insists on the floor, as the current towels are bloody and still have placenta bits all over, but I have no idea how to accomplish this.

I've not weighed anyone yet as Domino has been rather stressed as it is, being an outdoor cat suddenly put into a cage in a strange place and now having a brood of 6. When my husband gets home in an hour or so I intend to recruit him to help distract Domino while I get babies to weigh. Perhaps she will change position then, but I envision a struggle trying to get the babies for weighing. Any tips on how to handle Domino (or get her into the bin or at least into a different position) would be greatly appreciated.

 

[madana]

Well, husband, who is the master of telling me not to push the situation, pushed the situation. We ended up antagonizing her, sadly, but ended up getting all kittens out and weighed. They were all put back into the bin. Domino did not immediately get in to join them, though eventually she did get in with some pushiness from husband. ( I don't approve but I was out of the room getting her fresh food when it happened.)

I still can tell two babies for sure aren't latched on. They are stumbling around trying to get into the pack. Domino looks exhausted and is not helping them. I know the babies need the colostrum but I'm wary of stressing her further. I'm going to wait a little and hope the babies find nipples on their own. Problem is Domino is laying curled up a little like a shrimp instead of stretched out more, so I'm not sure they will find the nipples. About to have a late dinner but will be back to check for replies and assistance. Thanks!

 

[talkingpeanut]

How do they seem now?

 

[madana]

I am at a loss as to what to do.

Domino is sitting up, but with her head hanging low and eyes almost shut, and looking utterly exhausted. She can't or doesn't know how to help the babies each find a nipple. The babies are crawling all over each other to get a nipple, and I there is some definite crying/squealing. Some are attached, some are not, and I can't tell who is who or even how many are attached. 3 are dark, 3 are tan, and within each "lot" of 3 I marked a left foot on one, a right foot on another, and no marks on the 3rd, so that I can tell them apart for weight tracking. But I can't see the marks at the moment.

If this were the friendly stray of a few months ago, I could reach in and help her adjust her body and put the babies where they need to be. Domino has hissed up a storm and has lashed out with her paw several times earlier tonight. She has not tried to bite us so far. I'm concerned about reaching in to try to help - do I upset a young, exhausted mother further, or do I leave the babies to fend for themselves and possibly not feed properly? There is no guarantee I'll get them onto nipples if I do try to help, if Domino turns her back on me like she did before.

If only I had those Kevlar gloves up to my elbows instead of a thin pair of short work gloves.

 

[talkingpeanut]

I think leave them for the night. Let mom settle in, and let her see you as a provider of delicious food. You can weigh the kittens again tomorrow and assess if anyone is losing weight.

Mom needs time to adjust.

 

[madana]

I was hoping that would be the advice. I hate to disturb her further.

I just looked in on them and when I took out her empty food bowl, she hissed at me. I really don't want her to see me as the enemy but it may be too late.

Domino has not had proper nutrition for the most part. I had to feed her dry food outside because she didn't feed at regular times so the wet would attract bugs. She didn't start coming onto my property until a few weeks ago so she likely had been not getting enough food at all before then. She also wasn't showing so at first I was just feeding her regular adult food. Then one day - boing! - out popped this huge belly.

The last pregnant cat, I fed Royal Canin Mother & Babycat because it was 1) available in a local store and 2) the best I could afford. Is that still a good choice? Is there a different brand food I should consider? I see others recommended online but are they so much better they are worth the price differential? Also, given that she has had crap nutrition at best, is there something I should supplement the food with? I'm not in a position to do raw feeding and I do have a limited budget, but I want to do the best I can for her.

Thanks again.

 

[StefanZ]

Mother and baby cat is a good brand. Royal Canins perhaps best.
Goats milk is always useful, both as supplement and also as emergency kmr for the kittens. No funny low fat diet variations, though. If you can get raw goats milk, its the best, but canned or powdered are OK.

 

[madana]

I marked the babies last night when I weighed them. I have a massive gain that I would swear has to be wrong, but I double checked the marks on the legs and they are correct. I couldn't weigh one baby - mom was hissing and trying to bite as we took the babies away, so we couldn't get the one directly underneath her. 1 gained 31g (???), 1 gained 15 g, 1 gained 9g, and 2 gained only 5g. 1st weight last night 9:30 pm, 2nd weight this morning 10:30 am. 13 hours apart.

Tan babies:
no mark: 87g --> 102g
front left: 91g --> ???
front right: 94g --> 99g

Grey/white babies:
no mark: 107g --> 112g
back left: 91g --> 100g
back right: 82g --> 113g

Still hoping others will chime in on nutrition options for Domino the mother cat.

 

[madana]

Unless I was mixed up and wrote down weights one time thinking "left" as I looked at the cat from the front (which would be its right) and then the next time "left" as on the cat's body. In which case the weight progressions would be 91 to 113 (22g) and 82 to 100 (18g).

I'm not sure what to think, but I'm feeling kind of stupid about this now that I may have mixed it up.

 

[talkingpeanut]

It sounds like they are all doing ok for now!

For mom, it's best to feed her kitten food. She should have access to dry food 24/7, and meals of wet a few times throughout the day. I think the less you can bother mom for now, the better.

I would look for kitten foods that have meat as the first ingredient. I don't have a particular brand preference.

 

[madana]

Somebody please help me. I can't watch this baby die and I don't know what to do.

The babies were born last Tuesday evening the 12th. By Thursday I knew I had a problem because the one who had gained very little weight, lost weight; another hadn't gained a lot, while the others all had moderate to very strong gains. I went to my local cat rescue and they had a vet tech talk to me. I explained how Domino seemed young and inexperienced and didn't help the babies feed. We talked about things and the tech advised me to let them be, not weigh them, and give them space. That Domino was likely stressed and needed to be left alone to let her maternal instinct kick in.

So that's what I did - I didn't weigh them Friday night and except for changing litter and giving Domino food I didn't go near the cage. It looked like this was helping because on Saturday night when I weighed them, even the runt had gained a lot of weight despite being 30 - 50 grams lighter than the others.

That's when the good news stopped. Domino had started having diarrhea which I assumed was from stress. So on Sunday I did the same thing - only changed litter, water and food but left them all alone and did not take the babies out to weigh.

Last night, Monday, the other 5 kits showed gains of 25-40 grams since Saturday night. The runt lost weight. If I haven't been screwing up the weights, she had somehow gained 25 grams from Thursday to Saturday, but then lost 4 grams from Saturday to Monday. I was sure that 25 gm gain was an error, but I had weighed all the kittens twice, and her number was nowhere near anyone else's so it's not like I gave her someone else's weight number. Before resorting to bottle feeding, I thought I'd give her a shot to feed on Domino. Since I had all the kittens out to weigh, I left them all curled up in their bin lined with a towel outside the cage, and only put the runt back in with mama Domino.

I consistently see her sleeping behind Domino while the rest are all in front and I figured she could never get a nipple, and her siblings are so big they just crowd her out. She keeps crawling to find a spot to cuddle up and ends up snuggled into Domino's back. So I put her in with Domino by herself for almost 4 hours in the hopes she would feed well. The first time I looked in she looked like she was struggling to latch on to a nipple, but the next time I looked in she looked like she was feeding ok. I was very hopeful.

I normally weigh them all between 9 and 10 pm. I wanted to weigh her by herself earlier but whenever I went in it wasn't a good time - Domino would be eating, or the babies would be feeding, etc. At 7 pm I was finally able to get her out without much fuss from Domino, and she is down another 8 grams! So I mixed up the KMR and she won't eat it. Not with a bottle with the smallest tip and not with a syringe. She just cries terribly when I try to get her to eat. I have her in the right position, I hold her head, and she just doesn't want to. I can get a little in and she will swallow but she won't willingly feed. She turns her head away and cries. It killed me to see her little tummy heaving as she just lay on the little blanket after I let her be. I finally gave up and put her back in but of course she is on the outside of everyone. The bigger kits won't make room to let her in to the nipples and Domino of course does not help her.

I know that these things happen and not all babies survive, but please, I honestly can't hear someone tell me that right now. It's been very stressful what with Domino being so hostile, our own cat unhappy at being banned from the room, and my husband either not being very helpful or trying to help but then being uber-critical of me, so I'm a little sensitive right now. OK, a lot sensitive. I'm crying and I really, really do not want this baby to die. No, I cannot afford to take her to a vet for them to hand feed her and I do not know anyone who fosters. The local rescue won't take babies this young so I'm on my own here. I will call them tomorrow and beg them to get this baby to an experienced foster but I doubt they will help because their fosters are for 4 weeks and older and they are usually full.

Please pray for this baby. And give me any advice you can on how to encourage her to feed.

 

[madana]

94 Birth weight (Tues pm)
99 12 hours later (Wed am)
101 One day old (Wed pm)
97 Two days old (Thu pm)
---- Three days old (Fri pm)
122 Four days old (Sat pm) (I didn't believe this number, but I did it 2x and the rest were at 150+)
---- Five days old (Sun pm)
118 Six days old (Mon pm)
110 1 week old (today pm)

If I could afford a vet and IV feeding I would but I'm not working right now and our income is limited. In fact "our own cat" is actually a stray that we only took in because she was pregnant earlier this year. We socialized the babies and got them to the rescue for adoption. This cat has been on a waiting list since April for a spot at the no-kill rescue so my husband only last week agreed we will keep her since she's so attached to us now.

 

[Ardina]

Hang in there! I know you're stressed and worried, but we're here to help you through this. I'm no kitten expert, but the real experts will be here shortly. The things I've picked up are these: you've got to get food into this runt. You can smear some honey onto her gums to give a quick shot of energy. If she won't take KMR by bottle or syringe, you can try a little sponge (like a makeup sponge) and drip the milk onto a corner - as she suckles, you can keep adding drops with the syringe. Make sure to keep her warm as well - cold kittens can't digest food!

 

[madana]

I could barely get any honey onto her gums. She just feels stuff at her mouth and moves her head away. I will have to go to the drugstore to get the sponges.

We don't have a normal thermometer, just the in-ear kind. We did the best we could with it, taking her surface skin temp and it was 92.5. Maybe it would be a few degrees higher inside her rectum if we had the right thermometer. I have her on a soft blankie on top of a heating pad on low right now. There is space for her to crawl off if she gets too warm. (ETA my skin temp read as a few degrees lower than 98.6, so likely she is at 95 or 96. But isn't 95 the absolute minimum she should be? In other words that isn't great, right?)

I'm so angry at myself right now for trying so hard not to stress Domino that I ignored this little baby even though I knew she was at risk. That big weight gain fooled me and made me think things were ok.

I've never dealt with babies before the stray's babies a few months ago and I have no idea what a neonate should look like. I fear that her belly looks swollen. I couldn't get great pics but here are some. Can you tell if her belly is swollen or if it looks normal?

 

[talkingpeanut]

Have you been helping her to pee and poop?

 

[madana]

I just started tonight because only tonight did I try to feed her myself. I have tried stimulating her but so far nothing has come out.

 

[madana]

She died. I'm devastated.

 

[Ardina]

I'm so sorry. You did the best you could.