Litter Of 4. Possibly Runt Gaining Steady Weight?

[mangusbrother]

Hello

So my cat Epi has recently had a litter of 4 kittens.

All seem to be doing fine at first glance and I have been monitoring their weight increases. They are as follows, in order of birth.
Note: first one might be a bit low as it was not a 24 hour period since birth

Kuja(male, starting at 114g): 13g, 13g, 22g, 20g
Beatrix(female, starting at 110g): 5g, 13g, 15g, 16g
Lulu(female, starting at 105g): 4g, 9g, 15g, 10g
Rinoa(female, startting at 105g): 8g, 10g, 14g, 22g

My question is, is Lulu doing oi? She hit the less-than-10g mark twice and is now back to exactly 10g, with only once having an increase similar to her siblings.

Image: Top, Beatrix,, Left: Rinoa, Middle: Kuja, Right: Lulu

 

[StefanZ]

I think its OK, but as you say, its on the verge. So proceed to follow up her, and protect whenever possible. Say make sure she isnt disturbed when nursing by the bigger siblings.

Has momma or grandmomma been smallish females? Quite a few females are petite, and thus - will tend to att less in everyday rate...

 

[mangusbrother]

Hello
Thanks, I will

As for the mother, she's an abandoned stray that I picked up and she was already pregnant apparently when i picked her up so I Can't exactly say if she's small. Don't even know who her grandmothers are.

 

[Kayla70711]

Yes. Definitely make sure she's nursing fine. With my litter my smallest one would always get pushed, and clawed off the nipple by the others so just watch them during feedings, and make sure if she gets off you put her back on. Or wait until the other ones are full, and off the nipple, and let her have some time to herself nursing.

 

[StefanZ]

Kaylas advice is good. This is often the trick.

 

[Kat0121]

I would also have some powdered KMR at the ready in case you need to supplement. Those babies are so adorable. Thank you for caring for this sweet little family

 

[mangusbrother]

So , minor update regarding this.

Occasionally monitoring her and putting her back on a nipple helped kickstart her again. now she's feeding enough on her own.
They are 9 days old today.

Latest increases - total
Kuja 26g - 273g (139% since birth)
Beatrix 23g -242g (120% since birth)
Lulu 20g - 232g (121% since birth)
Rinoa 21g -239g (118% since birth)

One other thing i noticed however is that lulu occasionally coughs a little. And today i noticed that when she does that she had a little milk coming out of her nose.
Given however they are gaining pretty evenly in terms of weight. Is it just a matter that she's drinking too fast for her own good?

 

[StefanZ]

I guess so. With a real pneumonia she would fade literally in hours.
So its good she has good reflexes stopping up milk going all the way into wrong throat.

Healthy kittens has some margins, have some safety gauges.

 

[mangusbrother]

Update regarding kittens

growing fast. all have opened their eyes.. two have a minor eye infection but vet has not had a checkup of all the cats and gave me eye drops for those two.

Otherwise just a general question rather than a worry. I keep reading that kitten eyes open up as bright blue, and then around 6 weeks change to their original colour.

In this case it looks like they are all black though? is this common?
It's not like they have something wrong with their eyes cause Lulu for example is very curious about everything she sees

 

[Sarthur2]

The eyes sound fine! Did you get drops for them or not yet?

 

[mangusbrother]

The vet gave me the drops directly.

 

[Sarthur2]

That’s good!

 

[Willowy]

Awww, they're a cute little bunch! I love their markings.

 

[Willowy]

Awww, they're a cute little bunch! I love their markings.