New foster to 4 newborn kittens

Sarthur2

Cat lady extraordinaire
Staff Member
Advisor
Joined
Mar 8, 2015
Messages
35,986
Purraise
17,680
Location
Sunny Florida
Separate the kittens however you need to in order to keep them from suckling on one another.

Have you now given them something to suckle? Hopefully that will work and they can still be together most of the time.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #42

P-chan96

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Jul 18, 2021
Messages
48
Purraise
72
Going to the store today to get them little dolls to cuddle/suckle on. I was thinking of getting them lamb chop, its a dog toy, but they don't need to know. I was going to get the mini ones so that they each can have one right now, so they get used to suckling on that. Then when they're together they'll prefer the lamb. If that's how that works.
Theyre doing well separated, I got the cardboard adoption carriers from petsmart and cut up some fleece fabric for each one and got them their own little heating pad. It just takes a lot of space. A part of me feels like they kinda prefer it cuz a lot of times the orange one super bugs the other when they're trying to sleep.

Mama cat is doing great. Thinking about showing her her babies soon to see what she feels about them. Should it be through the cage? Or wait till she's back outside and then bring them out in a basket?
 

Sarthur2

Cat lady extraordinaire
Staff Member
Advisor
Joined
Mar 8, 2015
Messages
35,986
Purraise
17,680
Location
Sunny Florida
No, let mama cat meet her babies in the house. It’s safest. Mama cat needs to come out of the room a little bit anyway. How is she doing?
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #44

P-chan96

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Jul 18, 2021
Messages
48
Purraise
72
She's finally perked up. Before she would just sit in the corner of the kennel but now she actually walked up the the edge for me to pet her. Do you think it would be a good time to try to clean her up a bit? She honestly might have fleas. I have flea medicine to put on her. I just don't know if it'll affect her, since she's healing still. She is drinking water, and I hear her occasionally crunching the food, but im gonna try the can of wet I have to see if her appetite is back.
 

Sarthur2

Cat lady extraordinaire
Staff Member
Advisor
Joined
Mar 8, 2015
Messages
35,986
Purraise
17,680
Location
Sunny Florida
Hopefully she will begin eating wet food in addition to dry food. Go ahead and apply the flea med. It needs treating. Try cleaning her tail gently tomorrow. It may take more than one try. Don’t do anything to stress her out though.
 

British Girls

TCS Member
Adult Cat
Joined
Oct 2, 2018
Messages
249
Purraise
249
Location
KUWAIT CITY, KUWAIT
It seems to be like a blister kinda, but it kinda hangs off like a skin tag, I don't see how it would be from sucking, but I can imagine he could suck on them. I honestly don't remember seeing it before, so im not sure if it's just something I have overlooked and barely noticing.

The sucking has only been a problem from today, should I separate all of them or just the orange one? How long do I keep them separate?
This is a common thing with kittens that have been orphaned or taken away from the mother or who are bottle feeding. You probably want to bottle-feed them more. Kittenlady discusses this in one of her videos...


 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #47

P-chan96

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Jul 18, 2021
Messages
48
Purraise
72
Yeah that is one of the main thing I noticed, they didn't seem hungry every 2 hours, because they eat a lot in one sitting sometimes, but right now the happy number is about 2 1/2 - 3 between feedings and the blister is going away. I just got them little Lamb Chops to cuddle with individually, im going to try to reunite them all tomorrow to see if that helped.
 

British Girls

TCS Member
Adult Cat
Joined
Oct 2, 2018
Messages
249
Purraise
249
Location
KUWAIT CITY, KUWAIT
Yeah that is one of the main thing I noticed, they didn't seem hungry every 2 hours, because they eat a lot in one sitting sometimes, but right now the happy number is about 2 1/2 - 3 between feedings and the blister is going away. I just got them little Lamb Chops to cuddle with individually, im going to try to reunite them all tomorrow to see if that helped.
Good luck!
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #49

P-chan96

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Jul 18, 2021
Messages
48
Purraise
72
Babies opened their eyes! They are still sucking on eachother so I can't put them together yet. No that their eyes are open, do they start playing? Or is it still just eat and sleep right now? They are still super wobbly but some of them are capable of sitting still and looking around. Can they even see yet? Or is it just light?
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #51

P-chan96

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Jul 18, 2021
Messages
48
Purraise
72
3/4 kittens have diarrhea their past stool, called the vet and they said to monitor for a few days and if there is blood to take them to emergency right away. I dont want to say "is it normal" but im assuming since their bottle fed, their poop isn't going to be continuously consistent? One of them still has regular poop. I'm going to use the blue can kmr (I've been using the pink one from walmart) after I finish this can because it has more protein, should that tighten things up? I also stopped using the oil days ago, so it shouldn't be from that. I am not sure how to tell if they are bloated or just fat. They don't cry when I squish them, so im assuming not bloated. Maybe I'm over feeding them?
 

Sarthur2

Cat lady extraordinaire
Staff Member
Advisor
Joined
Mar 8, 2015
Messages
35,986
Purraise
17,680
Location
Sunny Florida
How much are they gaining daily? Are you using pedialyte instead of water to mix the formula?
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #53

P-chan96

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Jul 18, 2021
Messages
48
Purraise
72
They are gaining good. All are over 200g now about 20g this past day, I haven't done the pedialyte yet because they were pooping better, but will probably start that now so they dont get dehydration.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #54

P-chan96

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Jul 18, 2021
Messages
48
Purraise
72
No more diarrhea! Poop is coming out easier now too since using the pedialyte. I also switched them to the kmr lac which should be easier on their tummy.

Babies are being more interested in exploring so now I'm gonna figure out a little play pen for them so they can move around.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #55

P-chan96

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Jul 18, 2021
Messages
48
Purraise
72
Babies are turning 4 weeks this week, already introduced the litter box yesterday and they're using it 🥺 makes me emotional little babies growing up so quick. Also super new ground for me, I'm used to potty training puppies so I expected more stress lol. I let them roam about and they love my bed. definitely getting spoiled!
 

catsknowme

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jan 2, 2005
Messages
11,458
Purraise
6,679
Location
Eastern California,USA
Wow! It's great to know that they are thriving! Good job with controlling the diarrhea :clap: please continue to keep us updated. They are gonna be so entertaining very soon - enjoy those precious moments :runningcat::climbcat::dizzycat::catlove:
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #57

P-chan96

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Jul 18, 2021
Messages
48
Purraise
72
Kitties got diarrhea again and took them to the vet to get dewormer, after one dose, no more diarrhea! They are officially litter trained, and I love seeing them dig and do their little squat. So cute.

They are a little over 4 weeks now, little bundles of joy playing around and being cute with their beady eyes. At this age, when they cry, is it still mostly to eat? Or is it because they want to be carried and or bored? I try feeding them, and they won't eat each time so im assuming they are starting to cry to be held.

They also play rough with eachother, to the point that they're making eachother yelp, it isnt prolong yelling, but it still makes me uncomfortable hearing the little cries. I read that it's important for their socialization, but when should it be a problem? Will they grow out of it? I don't want them to develop bad habits.

My sister I live with plans on keeping one, is there a chance that he won't want to really bond with them because I'm still here in the house? I'm not saying I want to neglect him so that he does, but i just don't want her to pawn off him to me like she did with her new corgi puppy but still be like "oh look at my cat" (lots of petty family drama along those lines, I essentially don't want to take on her responsibilities, like I'll keep him, but he's mine then)
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #59

P-chan96

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Jul 18, 2021
Messages
48
Purraise
72
Kitties are officially over 5 weeks, and have started weaning! 3 out of 4 of them are eating like Champs. One of the black ones was ready to eat, he ripped up the nipple of the bottle so I knew he was ready. The girl and the orange boy occasionally want the bottle but eat well for most feedings. The other black one however, seems repulsed by the food and will only bottlefeed. I'm not trying to force him, but how long on the bottle is too long? Like will it be enough nutrients for him as he gets bigger? I've have been mixing the food with more formula but he still won't budge.
 

Sarthur2

Cat lady extraordinaire
Staff Member
Advisor
Joined
Mar 8, 2015
Messages
35,986
Purraise
17,680
Location
Sunny Florida
Eh, five weeks is young. Most kittens with moms do not wean until 6-8 weeks. There’s always a laggard. He’s getting plenty of nutrients from his formula feeds. He’ll get there!

The pregnant stray I took in had 4 kittens. One began eating mom’s food at barely five weeks; two others started at about 6 weeks; and the last waited until almost 8 weeks.

Like human babies, kittens transition to solids and potty train at their own pace. 😊
 
Top