Newborn 1 day old babies refuse formula, help

[chocochipangel]

Mother cat had a difficult time pushing the babies out and had a C-Section which was done very well by an experienced vet. However, she doesn’t have any milk, not even one drop.

The three babies that survived were weak and unresponsive at first but after a few hours of warming up and getting a little bit of formula in, they started to thrive, started kicking around and meowing, and started to suck formula from the syringe by themselves quite well.

They weigh between 77-87g.
Mom cat is awake and likes to cuddle with her babies, so the heat source is sorted, but she still doesn’t have any milk.
I offer the formula every 2-3 hours, but apart from the enthusiastic feeding session earlier, they now no longer want any formula.
They only had about 2ml-3ml total previously.

Although they refuse the formula, they are not screaming hungrily, they are quiet and moving around, they look pretty content and happy snuggling with mom, they peed after stimulation too. Everything looks fine, but they’re not eating enough according to what I’m asked to feed.

Should I be worried? Or should I just offer the formula every 2-3 hours and let them decide when they’re hungry they will eat? Or should I force some formula in?

Thanks so much for all help.

 

[StefanZ]

Mother cat had a difficult time pushing the babies out and had a C-Section which was done very well by an experienced vet. However, she doesn’t have any milk, not even one drop.

The three babies that survived were weak and unresponsive at first but after a few hours of warming up and getting a little bit of formula in, they started to thrive, started kicking around and meowing, and started to suck formula from the syringe by themselves quite well.

They weigh between 77-87g.
Mom cat is awake and likes to cuddle with her babies, so the heat source is sorted, but she still doesn’t have any milk.
I offer the formula every 2-3 hours, but apart from the enthusiastic feeding session earlier, they now no longer want any formula.
They only had about 2ml-3ml total previously.

Although they refuse the formula, they are not screaming hungrily, they are quiet and moving around, they look pretty content and happy snuggling with mom, they peed after stimulation too. Everything looks fine, but they’re not eating enough according to what I’m asked to feed.

Should I be worried? Or should I just offer the formula every 2-3 hours and let them decide when they’re hungry they will eat? Or should I force some formula in?

Thanks so much for all help.

It almost sounds as if they sneakingly do get some from momma... Which I do hope.
The only way to know for sure is to weight them, in the beginning every 12 hours till they have stabilized. If they get up 6+ grammes a day, its good, if not you must do something more.

What are they doing, are the protesting against feeding kmr, or they simply quit after a short while??

Anyway, you cant take chances... So you must continue to give them... Perhaps try with feeding more often??
Also, if you can get glucose sugar / dextrose, try to get it home. I know in USA it may be diffucult for the end consumer to find in shops.
I know amazon has it. You can probably get some from your vet...

Another tip, is you try with goats milk. It has prob different taste the kmr, and some kittens prefer this.

 

[chocochipangel]

It almost sounds as if they sneakingly do get some from momma... Which I do hope.
The only way to know for sure is to weight them, in the beginning every 12 hours till they have stabilized. If they get up 6+ grammes a day, its good, if not you must do something more.

What are they doing, are the protesting against feeding kmr, or they simply quit after a short while??

Anyway, you cant take chances... So you must continue to give them... Perhaps try with feeding more often??
Also, if you can get glucose sugar / dextrose, try to get it home. I know in USA it may be diffucult for the end consumer to find in shops.
I know amazon has it. You can probably get some from your vet...

Another tip, is you try with goats milk. It has prob different taste the kmr, and some kittens prefer this.

I actually thought they were somehow getting milk from her, but I checked all her nipples and none of them is producing any milk lol.

All were drinking 2-3ml of the same kmr formula by themselves very quickly about 6 hours ago, but now two of them (the 2 heavier boys, 85g and 87g) completely refuse to latch on the nipple and turn their heads away in the next 2 feeds. I tried making the formula more runny, more warm etc but they refuse. I also tried feeding them right where they were lying beside their mother too instead of taking them out, but they just don’t want any milk.
The smallest (a girl, 75g) will still want to drink some.

All of them are now very loud and vocal when they’re unhappy (for example if I take them out of the nesting box and away from mom, they will start screaming until I put them back), so it is confusing to me that they’re actually not shouting for food, as if they’re not hungry, but how are they not hungry?

I will get some glucose syrup tomorrow. How do you use it on them?

 

[Sarthur2]

Put a bit of glucose on their gums before feeding for quick energy.

Here is a helpful syringe feeding video from Kitten Lady:

Syringe Feeding — Kitten Lady

chocochipangel

 

[chocochipangel]

Just to update in case anyone's looking for similar situations: one of the babies DID eventually get his mother's milk going by trying at all her nipples. But not very much, only sustainable for one kitten. So I guess that answers the bit about him not wanting much milk. As for the other kitten, the reason is likely he wants to be the first to feed when the milk's warmest. I did try some glucose on them too which I think helps their appetite to some extent when they skipped the couple feeds that day.