Premature Kitten

[StefanZ]

The problem with giving it extra water is it needs nourishment. Having belly full with water it cant eat mommas milk. You can try to compromise with having some sugar in this extra water. Its always some calories.... when at the vet can you ask them for a suitable syringe and glucose sugar?


The kitten you can perhaps have at your chest? So it wont be chilled of in the car

 

[StefanZ]

Hi I've been taking care of the kitten all the time making the mom feed it. Milk comes out when I squeeze the nipple and I am so scared to try syringe feeding as other tiny babies have aspirated when I've tried before, even drop by drop. And as I do drop by drop it cools down in the syringe and I have to keep getting more. One site recommends feeding every 30-60 minutes and then says also to give 1 mL of boiled cooked warm water drop by drop after each feeding by mom, and I've tried a few times but I'm always so scared of the baby aspirating and it gets all over the baby while trying to drop it in the mouth. I don't have miracle nipples or anything like that just a 1ml insulin needle with the needle cut off to leave a hard plastic little spout without needle. It's not ideal but it's all I have. It seems like when the mom lays down long enough the kitten is getting enough milk I am afraid to constipate the baby any more with formula. I have to make sure it eats very often and I take mini 10-20 minutes naps in between on the floor next to the crate with the heating pad and baby and my hand in there to make sure it's staying warm because the heating pad only stays on 120 minutes at a time maximum. It looks more like a newborn kitten now than a preemie but is still extremely small like a mouse.

Once again re weighting. You tell momma has milk, and kitten nurse. Good.
The problem is, a weak kitten sometimes dont get inside almost nothing, although it seems to nurse.

A very experienced rescuer notices this, but for all less experienced is weightng every day, even every 12 hours, important.
If it adds 6+ grammes a day, good, if not, something more must be done. easy.

If you dont own a scale, perhaps you can borrow from a neighbour?

The fact kitten is constipated although its on moms milk, do strongly hints the kitten gets too little of mommas milk. Kittens become seldom constipated from mommas milk! But quite often from a so so kmr. And yes, in such a case diluting the kmr a little more with water, may be the receipt. Royal Canines kitten kmr is known for this. Its a good kmr, but gives sometimes constipation. And the easiest is to dilute a little more than recommended on the label.

Another try may be goats milk. goats milk gives seldom constipation. And raw goats milk may even have some extra positive properties.
And also, should be cheaper than kmr. (although raw goats milk may be costly, at least in USA it usually do costs, unless you know a farmer)


I hear some rescuers manage well handfeeding with help of a little sponge, type of a make up sponge. They fill it with kmr / goats milk, let the kitten suckle, and repeat. The drawback you arent sure how much kitten got each time, (but it doesnt matter much because you weight every day), and also, you use more kmr. But for some it works nicely. Less risk than with a syringe too.

Its a fairly new method.