I am not sure if I am doing this right. I hope I am lol.
Anyways, my cat Bell just had a litter of two kittens, sadly, as I was told, one passed away immediately after birth. I was away babysitting for a family member when I was told she went into labor. My mom stressed saying the second kitten wasn’t latching to nurse. Once I was able to get back home I right away started to see if I could work with the kitten and was able to get him to latch. After that he was showing signs of being lethargic and wasn’t moving very well. I blamed myself because I had planned to get up in the middle of the night to help him nurse and I ended up falling asleep and waking up in the morning to him barely hanging onto life. After the whole day trying to get him to nurse example: Putting nipple in mouth, honey water on gums for energy, and trying to put him near the nipple. Finally I thought the poor guy wouldn’t make it. I let him lay with Mom without me messing around with him and I was almost ready to give up. Then I realized maybe he was too cold. Being the only kitten meant he didn’t have the warmth to share with litter mates and so I asked my mom to get a heating pad and she ended up getting my grandma to bring one over. Somewhere on Google I read to only turn up the pad on the minimalist setting and so I did and stuck it under the nest towel. After a little bit of warming up I was worried as the kitten hadn’t eaten since it’s first time I got it to latch and eat. It had been a whole day I assume. As he got more toasty he moved around more and was less lethargic and finally when night fell I noticed when I checked on him he was trying to latch again (searching for nipple) but he didn’t seem to grasp how to latch. So I let him warm up some more as he still wasn’t matching for me, then I came back later into the night about 1am and tried again, somehow after somemore frustrating tries I got him to latch and eat. It was the happiest moment of my life as we were all sure he wasn’t going to make it. He ate about an hour maybe more and unlatched. He seems to only eat if I cradle his body with my hand and keep my pinky below his little feet (otherwise he’ll buck thinking he has no support and lose the nipple) and let him rest his head on my thumb, he does well and eats okay. It is now day three and I just got him to eat about 38 min ago as I write this. I try to keep alarms in my phone to feed him every two to three hours. I got him to latch again after some more frustrating tries at 6am which was the last time he ate as I said above (I accidentally skipped an alarm). I am now wide awake and waiting for the next alarm to go get him to latch. He won’t eat otherwise or without me and I find myself sitting there super uncomfortable in the tight space where Mom made her nest just to keep him eating, I make sure he eats for at least an hour before I try to move around, my legs fall asleep lol. I would do it over and over (as I know I will) as long as it means he is getting his meals. I honestly can’t wait till he is strong enough to eat himself so I can finally get back my sleep. I am making this just in case any complications arise (knock on wood) and I pray he stays strong. I have named him Percy as I was sitting there as he ate I was trying to think of a strong name to give him and Poseidon kept coming to mind but I kept picturing an old guy with a beard and it just didn’t fit then I remembered he had a son named Percy from the Percy Jackson series. Now the little guy’s nickname is The Lightning Thief
Percy was a character with a strong will and was never taken down and always won his battles. The name just fit. (He’s all white btw). This isn’t my first litter of kittens as this mama cat has had a few over the past years. I am a senior in high school this year and her first litter was when I was in Middle school. I have saved a couple weaker kittens before thanks to this cat forum, though I can never remember my username and password I always make a new account. Anywho, when do you think I can expect Percy to become stronger and need less assistance with nursing? He is about three days old today and is hanging on, thank God. He was born very small and I think was a runt. This mama cat has had a one kitten litter before with the same thing, one of the kittens passing away. Though the one kitten left from her previous litter had no problems with nursing (it was actually her first litter ever I think so it was a couple years back). We even named her Piggy because she was a little piglet lol. I am hoping this is mama cats last litter and that my step dad will spay her finally as it is his cat (We saved her from when a neighbor threw her outside abandoning her at a couple months old), though I am always the one left looking after the litter and dealing with all the stresses and heart break when kittens don’t make it ^_^;
Also I know I should weigh the kitten to check on him but the scale I used to have was stolen recently, but as a thanks for keeping the kitten alive my mom said she’d bring me anything I needed on her way back from work today. Besides a scale should I ask for anything else?
(If this is not how I make a public thread.. welp I guess I will keep pressing buttons to figure it out lol)
Anyways, my cat Bell just had a litter of two kittens, sadly, as I was told, one passed away immediately after birth. I was away babysitting for a family member when I was told she went into labor. My mom stressed saying the second kitten wasn’t latching to nurse. Once I was able to get back home I right away started to see if I could work with the kitten and was able to get him to latch. After that he was showing signs of being lethargic and wasn’t moving very well. I blamed myself because I had planned to get up in the middle of the night to help him nurse and I ended up falling asleep and waking up in the morning to him barely hanging onto life. After the whole day trying to get him to nurse example: Putting nipple in mouth, honey water on gums for energy, and trying to put him near the nipple. Finally I thought the poor guy wouldn’t make it. I let him lay with Mom without me messing around with him and I was almost ready to give up. Then I realized maybe he was too cold. Being the only kitten meant he didn’t have the warmth to share with litter mates and so I asked my mom to get a heating pad and she ended up getting my grandma to bring one over. Somewhere on Google I read to only turn up the pad on the minimalist setting and so I did and stuck it under the nest towel. After a little bit of warming up I was worried as the kitten hadn’t eaten since it’s first time I got it to latch and eat. It had been a whole day I assume. As he got more toasty he moved around more and was less lethargic and finally when night fell I noticed when I checked on him he was trying to latch again (searching for nipple) but he didn’t seem to grasp how to latch. So I let him warm up some more as he still wasn’t matching for me, then I came back later into the night about 1am and tried again, somehow after somemore frustrating tries I got him to latch and eat. It was the happiest moment of my life as we were all sure he wasn’t going to make it. He ate about an hour maybe more and unlatched. He seems to only eat if I cradle his body with my hand and keep my pinky below his little feet (otherwise he’ll buck thinking he has no support and lose the nipple) and let him rest his head on my thumb, he does well and eats okay. It is now day three and I just got him to eat about 38 min ago as I write this. I try to keep alarms in my phone to feed him every two to three hours. I got him to latch again after some more frustrating tries at 6am which was the last time he ate as I said above (I accidentally skipped an alarm). I am now wide awake and waiting for the next alarm to go get him to latch. He won’t eat otherwise or without me and I find myself sitting there super uncomfortable in the tight space where Mom made her nest just to keep him eating, I make sure he eats for at least an hour before I try to move around, my legs fall asleep lol. I would do it over and over (as I know I will) as long as it means he is getting his meals. I honestly can’t wait till he is strong enough to eat himself so I can finally get back my sleep. I am making this just in case any complications arise (knock on wood) and I pray he stays strong. I have named him Percy as I was sitting there as he ate I was trying to think of a strong name to give him and Poseidon kept coming to mind but I kept picturing an old guy with a beard and it just didn’t fit then I remembered he had a son named Percy from the Percy Jackson series. Now the little guy’s nickname is The Lightning Thief
Percy was a character with a strong will and was never taken down and always won his battles. The name just fit. (He’s all white btw). This isn’t my first litter of kittens as this mama cat has had a few over the past years. I am a senior in high school this year and her first litter was when I was in Middle school. I have saved a couple weaker kittens before thanks to this cat forum, though I can never remember my username and password I always make a new account. Anywho, when do you think I can expect Percy to become stronger and need less assistance with nursing? He is about three days old today and is hanging on, thank God. He was born very small and I think was a runt. This mama cat has had a one kitten litter before with the same thing, one of the kittens passing away. Though the one kitten left from her previous litter had no problems with nursing (it was actually her first litter ever I think so it was a couple years back). We even named her Piggy because she was a little piglet lol. I am hoping this is mama cats last litter and that my step dad will spay her finally as it is his cat (We saved her from when a neighbor threw her outside abandoning her at a couple months old), though I am always the one left looking after the litter and dealing with all the stresses and heart break when kittens don’t make it ^_^; Also I know I should weigh the kitten to check on him but the scale I used to have was stolen recently, but as a thanks for keeping the kitten alive my mom said she’d bring me anything I needed on her way back from work today. Besides a scale should I ask for anything else?
(If this is not how I make a public thread.. welp I guess I will keep pressing buttons to figure it out lol)
