Urgent Help! Cat Gave Birth But Wont Feed.

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Marasha

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So a cat that lives outside my house just gave birth to a small kitten. She doesnt feed him, all she did was slap him a bit. The vets dont open for another hour so I am worried that the kitten will die. Also, two male cats always hang out in the same place the mother hangs out which is the same place she gave birth. Anything to do so the males dont kill the newborn?
 

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Can you bring the mom and kitten inside, set up a nest in a private, quiet area so that the kitten will be safe and away from the males and other dangers of the out of doors. Our experts will chime in as soon as they catch wind of your thread. In the meantime, can you get hold of some powdered kmr and needless syringes just in case you need to supplement. First things first, please bring the family indoors.
 

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Yes, bring the mom and her kitten indoors. You can put a warm, wet cloth on one of the nipples to help stimulate milk flow. If mom still won't feed the kitten, give the kitten KMR through a syringe. Feed the kitten with his belly down and head up, the same position he would be in when nursing mom. You can also give him unflavored pedialyte to help prevent dehydration.
 
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Marasha

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Can you bring the mom and kitten inside, set up a nest in a private, quiet area so that the kitten will be safe and away from the males and other dangers of the out of doors. Our experts will chime in as soon as they catch wind of your thread. In the meantime, can you get hold of some powdered kmr and needless syringes just in case you need to supplement. First things first, please bring the family indoors.
Yes, bring the mom and her kitten indoors. You can put a warm, wet cloth on one of the nipples to help stimulate milk flow. If mom still won't feed the kitten, give the kitten KMR through a syringe. Feed the kitten with his belly down and head up, the same position he would be in when nursing mom. You can also give him unflavored pedialyte to help prevent dehydration.

Unfortunately I cannot bring them inside because I have another female cat and an unneutered male that are purely indoors cats so the problem might be bigger. Now there have been two hours since she gave birth to the first baby. She gave birth to a second one in a different place and we placed the first one next to her, hoping she will feed it. I also went out and bought some cat milk powder thing incase she doesnt feed them.
 

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Marasha Marasha

Can you find her babies and put them all in a box together outside, that's big enough for mom to stretch out and nurse in? They need a safe place to be.

Moms will often not nurse until they are finished delivering.

Do you have a spare room, basement, laundry room, or bathroom to put them in for now?

Can you feed mom?

Is your female cat spayed?
 
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Marasha

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Marasha Marasha

Can you find her babies and put them all in a box together outside, that's big enough for mom to stretch out and nurse in? They need a safe place to be.

Moms will often not nurse until they are finished delivering.

Do you have a spare room, basement, laundry room, or bathroom to put them in for now?

Can you feed mom?

Is your female cat spayed?

We do not have a spare room that wont bother the rest of the family or mess my cats routine like their litter box room (which is in the upstairs bathroom). I put a newborn into a spare litter box we had along with some cloth to keep it cosy and placed it next to the mother so hopefully she will take the rest of the newborns and place them inside. I will if she doesnt.

Yes we have been feeding her for some time and will continue to do so.

My female cat is sprayed, yes.
 
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Marasha

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Ok, so after some time has passed, the mother kinda abandoned the one we had on the box and went with the other one in another corner. We cant let it die so we took it in in a little box until we figure out what to do. Now the problem is, the newborn wont eat from the bottle (maybe cause we dont know how to properly feed it) and I am thinking of taking it in the vet first thing in the morning so she can feed it and show us how. But will it last that long? It was born around 10 hours now and I will propably take it to the vet in around 8 hours so a total of 18 hours whithout food.
 

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I am by no means an expert but there are a ton of threads here telling you how to feed kittens. I don't think the poor little thing can go without food that long. Do you have a syringe? You said you bought kitten milk already..so if you have a syringe you can feed him or her. Please at least try
 
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Marasha

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I am by no means an expert but there are a ton of threads here telling you how to feed kittens. I don't think the poor little thing can go without food that long. Do you have a syringe? You said you bought kitten milk already..so if you have a syringe you can feed him or her. Please at least try
We watched videos on how to do it and tried for about 30 mins but he wouldnt take it. Some drops made it in so hopefully it will be enough for him to last.
 

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Do you have a nipple? If not, you should go get one and try. I don't think the kitten will last. If worse comes to worse, can you go out and get plastic q tips? Family Dollar has the ones I use. I don't understand why but I always have better luck with them and fussy kittens than anything else. Cut just the tip off and shoved it into the syringe. Squeeze out a bit of milk so it's soaked. Make sure the formula is warm, by putting the syringe and nipple (must be connected or the formula will spill out into the water and the water will make its way into the syringe) in a cup of hot water for 30-60 seconds. You can always test on your wrist if your nervous about it being too hot or too cold. Make sure the kitten is warm, otherwise it may refuse. You can use a rice sock, heating pad on low, or hot water bottle to warm him. Cover any of these things with a blanket so you don't cook him or her. It's also a good thing to know that you can transfer your nervousness about feeding to the kitten, who could just be uneasy.
If none of these helps, hold his head up while his stomach is flat on the ground/counter and with the syringe, no nipple or q tip, wiggle it into the side of his mouth and slowly squeeze the formula into his mouth. If he is not swallowing, stop and rub raw honey on his gums to promote suckling. You can also put honey on the nipple or bare syringe to see if that helps, it worked for the sickly kitten I had dealt with this morning.
 
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Marasha

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No, the kitten will not last. Please try putting it back with the mom if you are unable to feed it. A few drops is not enough.

As stated in the excellent advice you received from DeweytheLion DeweytheLion the kitten must also stay warm.
If all else fails, try to get a bit of pedialyte in him throughout the night so he has a chance at surviving.
Do you have a nipple? If not, you should go get one and try. I don't think the kitten will last. If worse comes to worse, can you go out and get plastic q tips? Family Dollar has the ones I use. I don't understand why but I always have better luck with them and fussy kittens than anything else. Cut just the tip off and shoved it into the syringe. Squeeze out a bit of milk so it's soaked. Make sure the formula is warm, by putting the syringe and nipple (must be connected or the formula will spill out into the water and the water will make its way into the syringe) in a cup of hot water for 30-60 seconds. You can always test on your wrist if your nervous about it being too hot or too cold. Make sure the kitten is warm, otherwise it may refuse. You can use a rice sock, heating pad on low, or hot water bottle to warm him. Cover any of these things with a blanket so you don't cook him or her. It's also a good thing to know that you can transfer your nervousness about feeding to the kitten, who could just be uneasy.
If none of these helps, hold his head up while his stomach is flat on the ground/counter and with the syringe, no nipple or q tip, wiggle it into the side of his mouth and slowly squeeze the formula into his mouth. If he is not swallowing, stop and rub raw honey on his gums to promote suckling. You can also put honey on the nipple or bare syringe to see if that helps, it worked for the sickly kitten I had dealt with this morning.

The mother abandoned the second newborn too. He was alone for over six hours and we havent seen the mother since so maybe she died during birth or a car stepped on her which is quite common around my house. We try to keep them warm but I will take your advice and heat them up a bit before we feed them. The kittens are eating a little bit but I think it is a very small amount. Both of them combined have eaten a total of 25 ml over the last four feeding sessions. We have been trying with a vet bottle I bought which is designed for newborn kittens but the nipple is very hard and the drops dont come out nicely so we will try with a syringe next.

Edit : Also, they both have their umbilical cords (or part of it) so that tells me that maybe their mother didnt care much. She is a very young cat too, I would say around 6 months old so maybe she was not mature enough. Should we cut the umbilical cords with some scissors or let them drop on their own?

Thanks a lot everyone for the help! We are trying our hardest to save these kitties so any help is appreciated. They are an enormous problem for us but we cant just let them die.

Edit 2 : I know they dont have gag reflexes and we should be careful. Earlier a little drop of milk fell on one cats nose. I cleaned it and he seemed fine but I am worried, Should I be worried? :)
 
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DeweytheLion

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You're doing great! Thanks so much for the help you're giving these kittens. :hearthrob:
Leave the umbilical cord, they should fall off within the next few days.
 
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Sarthur2

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If the cord is quite long, you may trim it to one inch from the naval.

Can you weigh the babies in grams?

Poor mama kitty. She must have been frightened.
 
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Marasha

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You're doing great! Thanks so much for the help you're giving these kittens. :hearthrob:
Leave the umbilical cord, they should fall off within the next few days.
If the cord is quite long, you may trim it to one inch from the naval.

Can you weigh the babies in grams?

Poor mama kitty. She must have been frightened.
Unfortunately one of the kitties passed. It was the one the mother abandoned and was slapping around when it was born. It was eating a lot and he seemed to understand the nipple. Also very energetic. I am hoping it was sick and meant to die and we didn't do anything wrong. At least we tried.

The other one is 100 grams and looks normal so far although it hasn't yet fully understood the bottle nipple and gives a bit of a fight. It is eating less that the one that passed. Around 2 ml of milk each time.
 

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You can use a small syringe if the bottle is a problem.

At 3.5 ounces (100 grams), the kitten needs 28mLs each 24-hour period. If you feed every 2 hours, the kitten needs 2.3mLs each feeding. Kittens must be fed around the clock at this age as well.

Are you stimulating it to go pee and poop after each feeding?

I'm sorry the other one passed. I'm sure it's nothing you did.

Thank you for helping this baby!
 

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Condolences on losing the one kitten - the mother cat probably knew that it had something wrong and that is why she rejected it. Are you using nipples made of natural rubber? My feral rescues prefer the 4Paws nursers.
 
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Marasha

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You can use a small syringe if the bottle is a problem.

Are you stimulating it to go pee and poop after each feeding?
Yeah I will try with a syringe and see if I can find a better bottle.

We are rubbing his private parts with some cotton soaked in lukewarm water but we haven't yet seen any poop that has that toothpasty feel like I have seen in other videos.. The cotton just goes yellowish. Maybe it is just because of the water on the cotton.

Condolences on losing the one kitten - the mother cat probably knew that it had something wrong and that is why she rejected it. Are you using nipples made of natural rubber? My feral rescues prefer the 4Paws nursers.
I cannot answer for sure. There are not any instructions or info on packaging of the bottle. I will probably buy a new one soon so I will make sure it is made from natural rubber
 

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The yellow on the cotton ball is pee. Yellow pee means the kitten is dehydrated. Pee should be mostly clear.

It's not the bottle but the nipple that makes the difference. A longer, thinner nipple is more like mom's. Pet shops sell nipples.

The Miracle nipples are good:

Miracle Nipple and 3 X 1cc Syringe for Handraising Joeys

They are sold on Amazon also.

Continue with the syringe for now. It should be a small, 1 or 2mL syringe.

How much and how often are you feeding? Do you have a weight on the kitten?
 
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