Urgent Help! Cat Gave Birth But Wont Feed.

[Marasha]

Marasha

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?

We feed him every 3 hours in a total of 8 meals every day and he drinks around 2 ml. He just refuses to go over that no matter how much we try. He weights around 100 grams. We will continue with the syringe and hopefully he will like it more.

Since I live in Greece, there is also a problem with the available products the stores have. They don't have much of a variation. I couldn't find different nipples. I will order from Amazon and hopefully it will arrive soon with the 1 days shipping thing.

Edit: During the day we have the baby outside under some shadow but the average temp right now is about 86 degrees Fahrenheit. We keep it in the house during the night. Maybe the dehydration comes from the high temp?

 

[Sarthur2]

Marasha

Oh my! Please do not keep the baby outside. It will not help the dehydration.

The dehydration means he needs more fluids. Can you get an electrolyte solution in Greece? In the U.S. it is called pedialyte.

If so, you can give 1mL in between feedings. You can also use it instead of water to mix with the powdered formula.

The kitten needs 28mLs each 24 hour period at his current weight in order to gain. He is only getting 16mLs as you describe.

Try feeding 2mLs every 2 hours. At 12 feedings he would be getting 24mLs at least. He really needs more.

 

[Marasha]

Marasha

Oh my! Please do not keep the baby outside. It will not help the dehydration.

The dehydration means he needs more fluids. Can you get an electrolyte solution in Greece? In the U.S. it is called pedialyte.

If so, you can give 1mL in between feedings. You can also use it instead of water to mix with the powdered formula.

The kitten needs 28mLs each 24 hour period at his current weight in order to gain. He is only getting 16mLs as you describe.

Try feeding 2mLs every 2 hours. At 12 feedings he would be getting 24mLs at least. He really needs more.

So we took him in the house and on the latest feeding sessions, his pee was clear with a very small amount of yellow so hopefully he wasn't dehydrated. We changed to a 2-hour schedule and he seemed like he understood the nipple and was eating a lot.

But sadly, about an hour after his feeding time he passed away. I am really hoping it wasn't our fault because I feel kinda terrible that maybe we did something wrong. My only "hope" is that he was also sick because his mother abandoned him too, not just the first one. We were very inexperienced with this but at least now, if we ever get into the same situation we will know what to do.

Thanks a lot for everyone's help, I really appreciated it. We tried our best but it seems like it wasn't enough.

 

[Sarthur2]

I am so sorry!

It is nothing that you did. You tried your very best. It is not easy to keep tiny kittens alive. Often they have a genetic defect.

RIP little one!

 

[AbbysMom]

I'm so very sorry for your loss. Threads are locked after someone has suffered such a loss, as a sign of respect. We invite you to place a tribute at http://www.thecatsite.com/f/19/crossing-the-bridge as an memorial to your friend.