2 Week Old Kitten Being Fussy All of a Sudden

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  • 1 April, 2018 at 2:57 am #866842
    Kronos
    Participant

    Hey everyone,

    Thanks for your time. I’m new here and to the world of fostering.

    March 13th, three newborn kittens (with their umbilical cords intact) were dropped off at my place of work and I knew I just had to help them.

    A week and a half after getting them, I’ve lost the smallest one, Percy, and my world shattered. Because of this, I think I’ve become a little bit paranoid.

    The two I still have are Calli, my girl, and Atlas, the boy.

    Calli started off the biggest one and around four days ago, her weight started to stagnate. 3/27/18, she was 6.65oz; 3/28/18, she was 7.35oz; 3/29/18, she was 7.35oz again. Since then, she’s been at a constant 7.95oz. I’ve weighed her every day at every feeding since.

    She’s been so fussy when she eats like she’s fighting the bottle, scratching absolutely anything she can get her claws on. She chews instead of suckling and I feel like I have to wrestle her to stop moving and drink just a tiny bit. They were consistently eating 12ml, now she’s down to 6ml if we don’t wrestle with her.

    She’s pooped in their enclosure two days in a row now (has form, solid, yellow, but quite soft/by no means watery) and she’s dehydrated.

    I just returned from the grocery store while writing this. I bought some Pedialyte and I just gave her 0.5ml.

    Outside of her eating habits, she hasn’t changed very much. Her eyes are completely open, she’s very active, doesn’t sleep away from Atlas, still walking around getting into trouble.

    Please help me. Since Percy passed, I keep thinking Calli will have to go through the same thing her sister did.

    1 April, 2018 at 5:07 am #866844
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    thank you so much taking care of these wee kits. I’m sorry your little one is gone. Despite our best efforts, not all kits are meant for this world.

    Since you don’t mean any other signs, I believe Miss Calli just wants more to eat. When kittahs start grabbing and scratching the bottle, it means they’re hungry. I realize there are charts as to how much feed them but that’s just a reference. Go ahead feed them as much as they want to eat. You might consider giving them Goats milk instead of formula. In TDKland, we recommend Goats’ milk for kittens. Cats are lactose intolerant and can’t digest cows milk. Goats’ milk is full of nutrients, probiotics and gentler on their tummies. This can also regulate the poop. You can find it in the dairy section or the concentrate in the baking aisle. Mix the concentrate 1:1 with water or pedylite.

    Also, you may start mixing a gruel. Put wet kitten food (pate style only) in their bottle with the formula. Open up the tip so the gruel can flow freely. It’s possible she’s ready for this type already. Do keep her on the formula/Goats milk until she’s 5 weeks and then the gruel mix for another couple of weeks. By this time, you all should have transitioned to wet food.

    Keep in touch and good luck
    PG

    1 April, 2018 at 3:19 pm #866850
    Kittyzee
    Participant

    PG gave good advice above, but I would question adding the wet food just yet since your kits are still only a couple of weeks old. I think they aren’t getting the formula (KMR I would guess) out of the nipple. Make an X in the top of the nipple…I know usually they tell you to take a hot pin and make a hole in the top, but when you pull the pin out, the hole seals shut. You should be able to tip the bottle over and have a steady drip, drip, drip. When the kitten sucks on the nipple with the X, it’s gums mash down the nipple and the X opens up letting the milk out.

    You will need to stimulate them to pee and poop. I’ll post a couple of links for you on general kitten hand rearing.

    http://messybeast.com/handrear.htm

    Helping a kitten to eliminate

    http://www.2ndchance.info/orphankitten.htm

    3 April, 2018 at 7:54 am #866872
    Kronos
    Participant

    Update on the situation, now both Atlas and Calli aren’t eating as much. I took the suggestion of making the nipple hole bigger, but it isn’t making much of a difference. I think it’s due to being around the poop. I’ve been cleaning and changing out the bedding almost every three hours, but I wouldn’t want to eat either if I was around it even for a bit.

    Calliope still has diarrhea, now with blood, I’m pretty convinced it Coccidia.

    I took her to the vet who said she’s healthy (which seems totally untrue) even when I insinuated it might be coccidia and gave me some medication to solidify her poop. My concern is she’s eating way less, and through her feces is solid, there’s still blood.

    She’s losing weight, though a few grams at a time. I can’t help but worry.

    She won’t drink much milk, but if I offer water in a little dish, she drinks. I might take that suggestion and switch to goat milk, anything to get them to eat.

    I share Kittyzee’s concern about weaning too early since they aren’t feeling 100%. But boy, do I want to. Stressing about them not eating from the bottle is aging me like crazy.

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