Night feeding for bottle kittens.

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  • 8 April, 2009 at 4:54 am #26638
    jumperpixie
    Participant

    The 3 babies I have don’t wake up during the night to eat. I wake them up every 4 hours for a feeding. I have read that you shouldn’t wake them during the night that if they are hungry they will wake you up.

    So I guess what I’m trying to ask is… should I continue to wake them up every 4 hours or let me sleep til they wake me up?

    8 April, 2009 at 5:03 am #411769
    Tigerlilly
    Participant

    I’m not a kitten expert, many here are and hopefully will check in with good advice.

    I did foster 3 week old kittens last yera. It depends on their age. At 3-5 weeks or so I fed them every 4 hours during the day. I did a late feeding aroun 11-11:30PM and then my first am feeding was around 5:30am. That worked out well for my babies. Best wishes.

    8 April, 2009 at 5:09 am #411770
    jumperpixie
    Participant

    Thank you very much TL. I am leaning toward doing something along those lines! They are 2 weeks today.

    10 April, 2009 at 9:49 am #411771
    FosterMom
    Participant

    My foster kitts let me know if they’re hungry! That said, I do feed them at 8 pm and at 4 am because of my husband’s weird work schedule, and then I will check them at midnight. If they just want to cuddle, I will hold each one for a moment and then put them back, but they often want food at 2 wks old. So I feed them.

    I think they will awaken you if they need food. Just make sure you can hear them if they start to cry. They may have tiny mews, so keep them near your bed.

    Good luck!

    10 April, 2009 at 12:20 pm #411772
    Momof6furrballs
    Participant

    When we were taking care of my 7 babies we only got up once in the middle of the night and that was the first night they were home (they had not eaten in about two days and I was learning how to get enough in them to get them full). After that I fed them at 9pm and again at 4am. I would run home at lunch and then again after work. Like FM said, they will let you know when they need it. I miss those days now and it was only back in September. Good luck and get some sleep…lol

    10 April, 2009 at 9:47 pm #411773
    jumperpixie
    Participant

    Haha yea lack of sleep is getting to me! I just worry so much about them. They still aren’t having consistent bowel movements. But, they do have them. They aren’t acting lethargic and are still eating the same amount and a little more every week. Their bellies are so big and full but they don’t seem to be in pain or anything. Not sure if I should worry or if they are pass the point of possibly losing them due to not passing poop often. Any advice let me know! Thanks again. I usually don’t go to bed til 12am so I usually do my last feeding then and they sleep in a box on my dresser in my room. I might try letting them sleep til 7am. Thank you again!!!

    11 April, 2009 at 12:18 am #411774
    Momof6furrballs
    Participant

    You can just do your best…my seven didn’t really poo regularly until they were about a month. As long as they did it every day I felt okay. One of our biggest problems was gas. Not being a mom I didn’t realize that they needed to be burped. One got such a large belly we took her to the Dr and they did an ultrasound. Got to see her heart beating and that she needed to poo but they said it was mostly gas and showed my hubby how to burp them. We had a little assembly line…I would try to get them to poo, then feed one, give it to him for burping, then when they were all done I would try to get them to poo again. I got really good at getting them to pee…all over me most of the time. Sounds like you are doing great. If you have a good vet, give them a call and see about having them seen (mine was nice and did it for the price of one…they were so small they could have been one).

    It was funny, at about 5 weeks we put a very shallow pan in with them with regular clay litter just to see if they were ready…they were…they have not stopped pooping since LOL

    11 April, 2009 at 3:10 am #411775
    jumperpixie
    Participant

    Your story sounds so much like mine! My husband is helping out as much as possible too, he gets to do the fun part… the burping, rubbing their bellies and playing with them after they have eaten! But, I thank goodness only have 3!!! Mine are good burpers! You can hear them burp all the way across the room! I finally got 2 of them to poop about an hour ago! Let me tell you I’m pretty sure it was much needed! They pretty much had an explosion in my sink, lol. I am lucky and I live on a military base and their is a vet on base that has helped me out for free! They are equipped to handle emergencies or ultrasounds or xrays and stuff like that but have helped me out with enemas and eye infections! Plus they only charge me cost prices for antibiotics! They are great!

    When did you begin to wean your crew? Mine are starting to get really fussy with the bottle, they chew on it but they aren’t even 3 weeks yet. What do you recommend?

    11 April, 2009 at 4:21 am #411776
    Momof6furrballs
    Participant

    We started to give them “gruel” (the second step formula) when they got to be about 5 or 6 weeks. Main reason then was they were going through a bottle a piece each feeding and it was taking so long to feed them. I also had two that didn’t want to take the bottle. There was one who never did like to take the bottle…I had to cut the nibble opening extra big for her so I could just get some in her (thought we would lose her but we got lucky). I did find that once in a while one would try and just chew on the nipple. I would find the nipple was clogged and they we not getting any milk. Just clean it out and you might be good to go.

    Vets are so funny, I have three that I see at our clinic. Each one has helped us out and everyone knows us now when I call. One of the receptionist actually knows my voice and asks which one are we worried about today. Luckily now at 6 months we are health and not going to the vet every week…thank goodness for multiple cat discounts.

    Hopefully I can help a little since other here helped my when I was in tears and thought I had lost my mind for taking in 7 little babies…

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/sevenlilkittens/page8/

    Here is a link to baby pictures…take a look at the group if you like…

    Good luck and keep us up to date on how things are going, explosive as it may be.

    12 April, 2009 at 2:13 am #411777
    Momof6furrballs
    Participant

    bump

    13 April, 2009 at 3:30 am #411778
    Momof6furrballs
    Participant

    One more bump in hopes that Tink will see it…

    13 April, 2009 at 4:09 am #411779
    CheetahBoysmommy
    Participant

    Maybe Tinkerbell only has computer access at work. I just looked at all the baby pictures again, Alicia and KD, your babies were so cute. I hope Tinkerbell can post pictures of her tribe too.

    13 April, 2009 at 2:41 pm #411780
    FosterMom
    Participant

    Burping is definitely important! As far as weaning, some kittens are ready sooner than others. I usually give it a first try when they start chomping on the nipple/my finger. Try Alicia’s idea with the gruel. Once they get the idea with the solid food, they go right for it! 🙂

    14 April, 2009 at 3:25 am #411781
    GaGurl
    Participant

    With my little one I let her sleep through the night. I give her a last feeding around 11. And when my husband gets up at 5 for PT I get up and feed her again. When she is havin a hard time pooing I put a few drops of veggie oil in her formula and she normally goes on her own at night after eating….Hope that helps ya!

    15 April, 2009 at 3:06 am #411782
    jumperpixie
    Participant

    Sorry guys! I wasn’t sure what bump meant :). Anyway I have been really busy with Easter and all of that! I have taken pictures but need to upload them! I also acquired a new little one. He is from the same litter and mom was feeding him out at the horse stable. But, lately she has been carrying him around and putting him down in random, out in the open places! I found him last night at 10:30pm out in the parking lot with mom nowhere to be found! I locked them both up this morning and then went to work and when I got back out there she had found a way to move him again! Keep in mind that mom is blind…. so we luckily found “Milo” before it was too late today! He was sitting in the middle of a horse stall!!! We are so lucky he didn’t get stepped on! Mom takes him places and it seems like she forgets where she leaves him or can’t find him again. So it broke my heart but I had to take him away from her… taking her to my house isn’t an option either… I have tried that! She is slightly feral and attacks in a heartbeat! So I just tried to give Milo his first bottle feeding a little bit ago and all he does is chews on the nipple… he doesn’t latch on! But, I was able to squeeze the bottle and get a few drops at a time in him! Do you guys think he will make it?!

    15 April, 2009 at 3:07 am #411783
    jumperpixie
    Participant

    Oh and Alicia I took a look at your babies and they are so cute!!! Mine just turned 3 weeks today!!! They are growing up too fast 🙁

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