Advice with newborn kits

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Kansas City Chinchillas said:
Weights are still good for 3 days. They have gained since birth. If the kits weighed less than birth weight and hadn't gained any back then you might be concerned. Mom is producing enough to maintain birth weight plus gain a couple of grams. If mom wasn't producing at all the kits would be losing 2 to 4 grams a day and might weigh 50 and 46 grams or a lot less today.

You could try giving mom water/apple juice or cranberry juice (unsweetened apple or cranberry) as well as a separate bottle of plain water. If she is a first time mom it might help. If she shows interest in it let her have the juice combo for a couple of days.
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Thank you so much for your advice Cathy, I really appreciate it. I will buy another water bottle tonight and try that to see if it helps.
 
So I weighed both kits tonight at 6:30pm to get a baseline to go off of tomorrow night. One weighed 58 grams and the other 52 grams. I'm hoping by tomorrow night the little guy has gained some. Changing the house into a glass jar was the perfect solution to her staying with the kits. Whenever I check on them, she's always in the jar with them and is very protective of them.
 
Make sure that you change out the juice/water mixture at least 2 times a day so that she is not drinking juice that has gone bad.
 
Last night I tried to hand feed the little guy to see if he would take it. He put up a fight when I tried to hold him still and place a drop onto his lips. When I finally got the drop on his lips, he opened his mouth and started to grind his teeth. When I tried a couple more drops of formula, he kept opening his mouth and trying to bite on the syringe. I couldn't tell if he actually wanted the formula or if he was angry. He kept trying to get free from my hands. Once I put him back in the cage, him and his brother nursed mommy for 10 minutes. I keep noticing him nursing but I'm worried that he isn't actually getting any milk.
 
As long as he isn't loosing weight and he acts like he has engery, let him alone. You can do more harm by hand feeding when its not needed. If he didn't jump at the milk when you tried then he isn't hungry. Kits make it very clear when they aren't getting enough to eat when you offer food.
 
Dreamlite said:
As long as he isn't loosing weight and he acts like he has engery, let him alone. You can do more harm by hand feeding when its not needed. If he didn't jump at the milk when you tried then he isn't hungry. Kits make it very clear when they aren't getting enough to eat when you offer food.
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This morning when I went to put in fresh apple juice/water for Mommy I was able to notice a clear difference in growth between the two of them. He doesn't appear as energized either as the brother is. Sometimes I see him in the corner by himself while the brother is nursing or cuddling with Mom. If he was grinding his teeth and trying to bite the syringe, does that mean he didn't want the milk?
 
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I weighed them tonight at 6:30pm. Big guy is 59 grams and the little one is still 51 grams. I took big guy out for 20 minutes to allow little one to nurse by himself. At one point I heard little guy grinding his teeth while nursing, just like he did when I was trying to hand feed him. Does anyone know what is going on? I made some of the JAGS formula and put it into a small bowl, hoping that maybe he'll munch on that since I've seen him eat hay before.
 
It seemed to hurt Mommy too as she made her little irritated noises and at one point actually ran away from him.
 
Here's a picture of big guy (haven't thought of names yet lol)

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Big guy weighs 61 grams and little guy weighs 50 grams... he lost another gram today. I could really use some advice on why he's grinding his teeth while nursing and if I should try and hand feed him again tonight.
 
I just spent five minutes trying to handfeed little guy. He kept grinding his teeth and trying to bite down on the syringe but appeared to be starving and trying to eat the formula. I then noticed that it looked like he had a little scab on the front of his mouth. He then started to freak out and I saw bubbles of formula come out of his nose. Is it possible that he has a cleft palate?
 
The scab was probably caused by the kits fighting. If they get too much milk at a time, it can come out their nose without a cleft in the palate. Are you sure that he is grinding his teeth and not grunting?
 
Does what you hear sound like a clicking noise or teeth grinding? It is rare for a kit that young to grind it's teeth. If it is clicking that usually indicates that the lungs are not fully developed (sometimes happens if kits are born a little early).
 
EMSChins said:
Does what you hear sound like a clicking noise or teeth grinding? It is rare for a kit that young to grind it's teeth. If it is clicking that usually indicates that the lungs are not fully developed (sometimes happens if kits are born a little early).
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To me it sounds a lot like grinding of the teeth, just like if one of my adult chins were irritated but it definitely could be clicking. I will have to listen harder tomorrow morning. I brought them to my Mother's house to have her help me and she has actually able to get little guy to nurse without even holding him. He finally licked the drops but still tried to chew and bite the syringe. She just kept taking it out of his mouth after he bit on it and then would get him to lick a drop off the syringe. He only ate a little and then he wasn't interested in it anymore. I can definitely notice a difference in growth. Big guy has much more fur and his tail is curling and getting bushy. Little guy's eyes don't open up completely and his tail is still pretty straight. He did seem to be just as active as big guy tonight though.
 
This kit is really hungry. Have you checked to see how many working teets the chin has? Hold her upside down by holding her tail at the base of her bottom. Not the end of her tail.

Kit might be in pain due to a bite. Sounds like your mom found the kits preference for feeding. Continue on with as many drops as he can hold. Might want to do it more often than the two hour mark. I would rotate these guys if they were mine. Make a warming box that any kit cannot escape from. I made a half and half box. One half warmed and the other side with no warming unit. Cover with fleece. They are smart enough to find the right degree of warmth they need. They sit on the warm side or move over and run around to the cooler side when they need it.

And Jaunita is right about clicking.
Hope this helps....
 
6Dusters said:
This kit is really hungry. Have you checked to see how many working teets the chin has? Hold her upside down by holding her tail at the base of her bottom. Not the end of her tail.

Kit might be in pain due to a bite. Sounds like your mom found the kits preference for feeding. Continue on with as many drops as he can hold. Might want to do it more often than the two hour mark. I would rotate these guys if they were mine. Make a warming box that any kit cannot escape from. I made a half and half box. One half warmed and the other side with no warming unit. Cover with fleece. They are smart enough to find the right degree of warmth they need. They sit on the warm side or move over and run around to the cooler side when they need it.

And Jaunita is right about clicking.
Hope this helps....
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I have not checked out many working teets she has. Do I have to try and actually get some of the milk to come out of the teet? She hates being held so this should be interesting. I tried to handfeed him this morning but he just got done nursing from Mom and wanted nothing to do with the formula. I tried to handfeed him without holding him because it's become very obvious that holding him to get him to eat makes him very anxious and stressed out. I will start rotating them and get my cat carrier set up with a heating pad. I was thinking about keeping him at my Mother's house during the day so she could focus on handfeeding him every 2 hours or less. Would this be a bad idea.... to keep him separated from Mom for 8+ hours a day?
 
He needs to be with his mother 24/7. When rotating, the other kit would be taken out for 2 hours, then placed back in with mom for 2 hours. The little one stays with mom the entire time.
 
Cuddlebug said:
He needs to be with his mother 24/7. When rotating, the other kit would be taken out for 2 hours, then placed back in with mom for 2 hours. The little one stays with mom the entire time.
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Should I be trying to hand feed him in between rotations or not do any hand feeding?
 
Do not hand feed the little kit. The point is that mom has milk and to make sure the smaller kit gets his share. Rotating kits means taking out the larger kit for 2 hrs then putting him back in for 2 hrs. This way the smaller kit has 2 hrs of no competition for milk.
 
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