3 New Kits - 1 Loosing weight

[Kyle M]

Hi there - I’m really hoping someone on this forum can help answer some questions regarding weight concerns for one of our new kits.

This is our first time with a litter - Dad is 2.5 years old Mom is a 1.5 years old. Our kits were born on March second (3 of them total).

We have been weighing them daily and to track weight gain progress and have given them names to help keep track of whose who based on colour.

Our issue is that from Day 1 to Day 7 one of the three kits (cotton) has lost 1-2 grams per day while the other two have fluctuated but have increased never the less. Weights for each below:

Cotton:
Day 1 - 40 grams
Day 2 - 40 grams
Day 3 - 38 grams
Day 4 - 36 grams
Day 5 - 34 grams
Day 6 - 34 grams
Day 7 - 31 grams

charcoal:
Day 1 - 34 grams
Day 2 - 36 grams
Day 3 - 37 grams
Day 4 - 38 grams
Day 5 - 39 grams
Day 6 - 40 grams
Day 7 - 40 grams

Pebble:
Day 1 - 43 grams
Day 2 - 43 grams
Day 3 - 42 grams
Day 4 - 43 grams
Day 5 - 44 grams
Day 6 - 44 grams
Day 7 - 46 grams

I’m quite worried about Cotton as they are 15 grams difference from the larger kit - Pebble. Should I be ordering special food and a syringe to be hand feeding cotton - is this a dangerous weight for a 7 day old chin (31 grams) ?

behavior context: everything seems fairly normal with mom and the chins (though is if our first experience) - they all gather underneath her to feed/get warm - when mom leaves them to go eat they press themselves together for warmth and keep sleeping, etc. Mom does enjoy running around once a day while we weigh the kits - she is very reluctant to go back into her birthing cage after each night as I think she misses stretching her legs (her normal cage is an 8’ wide by 4’ deep by 8’ tall cage with multiple levels that we moved her from to a 4’x2’ no-level cage to give birth and raise the kits in.

really hoping you can help provide some knowledge- thanks in advance, Kyle

 

[Amethyst]

This might help Care of Kits It has info on how to do rotated feedings and how and what to hand feeding if needed. A new born kit is normally around 30-60 grams, but should gain about 2 grams a day after the first couple days (takes a couple days for the milk to come in), so the fact that it has gone down so much means there is some problem. It could be as simple as the other two bigger kits aren't letting it get enough to eat.

 

[tunes]

You're definitely going to need to jump in there. That is way too much weight loss in one so small. I would try, right away, to rotate. Two out, him in by himself. Do it in two-hour increments. If you decide that hand feeding is the way to go, and I have to tell you at 31 gm, I'd be hand feeding (but I have a LOT of experience with it and am very comfortable), I would hand feed all of them when they come out for a break from mom. Once they start showing significant gains, you could stop with the bigger guys, but I'd go on for a little while with the tiny one.

 

[Kyle M]

Thanks very much team - I’m going to try rotating this evening and will give an update in weight accordingly. Worst case I’ll start and feeding if rotating does not provide results within the next 24 hours

 

[Kyle M]

So making the food as per the thread’s recipe was unsuccessful - the tiny chin had no interest in the formula. We’ve continued with the 2 hour cycling and removed the only two platforms from the cage so just the chin house, water bottle, hay & food bowl remain so that mom can’t as easily hop to a shelf where the tiny chin can’t get to her. She dropped 1 gram today - now weighs 30 grams - hoping that can improve for tomorrow - any other thoughts?