Abandoned newborn kittens!

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Baby #2 died this evening. He was getting increasingly lethargic throughout the day despite my attemtps to get him moving again. He fed pretty well this morning but the amounts when down throughout the day and his last feeding he didn't really want. Poor guy. It is gutwrenching to see them die so young. Baby #3, who is a very lively and spirited orange kitten is still thriving, but I am not overly optimistic about his outcome. It makes me wonder if mom abandoned them because she knew they weren't healthy? Hard to say. It is her first litter but usually their instincts kick in and they know how to properly nurture their young. Idk. I'll just take it one day at a time with the orange one that I've named Jojo. When my hubby and I first got together, we had an orange cat named Jojo who was incredibly special. So I have a particular liking with this kitten and I'm afraid to lose him too. But of the three, he has been the most active and the loudest, so we'll see how he does. Wish me luck...
 
Awww Jenn, I'm so sorry!! Keep on truckin and pushin for this last one to make it through. And continue to keep us updated. Ugh, I'm so sorry though, this must be so hard for you. My thoughts are with you all!
 
I'm so sorry to hear about the 2 kittens. I personally know how hard it is to put in all those hours caring for bottle babies. I had to for 4 kittens that were abandoned in a garbage truck. But to lose 2 out of the 3 I could only imagine how you feel. As said before, just keep your head up and keep doing what you've been doing for the Orange kitty. By the way, I love the name JoJo = )
 
We had to leave for a few hours today so I left Jojo in his box with the heat pad on. It got warm in the house and when we got home, Jojo was very overheated. I thought I was going to lose him. I dampened him with a wet cloth, then lightly towel dried him. I also encouraged him to eat a very small amount in case of dehydration. I held him for a couple of hours and continued to pet and massage him and encourage him to be active. He seems to be doing better now. He is crawling around and meowing here and then instead of complete silence. I'm going to sit down with him soon and see how he'll eat for me. I have realized I don't need the heat pad on during the day. I also have made it so that the heat pad only covers half the inside of the box. That way he can crawl toward the head if he is cold, and away from the heat if he is too hot. If he makes it through the night, I'll feel better about his overheating earlier today. I'm learning as I go, I just hope I don't make any more mistakes. Parenting is so hard! It's just scary because I haven't had to care for kittens who were only hours old. Jojo is officially 3 days old now, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this little guy. He is such a cute little guy. I'll post a picture one of these days if he continues to prove to be a fighter.
 
Baby #3 died during the night. I am so upset that I couldn't do more for him and that all 3 kittens didn't have a chance at a full life. Again, maybe that is why momma abandoned them, because they weren't healthy, but I'll never know for sure. I love helping animals and it is so depressing when your efforts fail. At least these kittens got a chance to learn they were loved before they died.
 
jenn--you did everything you could. i am so sorry for you. at least they had a few days of knowing what being loved was like. :(
 
You tried so hard, and that matters a lot! I'm so sorry though...this must be why the Mom just left them...maybe they weren't full term??
 
Momma didn't look that big, seemed like a short pregnancy, but I'm just not that knowledgeable about cat's pregnancies anyway. Babies were very small, but then again, I don't really know what the proper size of a baby should be. It was really tough to have them all die, my 8 year old cried for Jojo this morning. It was really hard for him, he had grown attached to the little guy. Jojo is with his sibblings across the rainbow bridge, and will never know what it means to be cold, or hungry, or in danger. I will miss them, though.
 
When my cat was pregnant she was HUGE at the end, as there were only 3 kittens...
My last foster cat I had was pregnant and had her babies 2 days after coming to me...I got pictures of her.

Now, granted, this girl had 7 kittens in there, but see how huge she was?? My cat who had 3 kittens was almost as big...If she didn't look similar to this, I would say there is a LARGE possibility that she delivered entirely too early.

4197_89841328932_502678932_2446691_1442055_n.jpg
 
Yea, this momma really didn't look very big, not due anyway, and she had at least 4 babies. She had had two babies when I first checked on her, the next time I checked there was only one. The last time I checked there was a total of three. So she must have gotten rid of one of the babies before she was done delivering the rest. Typically I don't think mommas abandon their babies without a reason because natural instincts take over. So most likely, they didn't have a chance. I was just hoping to work a miracle and make these kittens beat the odds. But as I keep saying, leaving the remaining 3 to die slowly from food deprivation and freezing to death was unimaginable and I just had to do something. At least they experienced something good before they died.

ETA - do you have any ideas as to why she might have delivered early?
 
Well there can be many reasons...she may have not been in the best health, something may have been stressing her out, something may have happened that you didn't see (trauma of some sort that caused early delivery), or one of those kittens may have been full term or close to it while the other kittens were not developed all the way yet. Did they have a lot of fur or minimal? Did they suckle really well or was it kind of weak?

ETA: Has she been gone quite a bit since delivering??
 
I've seen litters birthed that were actually at two different stages of development. Two must have come from one horn of the uterus and were full term, but the other two weren't even at a stage that had fur yet. The queen in question was estimated to be 12 at the time, though, so fluctuating hormones could play a factor. If this stray female of yours is very young, I wouldn't count out that same sort of problem with a first or second litter.
 
Yeah, exactly...the different horns could have kittens at different ages, even from different fathers. It can happen to any mother at any stage in her life though...if you mate, you mate, and you might not mate at the same time for each horn.
 
momma cat was approximately 1 years old and on the small side. They had fur, but not much on their bellies. You could really see thin, almost transparent skin on their tummy and hind legs. I fought with them on each feeding. Suckling did not seem instinctual. I resorted to a sryinge as they refused a bottle. And yes, momma cat is around more often now and is very friendly and seems back to her old self.

There was another momma cat who gave birth about 2 months ago that brought her kittens to feed about 3 weeks ago. She had originally given birth to 8, but it looks like 5 had survived. 3 of the 5 were of normal size for 6 weeks or so, but 2 were very tiny in comparison. My hubby didn't think either of them would survive. One ended up dying, the other one, still tiny and named Pixie, seems to be doing just fine.

I need to find a local rescue group or organization who will fix all these cats for free, if possible, since I do not have the funds to do so myself. I help them out by feeding them and by providing them shelter, but that is all I can do for them.
 
I can say, with a lot of confidence, that she gave birth too soon. Is she hanging around a lot or is she gone for long periods of time? I'm wondering because she either
a - ate the baby (sorry, but they do this)
b - took it somewhere
c - its still alive and out there somewhere (this is why I'm asking if she seems to be gone for long periods of time and come around you a few times in the day for food...)
 
Aw I was hoping for some of these little guys to pull through. I know you did everything you could, I am so sorry :(.
 
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