New Foster Kittens

[Tiatrack]

By "milk" do you mean KMR or cow's milk? If it is the latter, that might explain some of the issues. Cow's milk really isn't good for cats.

 

[tristanichole]

By "milk" do you mean KMR or cow's milk? If it is the latter, that might explain some of the issues. Cow's milk really isn't good for cats.

All of the above posts state KMR. I've been bottle feeding puppies and kittens long enough to know that cows milk wont do them any good.

I weighed my three that I've been watching - I did quick afternoon weight on them and will get another around 7.
Walrus is up to 14oz from his ridiculous 12 yesterday.
Waverly is up to 13oz from her slow 12 yesterday.
But Wysteria is still at 12.5oz - in addition to her eating her lunch I gave her some milk...she didn't love it and was pretty full from just eating. In a few hours I'll warm it up and give her some more.

 

[Tiatrack]

All of the above posts state KMR. I've been bottle feeding puppies and kittens long enough to know that cows milk wont do them any good.

No need to be snarky. I know they all said KMR, which is why when you stopped saying KMR and said milk, it made me raise an eyebrow. You would be shocked at how many people think cow's milk is an appropriate kitten food. I hope they keep gaining for you. Weight loss is always an alarming thing for me with any babies.

 

[tristanichole]

Not being snarky...just didn't feel the need to continually say KMR...I figured people knew what I meant by milk by now.

I've been watching for low energy in addition to either the weight loss or no weight gain and everyone is super active, so that is at least a good sign. I also don't pick up their food right away, I leave it in there for awhile so that they can keep coming back to it. Which they do =) It seems crazy to me that Wysteria isn't gaining because I watch them all when they eat and she eats just as much as the rest of them.

 

[Jenn]

I am a huge cat lover and an even bigger kitten fan! I can't get enough of kittens! They are all so adorable!!!! I am wondering if Wysteria might not be gaining weight because of worms, possibly? Have they been checked? I know you take good care of them but I don't believe you have had them long and I was wondering what kind of medical history they have had...? All of my cats that I have adopted were kittens from my strays that I care for, and I know a couple that I brought in to live with me had heart worms. Just a thought... I wouldn't make a good foster parent because I wouldn't be able to rehome these animals in the future! I'm sure my husband would divorce me Kudos to you for being so active and caring for all these animals!

 

[Ash]

Send Whistle my way please! K, thanks

 

[tristanichole]

haha Ash, he's so cute isn't he?!

Jenn, yes, they've been been checked for worms and have had their meds for it once already. Tomorrow I'm doing it again for them.

The problem with kittens that come from not only a very large litter like this, but that come from a mother who stopped feeding them so young (they were about 3 weeks) is that some of them are slow gainers. She runs and plays...kicks and screams, just like the rest of them.

Friday night weights:

Pip: Last weight was 25oz on Thurs.PM - tonight he is @ 27.5oz

Waffle: Last weight was 15oz on Thurs.PM - tonight he is @16oz

Walrus: Last weight was 14oz on Fri. afternoon - tonight he is @ 15oz
Little bugger must have been chowing while I was gone!

Waverly: Weighed 13oz on Fri. Afternoon - tonight she is back @ 12.5oz

Webster: Last weight was 15oz on Thurs.PM - tonight he is still @ 15oz

Whistle: Last weight was 19oz on Thurs.PM - tonight he is still @ 19oz

Wysteria: Last weight was 12.5oz on Fri. afternoon - tonight she is @ 13oz
Yay for that 1/2 oz!!:thumbsup:

 

[Ash]

Would it be better to weigh them in grams like chins? Just wonderin.

 

[tristanichole]

Why would that make a difference? In the end its the same anyways.
I have always weighed in oz and I don't know of anyone who weighs kittens in grams (I'm sure there are people, but I haven't known anyone to do so).
Generally I think that you weigh small animals in grams and cats and dogs in oz/pounds...at least that's how I was taught to do it in Vet Tech schooling...

ETA: example being on the back of this KMR it says to "feed 2 tablespoons (30ml) of liquid KMR per 4 ounces (115g) of body weight daily)."

 

[Ash]

I would just think that with the kittens as as small as they are, it'd be a more accurate tell-tale sign as to whether or not they're gaining anything, at least right now.

Same reason as to why we measure small animals in grams vs lbs/oz, they're so small that a gram change would be more noticeable before oz or lbs change. Right? Or maybe I just have that wrong.

 

[Jenn]

I have a stray momma who had 8 kittens this spring! What a huge litter. I have noticed, now that she is bringing them to the feeding area that I provide, that some of them have stayed quite small in comparison to other kittens their age or even younger than them. I am assuming this is because she had such a large litter. It seems like 5 kittens seems to be the norm for the average litter. Another momma has 3 younger kittens, by a week or two, and hers are quite large and plump. So I can understand where you are coming from with the slow weight gainers. Two of the three stray kittens I adopted were under 6 weeks and I bottlefed them until they were old enough to transition. I found it a lot of fun to be a serrogate momma.

 

[tristanichole]

*wishing I had a digital scale* hehe.
Right now I'm going by the kitchen scale I have.

We measure small animals at the vet in grams because they are small animals and will always be small animals. See, with kittens and puppies you weigh in oz because eventually they will start hitting pounds. To convert them from grams to oz to pounds just gets to be too much. =)

Jenn: exactly, I think that is why I have some slow gainers. It doesn't matter if there are 7 bowls of food down or 2, they all congregate to the same ones, so getting them eat the max can be difficult. And on top of that they haven't nursed in around 2 weeks, so the ones that are actually needing the weight gain don't want anything to do with the bottle. I feel like I should let them eat on their own and be sure to put down tons of food at all times so they can eat what they need/want. Trying to force food down their tummies with a bottle just adds stress to their little life and I feel like that could cause more harm. I'm confident that they are going to be just fine...unless they start acting really weird, I'm not going to worry.

 

[suzi1780]

Oh my gosh they are all sooooooooooooooooo cute!!!!!! I LOOOOVEE kittens!!!!! I miss when my little girls where babies, I rescued 3 kittens from the woods (mom and dad were feral), they all had worms and pooped all over themselves ick! I would wipe off their little bottoms and snuggle them down together in a little fleece kitty bed to keep them warm. Oh they were sooooo cute (not the worms part hahaha)

I must admit I am a little partial to Wysteria, I am a mom to a tortie who has never stopped purring since the day I got her from a rescue, 5 years ago!

 

[tristanichole]

Isn't Wysteria adorable?! I'm so anxious for her to grow some more so I can see what her fur is going to look like!

 

[3CsMommy]

Waverly's still my favorite. She looks like she's got spunk. "Full of the ol' P & V" as my father would say.

 

[tristanichole]

Their personalities in the first week

To give you an idea about personality:

When Pip came here he was afraid of his own shadow and everything around him. Pip was found in a garage very scared. He's had it hard. Anytime you would reach down to touch him he would hiss, hiss, hiss and back away. Forcing myself on him was the only way to show him that humans can be trusted and he quickly became comfortable with me being right near him. He now crawls into my lap, loves to be pet, loves to be held. My dogs and cats have free roaming access to the kittens (to the outside of the pen) when I'm around and it has been great exposure for him. He doesn't hiss at anyone anymore - he's absolutely wonderful. On top of being wonderful he is the "Big King Brother" of the kittens. There is a jungle gym in the pen with them and he goes to the very top now and sleeps on his blanket, watching over all of his adopted brothers and sister...but when he's awake and ready to rumble, rumble he shall! He is full of spunk and energy and loves to wrestle his little head off.

Walrus is a big baby. He likes to wrestle too, but he's pretty laid back. I see him growing up to be a lazy cat.

Waffle is all sweet and innocent. He likes to cuddle in the hammock. His personality hasn't really bloomed yet. He's still watching and learning, but he loves to be pet behind the ears.

Whistle is another rough and tumble boy, but he's also a real sweetheart and likes a nice blanket to curl up into.

Webster is a demanding little squirt. He lets me know when it is meal time and will try his hardest to crawl up the play pen and get to me...I think if he could crawl up and over he would jump right up on my bed and seek me out to tell me to get his food. My favorite thing that he does and I'll miss when he doesn't want to do it anymore: He weaned himself off the bottle but twice since doing so he's seen it and really wanted it, so I put just a small amount in it and he sucks it down...then he continues to suck on it while he falls asleep purring and holding my fingers. It is the sweetest and he did it for about 20 minutes today. He's like a little human baby with an oral need to be near you. My husband says we have a close bond and that I'll cry when I take him back. I might, but I know he'll be adopted quickly since he's so sweet. He likes to wrestle with the best of them too though. He doesn't tend to sleep alone, I usually find him snuggling someone else.

Wysteria - haha....ooooh Wysteria...she is sweet as can be, never causes any trouble and loves to lay on her back so you can rub her tummy. She minds her own business and likes to watch everyone. She's social, so its not like she doesn't care to be around anyone, she really does, its just that she always looks like she's thinking about the sweet things in life...like cuddling and eating and snuggling...she looks like she's thinking even when she's in the litter box:laughitup:
The occasional wrestle is fine, but she'd prefer NOT to be bitten...

Last but not least! Waverly. Waverly is actually not spunky at all, she is a lot like her sister Wysteria. She likes to be pet and she likes you to notice her. She's one of the first ones in my lap when I go to have some sit down time with them. She'll snuggle up right between my legs and go right to sleep. Her and Wysteria are bit lazy and it has me wondering if this is a long-haired thing :hmm: because she and Wysteria and Walrus all have a bit longer hair than the rest and they are all very docile and lazy. You don't see a great deal of wrestling from the three of them...its like they're worried they'll mess up their hair :rofl: ....Ok, maybe not Walrus...since just yesterday he decided he wanted the whole bowl of food to himself so he sprawled out all his feet, dived in, and laid on his side...all the while, still.eating. UGH! :impatient: Momma was NOT happy with that mess...

 

[3CsMommy]

Hmm. I haven't noticed too many hyper kittens with long hair either come to think of it.

 

[tristanichole]

Yet another new observation! :hmm:
I have a male cat who only occasionally gets a spark of energy...it doesn't last long though.

The other day a friend of mine and I were discussing colors. Neither one of us has ever seen an orange colored female cat. And a very large majority of black cats are also male.

Anyone else notice any colors that seem to be mostly male or mostly female?

 

[Jenn]

Do you mean entirely orange male cats? I have seen female calico colored cats that have a lot of orange, but the only all orange cats I have seen were male. I grew up with a female cat that was all black, and one of my strays was a black female. I also have some kittens now that are female that are black with white feet.

 

[tristanichole]

No I mean all orange...like Orange Tabbies. Cali's are almost always female and they aren't all orange so I wasn't counting that. Male Calico's are EXTREMELY rare...you almost never see them because getting one is like a complete fluke.

Wow, you've experienced a lot of female black cats! My mom has had only 1 black female out of all the black cats she's had and the only other one I've seen is the black female kitten we had at the vet office not long ago. Other than that the one's I've seen have been male. I've also come across only solid gray male cats so far.