Got a new batch of six kittens. For the first time, they had a mother. However, she is feral so they couldn't keep her. Very hard to adopt feral cats. Once she was done feeding them, I got them. New experience, very strange.
We finally got a batch with more boys than girls, so I can use the naming theme I've wanted to use since I started! We now have an Amy, Leela, Fry, Farnsworth, Kif and Zapp. I tried to circle them around the two girls, because one is dark, the other is black and white, and there are three in each category. Split down the middle!
This is coming right off a batch of 4, so it's a lot right now. In fact, I still have the smallest of the previous batch so I could get her to a normal weight. So many cats!
I'm worried enough force feeding this little girl. She's 5 weeks and dropped from healthy to 186g before her current feeding. She looks like she feels better. It seems like now we are fighting weakness due to attempted starvation. She drinks a very small amount of water but that's it. She was eating wet food but since I have to force feed her I'm afraid to try forcing wet food since she's already got issues with her stomach before this whole thing even started. They had worms so bad.
So I'm still bottle feeding a kitten who can eat wet food. And prying her mouth open for every drop. She obviously wants to live very much, but she seems to be doing everything in her power not to.
Oh, sorry if that came across as suggesting you tube feed your current kitten now. I had a few months to learn about it and digest the concept before I had to utilize it, so I was more just suggesting it as an option for the future. Also, definitely much more complicated when you're dealing with a kitten who should be eating on their own by now.
Is she really just 186g?? I have no words. That has to be a typo? My current kittens were a bit behind schedule, but even the smallest was over 400g by 5 weeks.
Any chance you've done subcutaneous injections in the past? I wonder if some B-12 might help. Definitely won't fix anything overnight, but there's very little risk, so my foster org has given me the okay to give all of my foster kittens weekly B-12 as a preventative measure.
It's soooo frustrating when they won't eat. I really struggle with the patience to feed them drop by drop, especially when they're actively fighting it. I hope you're getting some rest and relaxation too.
It wasn't a typo. The whole batch started with bad worms. We got rid of those and they either immediately caught something or had it all along. Whatever the sickness was, it wiped them out. They are all gone.
She was a healthy weight when she got sick. Then despite feeding her she lost weight till everything shut down is my guess.
So yeah, I'm getting plenty of rest now. I had to be sedated yesterday. 6 deaths in a row when one is bad enough was too much for me.