HELP: Bottle Feeding Kittens

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bombshellbel
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HELP: Bottle Feeding Kittens

Post by bombshellbel »

I have a question & if anyone is able to assist me, I would greatly appreciate it!

I am bottle feeding 5 young kittens. I'm not sure what happened to the mother. She disappeared a few days ago and I haven't seen her since. The kitten's eyes are mostly open, some of their ears are still folded, and some of them already have their incisors coming through, so I assume they're approximately 2-3 weeks old.

The kittens are eating approximately 1 - 1.5 tablespoons of Kitten Milk Replacer per feeding. They are ALL really bad about chewing the side of the bottle, squirming and meowing like crazy while they're eating though. I tried swaddling them in tea towels to keep them warm and somewhat still while they're feeding, but they squirm right out of them. Feeding them while they're on their heated blanket helps some and they will drink (from the center of their mouths like they normally should) a little bit, but they quickly go back to squirming, meowing, and chewing on the bottle. I normally have to feed them a little, put them down for a few minutes, feed them a little more, and repeat until they've all had their fill. Does anyone have any other tips that might help me? I would REALLY appreciate it. I just want want to help them stay well fed and healthy!

I also help them use the bathroom after each feeding, I bathed them to remove any fleas that were on them when I first brought them inside, and I make a new bottle for each kitten so the milk stays warm and fresh for each one.

They are absolutely BEAUTIFUL, btw. There are 2 calico ones (F), a white one with grey spots (F), a solid black one (M), and a solid grey one (M). <3
marigold575
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Re: HELP: Bottle Feeding Kittens

Post by marigold575 »

Hello

Thank you for caring for the little ones. I can't offer any direct advice but it might be worth contacting a local rescue to see if they could give you some hints and tips on bottle feeding, the likelihood is that they have cared for many youngsters. They may be able to advise you about finding good homes if you are not in a position to take on all of them full time.

I hope you find a solution to your bottle chewing, I suppose that if they did that to mum she would tell them off and move to reposition. I imagine, as youngsters, their stomachs will be incredibly small, so while the break means feeds take longer for you it may be good for them to rest for a little while.
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fjm
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Re: HELP: Bottle Feeding Kittens

Post by fjm »

1-1.5 tablespoonfuls sounds a lot for such tiny kittens. The recommendation I have seen is to build up to a maximum of 10ml in each feed, which is two teaspoonfuls. It may be that you are simply trying to give them too much at once. There is a useful table here: https://www.petcoach.co/article/how-to- ... n-kittens/ along with information on weaning.
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