Cats

» squeakers_mom - my little lucy

Okay so squeaker has had her litter and everything was going great untill my two little boys (3 and 4 years) decided to sneak in my room for a peak at the babies. Well i found them in their and saw my one son throw one kitten back into the box in attempt to hide that he was being bad, the other kittens were laying on the floor, one in paticular was not looking good, we rescued them all and noticed that one little girl whom we have now named lucy,looked like her neck was broken. She couldnt lift her head and so we got to the vet a.s.a.p and the vet said it looks like its just a cuncussion becuase she can still move her legs. this was yesterday, today she seems a bit better in the head movement, but we still cant get her to suckle mom. Nor will mom sit still long enough for us to help lucy. We went out and got some kmr formula and a bottle yesterday and have been feeding her that way.

My question is that how do we know if shes getting any formula, i read the instructions but honeslty it makes no sense to me, partiall becuase we have no idea how much she weighs. I may take her in to the vet to get weighed tommorow if i have time when they are open. She isnt drinking enough to notice a difference in the amount in the bottle. Do you think shes getting enough or should we notice the volume diffrence?

Also even though her head movement has gotten a tad better she still cant lift her head and when she trys she ends up writhing around and rolling over on her back. She also can only move her head to one side.

The mom cat still will clean the kitten and make sure shes going to the bathroom. Do you have any advice for me?

-- posted by squeakers_mom

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» ThatCrazyCatLady - my little lucy

In response to my little lucy posted by squeakers_mom:

My goodness, I've never even heard of a kitten concussion! Poor little thing! It doesn't seem like it would take more than a day or two for their head to start working properly again, so I'd definitely ask the vet for a time frame on that.

I don't have any kmr here with me right now, but the only way to really know that they are getting enough milk is to make sure they drink enough for their weight each day. It gives you that amount on the back of the kmr container. And you have to weigh her. She only weighs a few oz right now, so standing on a regular scale with her won't give you any idea. I use kitchen scales to weigh mine.

I would think, though, that you would see a difference on the amount in the bottle. Do you have one of those droppers that they give kids medicine with? That's what I use to give my kittens their doses of wormer and such. You have to be really careful and just let a couple drops come out at a time, but if you put the milk on their tongue, they usually swallow it. You can do that until you can get back in to the vet. He might suggest you tube feed the baby until she can eat on her own. If so, he will be able to teach you how to do that.

You can kind of guess at their weight... most kittens are born at around 2 to 4 oz, so I'd start at 3... they gain about 1/2 an oz each day, and by a week old, they should have doubled their weight. They slow down a bit then and don't reach 2 lbs until they are about 8 weeks old. That might help you figure out how much she should be eating.

Glad to hear mommy is still cleaning her!

Good luck, and please keep us posted! We'll keep Lucy in our thoughts!

-- posted by ThatCrazyCatLady

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» squeakers_mom - my little lucy

In response to my little lucy posted by ThatCrazyCatLady:

Thank-you! I started dripping the food into her mouth via the bottle and putting it on her toungue like you said, i noticed last night that she definetly is not as heavy as the other kittens. Its jsut very hard to force fee her, im afraid of hurting her, even though i know its for her survival. Poor little thing. If i cant get her to eat enough the way im doing it now, we will defintly be taking her in.
Thanks for the weight tips! I think i know someone with a ktichen scale so hopefully i can borrow it.

-- posted by squeakers_mom

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» ThatCrazyCatLady - my little lucy

In response to my little lucy posted by squeakers_mom:

Sometimes you can only do the best you can do. Just get the little one as much nourishment as she will take and give the vet a call as soon as his office opens. He may tell you that it will take a few more days for her to regain control of her little head, but it's best to hear that from him!

You're very welcome! I hope some of this helps little Lucy!

-- posted by ThatCrazyCatLady

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» squeakers_mom - my little lucy

In response to my little lucy posted by ThatCrazyCatLady:

thanks i will defintly call and ask!

-- posted by squeakers_mom

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» ThatCrazyCatLady - my little lucy

In response to my little lucy posted by squeakers_mom:

You're very welcome! Please let us know what the vet says. You never know who might be reading in and learning from this - myself included

-- posted by ThatCrazyCatLady

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