How much should my sick kitten be eating?

Question

My 4 week old kitten, Vivienne, is the only survivor from a litter of 6 from a stray cat I have taken in. Vivienne went to the vet yesterday and she is anemic. I have a bunch of medicines that I give her to get her iron up. She takes her medicine pretty well. She does not like to eat much at all. Mama cat won't feed her anymore. I give her wet cat food that is slightly warmed up and have to hold the spoon up to her mouth and she will take a few licks-maybe 5-10 licks. She does not seek food out. She does like to drink water out of a little cup. She does pee and p**p well. I just want to make sure she is getting enough food. She is not very active. She prefers to sit with me, or for me to tote her all of the house. At night she will only sleep with me, not her mother. I do give her a little KMR with a syringe-but I have to force it in her mouth. I don't want to hurt her--but I don't want her to die. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Oh man, isn't your vet helping you? Okay, first, feed her small amounts of canned (ground) cat food mixed with the KMR in a kind of gruel. Mix it very thin, more KMR than food. Offer this to her every two hours. If she has not eaten anything in 6 hours (3 feedings) then you will need to use the eyedropper and get the KMR into her. It is not cruel and does not hurt her to pry open the mouth slightly, it is certainly less cruel than allowing her to die.

Secondly, she will not seek out food, she is too young. Normal weaning occurs between 6-8 weeks. You will need to take her to food for another couple of weeks.

Third, she will not have much energy if she is anemic, and kittens this age don't usually leave the "nest". They use this time for growing, let her sleep.

Lastly, be prepared for the worse. Mother cats will often stop feeding kittens that are going to die. I don't know how they know, but they do.I don't mean that there is no hope, I have raised many kittens, most from birth with feeding tubes through to weaning. Good luck.

Oh, and if you need more help, look in your yellow pages for catteries in your area, most breeders are willing to offer advice and support.