We didn’t realize it right away, but one of the kittens was not getting food. Foxfire was very protective, and curled tightly around them. We intended to weigh them, but we only managed two the first day, and two different ones the second day. They were all nursing, so I didn’t realize until day three that the smallest one was not actually growing – she was losing weight, and she was only 80 grams to begin with. She was now down to 65 grams – 2 and a quarter ounces.
Sometimes with fostering kittens, you suddenly find yourself needing to know things urgently before someone dies. Last year it was my first experience with Giardia, and what severe dehydration looks like; that resulted in a trip to the kitty E.R. This year I learned that 80 grams is a very low birth weight, and I should have been watching the little one especially closely. I chose to respect her mom’s stress, and not insist on taking them away every day to weigh them – so it was already almost too late by day 3.
9 Lives Rescue is very supportive of their foster families, and I got immediate and excellent advise on how to proceed. Syringe feed her until another foster – an expert on bottle-feeding kittens – could take her. I had bottle-fed once before, and I had milk replacer in the freezer. I mixed a tiny amount with warm water and put it in a syringe without a needle, from which I could dribble a tiny bit into her mouth and see if she would take it. My goal was to feed her every 2–3 hours around the clock.
What an opinionated little bean! The first time she was pretty limp, just holding on. But she struggled mightily when I carefully picked her up, yelling loudly. “Help! Help! Mama! It’s a horrible monster! They got me! Help! Ma…! Oh. Food. Well. I could do that.” Every time. She was noticeably stronger the second time, and could struggle harder and yell louder – until she tasted the milk substitute. She was good at swallowing when she was hungry, and adamant when she wasn’t. She would turn her head to the side, struggle, and clamp her tiny mouth shut.
In less than 24 hours the bottle-baby expert could take her – but I declined. It would have been good to turn her over to an expert, but moms and families are so important, so I didn’t want to orphan her unless I had no choice. So I left her with her mom and siblings, and took her out frequently to make sure she got fed. I fed her every 2 hours during the day and got up twice every night.
I still have no idea why she wasn’t getting nourishment from mom. She got latched on, but apparently couldn’t suck properly. Mom’s milk is rocket fuel, because the other four kittens have been little butterballs from day one. She wasn’t getting pushed out by the bigger ones – she has always been tough and determined. She seemed to be doing all the right things, but it wasn’t working.
She started slowly growing, 5 grams a day, and then sometimes 10, and she started looking round. And she became happy – sleeping well in the kitten pile with her siblings. After a few days she broke 100 grams, and I started cutting back on the feedings, and a couple of days later stopped completely. She’s over 150 now. That’s less than half the size of most of her siblings, but for her it’s awesome. She may stay tiny, become a small adult – but her small body will always house a might heart.
I wrote a poem that she inspired, called “Raw Kittenhood,” that you can read here on my Patreon account.