meet my new foster babies

[lemonie]

Meet "Huey", "Dewey", and "Louie"...or thats what the shelter is calling them. These 3 boys are about 2.5 to 3 wks old and are looking very healthy. However, they are not as fond of bottle feeding as they were of mom's milk. The lady who dropped them off said she found them and mama cat never returned (I'm thinking she didn't look too hard since they look like they've recently eaten). They sure are cute, but I'm having such a hard time telling them apart. Think I need to go get some craft ribbon to help me.
Again, I'm new at bottle feeding little ones, so please keep the info coming. I know they can start on some wet mash about 4wks old and one is already trying to lap up the dribbles on the towel.

[jnc_mcguire]

I sure do like their names and they are so cute

[FairyDogMother]

They're adorable! Good luck with the bottles . That really was a shame they couldn't have collected Mama cat too. At least she could have continued nursing them followed by a prompt spay. Oh well, glad you are able to fill in Mama cats role for them!

[lemonie]

Ok, so I've been doing my homework and reading up everything I can about raising these guys. I am concerned about their BM's (bowel movements) though. They are urinating just fine with stimulation but they haven't deficated in at least 24 hrs. I've been warming them with water bottles and think I'll go get a heating pad to see if that helps regulate their digestion better.

[sam5719]

a syringe with the bottle nipple attached works great for feeding u slowly squrit it in thier mouth and the swallow it and begin to suck from it better then bottles.

[lemonie]

They are all bottle feeding pretty well right now with some encouragement. The vet said it is real easy to over feed kittens and to stick with the bottle if they're doing well. But I'll keep that in mind. They sure are active!!! And that presents a new problem. I have them in a pretty deep rubbermaid tub and they're starting to stand on hind leg on the towells and pull themselves up. They seem to not care either way about the heating pad. Its on one side of box and sometimes they're on it, sometimes they're not.
I am amazed at how quickly they develope. They're already fighting with each other and chewing on the others' ears and tail. They are also trying to clean themselves. However, they keep forging toward my 7mo kittens to nurse and that scares them. I think they'll do well playing together eventually.

[whimzikal]

They are adorable and look great!
If they need to stay in their tub maybe try a pet taxi?
Are they trying kibble or canned food yet?
I don't know much about kittens, Mitch & Opie came to us at about 4wks and they were ok with canned off the bat.
I hope the 3 boys find nice forever homes

[micki]

I would try the bowl with soft food mixed with kitty milk

[lemonie]

I'll probably be working on switching over to a kitten canned or the kitten raw I feed my boys with formula in it later this week. They are suckeling just great now once they get started and they finally all had a nice big poop today! Yes, I know you would all be excited to know that too. Little Louie has a scaley thing on his neck that the vet looked at today. He used a special scrub that opened it up and released some infection. He also got a shot of penicillan (sp) to help him combat it. They are licking the formula off my fingers much better but still not wanting to try the saucer. We'll keep working at that.
I'm using the tub because its easier to tote around, but will switch to the carrier at night. They sleep great in the tub because its dark with the lid mostly on and I like it when they sleep! But they are getting their exercise too and my 2 cats are warming up to them nicely...as long as the kittens aren't trying to find something to nurse on (they're male cats).

[nana]

They are so precious! I've raised 2 litters of abandoned kittens. I started them on solid food around 3 1/2 -4weeks. I didn't know much about raw back then but if I do it again I'll definitely switch them over to raw rather than canned or dry.
I applaud you for taking such good care of them! It breaks my heart to see animals abandoned!