More Cat Advice

[graceanne]

My poor cat has got really chapped nipples. She cries when the kittens nurse, cause they're biting. Is there something I can put on her nipples? If she were human I'd suggest lanolin, but I'm not sure if that'll make the kittens sick or not. I don't want to loose anymore. As it is I'm suplementing their diet. Twice a day I give them a bowl of egg, brewers yeast, and cat food. By the time they drink up the egg, the cat food's absorbed enough moisture for them to eat it. And I've been taking the smaller one and forcing water down his throat at least once a day, sometimes twice, so he doesn't die, too.

Oh, FYI, we lost another kitten. I'm so confused cause the day before she died I was watching her cause she was getting so small and I SAW her eating. But I'm determined. I don't care if I see them eating. If they're not growing they're gonna get food in dropper. Period.

 

[DVS]

My poor cat has got really chapped nipples. She cries when the kittens nurse, cause they're biting. Is there something I can put on her nipples? If she were human I'd suggest lanolin, but I'm not sure if that'll make the kittens sick or not. I don't want to loose anymore. As it is I'm suplementing their diet. Twice a day I give them a bowl of egg, brewers yeast, and cat food. By the time they drink up the egg, the cat food's absorbed enough moisture for them to eat it. And I've been taking the smaller one and forcing water down his throat at least once a day, sometimes twice, so he doesn't die, too.

Oh, FYI, we lost another kitten. I'm so confused cause the day before she died I was watching her cause she was getting so small and I SAW her eating. But I'm determined. I don't care if I see them eating. If they're not growing they're gonna get food in dropper. Period.

Could they have a tape worm? Just an observation. Were they born too soon or something? And is this muxture you are feeding them somethng recomended to put meat on their bones? There are surely special diets for newborns that their systems can handle that help them gain weight.

Don't tell me, if another one dies. I think it's so sad when an anmial dies.

My sister's new puppy just died. The vet did something wrong, when he was spaying her, and her heart stopped for nearly two minutes. She finally died, after fighting for her life for almost two days. Life really sucks, sometimes.

 

[FurryFury]

Could they have a tape worm? Just an observation. Were they born too soon or something? And is this muxture you are feeding them somethng recomended to put meat on their bones? There are surely special diets for newborns that their systems can handle that help them gain weight.

Don't tell me, if another one dies. I think it's so sad when an anmial dies.

My sister's new puppy just died. The vet did something wrong, when he was spaying her, and her heart stopped for nearly two minutes. She finally died, after fighting for her life for almost two days. Life really sucks, sometimes.

That is so sad. I'm so sorry to hear about precious little fur babies dying.

Fury

 

[FurryFury]

My poor cat has got really chapped nipples. She cries when the kittens nurse, cause they're biting. Is there something I can put on her nipples? If she were human I'd suggest lanolin, but I'm not sure if that'll make the kittens sick or not. I don't want to loose anymore. As it is I'm suplementing their diet. Twice a day I give them a bowl of egg, brewers yeast, and cat food. By the time they drink up the egg, the cat food's absorbed enough moisture for them to eat it. And I've been taking the smaller one and forcing water down his throat at least once a day, sometimes twice, so he doesn't die, too.

Oh, FYI, we lost another kitten. I'm so confused cause the day before she died I was watching her cause she was getting so small and I SAW her eating. But I'm determined. I don't care if I see them eating. If they're not growing they're gonna get food in dropper. Period.

I got this on a web search:

Nipples: Check the female’s nipples to see if all nipples are in good condition and filled with milk. If they are hidden in dense fur it is you can trim the fur away, but be careful not to nip the nipple because this will ruin it for further nursing. If nipples are sore or chapped apply bag balm once or twice per day until the redness is gone.

Bag Balm: This is an antiseptic and helps prevent full bacterial growth. This can be used for sore or chapped nipples, scratches, and abrasions.

There is also some talk about the mother possibly not having enough milk and this is what it said about that:

You have to try to feed the kits yourself. Buy some Rearing Milk for dogs and cats in a Pet Store or Mix canned Milk (7.5 % fat) with hot tap water and mix equal amounts. You can also use Whole Milk. Give this supplement at room temperature and put it in a rearing bottle or dropper. The milk must be freshly made each time. Smaller weak kits need to be fed every two hours and usually drink 1 - 2 ccs every feeding but this depends on if they are receiving milk from mom. Regular sized healthy kits need to be fed every 2 hours to once or twice a day. They all need to be supplemented until 3 - 4 weeks of age.

A dropper or rearing bottle can be bought in Pet Stores. Feed them slow so they don't choke. After your done feeding massage the Kits belly with one finger to stimulate digestion. From the second week on, feed the rearing milk every three hours. Kits need rearing milk until they are six weeks old, progressively in smaller quantities.

Birth complications listed that may apply in the case of you kitty and her babies:

Premature birth causes the lungs and digestive system to be underdeveloped. These areas are more prone to infection and the lungs can fill up with fluid. Unfortunately there is not much to do about that.

Very long labor can be stressful on the kits and mom. Sometimes kits are born with excess fluid in the lungs which they are initially unable to expel. They will try to breathe and you may think they are a bit slow starting. The mother usually nips them lightly to get them to cough out the fluid and take in breaths. Sometimes you can bring them around with CPR and hold the kits in your hand and give a downward movement which can help move the fluid out (but do not do this unless you are very familiar with the technique because if done improperly it can kill the kit). If left untreated, the kits will "drown" in the lung fluid. They will appear listless and die soon after birth. Also, sometimes a kit in utero during a long labor can have some oxygen deprivation if the sac tears away too soon and this can also cause death soon after birth.

Sometimes when the mother pulls the kit out, she can puncture the nose, head or even the spine with her teeth. You may not see the puncture but it can cause bleeding. Also a kit can be pulled out back first which usually causes paralysis of the back legs and can cause internal bleeding as well. The kit can survive a few days but usually is unable to move at all. Take the kit to the vet immediately. You may have to put the kit down to prevent suffering.

If the mother is very young (giving birth under 1 year old) many times, she gives birth to kits that are not well developed and/or pre-mature. This is because she herself is not fully mature and developed herself. Sometimes a first litter may not go right for whatever reason. The mother may become very stressed at being pregnant. There are many factors which can cause a premature birth.

At a young age for a mom to be giving birth she needs extra calcium, vitamins and supplements. Also the babies are going to require extra supplements because the mom has not developed fully herself . Keeping the moms area clean and fresh food & water changed daily is very important. Change bedding as soon as the kits are born. Calcium and vitamin C are important during the pregnancy and nursing.

I'm sorry you are having so much trouble. It's very sad.

Good luck beautiful Graceanne!

Fury

 

[h_i_s]

Bag balm, as already suggested by Fury .. is good.

The best thing though (same advice i received while nursing two babies .. which i did find worked well for myself) ..... the mother's milk has it's own natural healing properties.

If you are not too put off in doing so Graceanne, once all of the kittens have finished the nursing session .. place your thumb and index finger behind the 'teet' and and while applying gentle pressure .. slide both fingers forward in order to express a bit of the hind milk. Leave it be ... allow it to dry.

 

[graceanne]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I don't know if a vet would suggest what I'm feeding my kittens, but when I was a kid we had a cat who got hit by a car when her kittens were 4 weeks old. She had 7 kittens. That's what my mom fed them and they all were healthy and lively. One of them (we called him fatso) would climb into the middle of the dish and eat and eat and then fall asleep then wake up and eat some more.

I'm sure that the vets think I should spend a lot of money on formula or something, but I don't have the money to buy the meds I need to keep me alive, let alone money to buy my kittens fancy formula. I wonder if infant formula would work for them . . . hm . . . I've got some of that from a child I used to babysit. Besides they're almost six weeks old. Six week old kittens are old enough to be weened.

Either way they all chow down on it, and they don't have diarhea or anything like that. The one who died and the other who's really skinny are the ones who had ulcers in their mouths. I'm thinking I might just have to make him eat, although I'm more worried about him getting dehydrated than I am about him starving. I know that he's getting a little food, I've seen him eat. *sigh*

 

[graceanne]

Oh, I forgot, thank you for the bag balm idea. I didn't even think of that, which is just dumb. That's what they put on the teets of cows. Plus my grandma has some she'll let me use, I'm sure of it. YAY

 

[FurryFury]

Oh, I forgot, thank you for the bag balm idea. I didn't even think of that, which is just dumb. That's what they put on the teets of cows. Plus my grandma has some she'll let me use, I'm sure of it. YAY

No problem you beautiful sweet lady! I just googled it!

*hugs*

Fury

 

[snasu]

I believe Walmart has kitten formula. The components are different then infant formula, but I can remember how. Even if you were to give one extra supplement a day of the kitten formula - it might help.

 

[graceanne]

No problem you beautiful sweet lady! I just googled it!

*hugs*

Fury

No problem for you, it's a big problem for me. I hate google or yahoo or any of those search engines. I have absolutely no patience with weeding through all the results to find what I need. That's why I ask on here, I know their's awesome googlers, like you, who can help me out.

 

[DVS]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I don't know if a vet would suggest what I'm feeding my kittens, but when I was a kid we had a cat who got hit by a car when her kittens were 4 weeks old. She had 7 kittens. That's what my mom fed them and they all were healthy and lively. One of them (we called him fatso) would climb into the middle of the dish and eat and eat and then fall asleep then wake up and eat some more.

I'm sure that the vets think I should spend a lot of money on formula or something, but I don't have the money to buy the meds I need to keep me alive, let alone money to buy my kittens fancy formula. I wonder if infant formula would work for them . . . hm . . . I've got some of that from a child I used to babysit. Besides they're almost six weeks old. Six week old kittens are old enough to be weened.

Either way they all chow down on it, and they don't have diarhea or anything like that. The one who died and the other who's really skinny are the ones who had ulcers in their mouths. I'm thinking I might just have to make him eat, although I'm more worried about him getting dehydrated than I am about him starving. I know that he's getting a little food, I've seen him eat. *sigh*

I'm not saying what you're feeding them is bad, because I don't know that much about it. I was just asking. And, when I think of raw eggs, I think of the Rocky movies. He seemed to do alright on the stuff.

As for the baby forumla, I don't know. It seems it would work, but there might be something in there a small cat can't handle. Someone smarter than me will have to answer that. Maybe some milk or better yet, some cream would be good? Again, I don't know. I think they would need to have some weight to help fight off any sickness they could have.

Maybe the ulcers are painful and that hinders him eating as much as he should. Hard food would be difficult and even more painful. But, you said your mixture is soft, right? It's such a sad thing, when an animal is in pain. Funny, that coming from a Dom, I guess. I have no problem what so ever beating the ass of a bound woman, but give me a sick animal and I'm a blubbering mess. I've had to put my share of animals to sleep, and it isn't a fun thing.

I sincerly hope you soon end up with a bunch of plump and sassy cats on our hands.

 

[graceanne]

LOL I don't think it's weird that a dom would hate for an animal to be in pain. I was told by the vet that because I caught it so early that it wouldn't affect them at all. That the ulcers would clear up and they'd be fine. It wouldn't be the first time a doctors been wrong, though.

And snasu, I don't have any money. If I had money I would either pay my rent or buy my meds or pay my electric bill or pay my water bill. I should be getting paid soon,a nd so should K but that money is spoken for for all of the above bills. I have, I think, fifty cents to my name. I know WHERE to get kitten formula, I don't have the money for it.

WARNING: RANT AHEAD My monthly meds total over $500 dollars, and without them I'll die. But because the stuped FUCKING politician, who all have health insurance, can't get their thumbs out of their asses long enough to actually acomplish anything I have to pay for it myself. I can't get health insurance, cause I"m sick. I can't get state health insurance because I'm not (a) pregnant or (b) and illegal alien or (c) a child. So I gotta pay the exhorbant prices for my meds. Luckily enough their's a program I DO qualify for so I can get my remicaid, cause it's $5,000 a pop, and I need that every 8 weeks. I can't get on disability, cause Crohns Disease is not recongnized as a disability (I'm fighting that right now). So I'm just royally fucking SCREWED! I DON'T CARE WHAT THE STUPID POLITICIANS DO, I JUST WISH THEY'D FUCKING DO SOMETHING - ANYTHING WOULD WORK! [/rant]

 

[FurryFury]

Hi DVS and GraceAnne!

Putting an animal to sleep is one of the worst things I've ever had to do even when I had no relationship to the animal at all. Feeling the life fly away, the body lighten and yet go limp damages my soul even when I know the animal is suffering and has no quality of life left to look forward to.

However unlike what the media would have us believe, milk and particularly cream is not good for cats. It can give them diarrhea.

I don't specifically know about baby formula but Grace I think you are doing a great job, doing your best and I love ya for it!

About the medical cost you are facing as a human, I am so sorry! Medicine costs are outrageous and there are many unfair things going on in our health care in this country. Crohnes disease is a very difficult one and it should absolutely be covered. I know a great deal about it as my father was diagnosed with it once.

I wish I could help!

Fury

 

[DVS]

LOL I don't think it's weird that a dom would hate for an animal to be in pain. I was told by the vet that because I caught it so early that it wouldn't affect them at all. That the ulcers would clear up and they'd be fine. It wouldn't be the first time a doctors been wrong, though.

And snasu, I don't have any money. If I had money I would either pay my rent or buy my meds or pay my electric bill or pay my water bill. I should be getting paid soon,a nd so should K but that money is spoken for for all of the above bills. I have, I think, fifty cents to my name. I know WHERE to get kitten formula, I don't have the money for it.

WARNING: RANT AHEAD My monthly meds total over $500 dollars, and without them I'll die. But because the stuped FUCKING politician, who all have health insurance, can't get their thumbs out of their asses long enough to actually acomplish anything I have to pay for it myself. I can't get health insurance, cause I"m sick. I can't get state health insurance because I'm not (a) pregnant or (b) and illegal alien or (c) a child. So I gotta pay the exhorbant prices for my meds. Luckily enough their's a program I DO qualify for so I can get my remicaid, cause it's $5,000 a pop, and I need that every 8 weeks. I can't get on disability, cause Crohns Disease is not recongnized as a disability (I'm fighting that right now). So I'm just royally fucking SCREWED! I DON'T CARE WHAT THE STUPID POLITICIANS DO, I JUST WISH THEY'D FUCKING DO SOMETHING - ANYTHING WOULD WORK! [/rant]

graceanne, I feel for you, sweetie. I know the crap you must be going through with the buracracy and lobyists. You know, there are a couple of states, one of which I think is New Jersey, where you don't have to get insurance UNTIL you get sick. So, people don't have insurance unless they get something they can't afford on their own. And, the insureance company can't deny them, because that's the way the insurance system is setup in that state. Strange, huh?

The Insurance biz is a funny thing. I heard an interview with some guy who knows these things. He said you can't give people simple insurance and make it cheaper because of the lobyists who are constantly fighting for everything under the sun bing included. God, I forget what the one he mentioned was, but it was so unlikely anybody would ever need it, but most insurance policies are REQUIRED to make it available becaose of the lobyists. So, because they hve to make this available (and it is very expensive for them to pay for), insurance companies are forced to keep our fees high, just in case.

It's not only the politicians, but yes they are always included in whatever our problems seem to be. Be it insurance for those who need it, or whether we can have concealed guns on our person. It's funny, but the state of Missouri has a conceal and carry law on the books. But, Kansas doesn't. The problem with that is, Kansas City is on the state line.

So, criminals in Missouri are getting smart. Tthey don't know if the person they are mugging is carrying a gun or not, so they slide over a few miles to our lovely state of Kansas and rob us, instead. Our Governour said she is thinking of the citizen's safety when she shot down conceal and carry last time around for our state. She thinks our criminals AND the state of Missouri's criminals are making our citizens safer?

And, our Kansas schools are needing money, so the Kansas supreme court forced the legislature to come up with $145 MILLION extra dollars for this coming scholl year, or they would close schools. That's OK, but they are also saying they might require a half BILLION or so more, in the upcoming year, too. First off, who said the judicial system could govern how the legislature does their job?

Legislators are voted in. If they don't do what the voters say, they are voted out. Judges are apointed and can't be voted out. They have no place trying to tell our voted legislators what they should do. THat's the voter's job. Judges can make recomendations but they should not be making DEMANDS like they are.

And, to help our state pay for some of this extra needed money? Missouri has gaming and Kansas doesn't. It is said by some of thes legislators that is will cause people to gamble their life savings away and we don't need that sort of thing in our state.

If you know anything about our area, we have gambling boats (not really boats, but they have warter motes around them, so that makes 'em legal in the court's eyes) in Missouri, which is maybe a 20 minute drive for most of the rich Johcson county Kansas residents. You can't tell me they aren't making that short trip to gamble in Missouri, on their boats and giving Missouri scholls Kansas resident's money. We could have that money coming to our gambling cassinos and have that filtered into OUR schools, but our legislator soesn't want the seady atmosphere?

And, another thing...Missouri has had Sunday liquor sales for YEARS. In Kansas, if you want to buy beer and liquor, you MUST go to what they call a retail liquor store. Those places, and ONLY those places are able to sell legal spirits. And, NOT ON SUNDAY! So, where do you think the Kansas folks go on Sunday to get their brew? You guessed it!!!! MISSOURI! Do you see a pattern here?

Sorry,but I totally understand your problem with the buracracy, graceanne. It's all over the damn place and all they do is keep collecting their pay checks and using their fancy insurance plans and their extra special better than 401K goernment plans and on and on. There are so many things our govenment is draging their feet on, it's a wonder they still have soles in their shoes.

That's the end of MY rant! I'm going to bed now, if I can sleep after all of that. Good night, all. LOL

P.S. I'm sorry I took this thread over for my rant. I got carried away. Graceanne, I do hope you get help with your money situation, sometime in the near future. There's always hope, even if you don't think there is.

Same with those little kitties. You''re doing a great job. Keep up the good work. And, from another animal lover....thanks.

 

[Private_Label]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I don't know if a vet would suggest what I'm feeding my kittens, .... I'm more worried about him getting dehydrated than I am about him starving. I know that he's getting a little food, I've seen him eat. *sigh*

The egg and yeast are good sources of protein, fat and cholesterol the growing kittens need. I have to ask about the skinny ones and those with mouth ulcers, they are pooping right? You can stimulate the kitten to poop by rubbing a warm wet rag on their little heiny - this is what the mother does in nature to keep the den clean- kittens initially need the stimulation in order to go. If they aren't able to deficate then there is a good chance of internal problems that you will not be able to fix.

As far as vet care - the humane society here has a sliding scale fee for vet visits for low cost or no cost care. If you asked, they might be willing to give you a few cans of kitten formula at their cost rather than the retail price. You don't lose anything by asking and the worst they could say is "No."

As far as supplementing their diets, you might want to stop by the deli section of the grocery store - my cat *LOVES* chicken liver - I would think that cooked and mashed up with the egg and yeast it would go down real nice too.

 

[graceanne]

The cost of health insurance isn't the issue. I pay $500 a month in meds, not to mention doctor visits. I can afford health insurance. No health insurance will allow me on their plan, because I'm ill. I've applies for several and the only way they'll cover me is if they don't have to pay for any pre-existing problems. Let me see that's Crohns Disease, chronic anemia, diabetes, asthma, allergies, scoliosis, arthritis, malnourishment . . . oh wait! That's my whole body! (And before someone points out that doesn't include my bones, it does. People with Crohns have a higher chance of osteoperosis, people with diabetes have a higher chance at osteoperosis, and people who've been on long term prednisone have a higher chance at osteoperosis. In other words I'm gonna get osteoperosis.)

So, in other words only people who are healthy can get health insurance. People, like me, who aren't can't.