Raising Premature Kittens

CeeCee: Lilac Burmese: Due: 22nd - 25th July 2001.

^{Friday 7th July 01}

^{CeeCee started crying and looking for somewhere to have her kittens. Was frenzied for several hours with nothing happening. Took her to bed with me, and apart from a few minor contractions, nothing happened and she settled down.}

^{No further problems until 12th July when I noticed she had a bloody discharge – no contractions, but discharge increased during night.}

^{Friday 13th July. 53-55 days gestation}

^{Took her to the vet first thing and she had to have a caesarian in order to save her life. Didn’t expect any live kittens, but out of 7 kittens, 5 were deemed to be viable, but so tiny and hairless, didn’t even look like kittens. One had a cleft palate and was not revived, and another one lived for only 3 hours. CeeCee had to be spayed.}

^{Picked CeeCee and the remaining 3 kittens up from the vet about 6.30pm. when we got home, she hissed at the kittens and didn’t want anything to do with them. Persevered, and eventually she let them suckle but didn’t clean them or bond in any way.}

^{Locked her up in the ensuite with little hope of them living through the night, but about 4.00am she came out of the ensuite carrying one of the kittens. Put her and the rest of the kittens in the birthing box, packed with hot water bottles.}

^{Saturday 14th July}

^{Settled down in birthing box with them but still very apprehensive and not cleaning them.}

^{Gave her Arnica every 2 hours to try and relax her, and gave the kittens Carbo veg to help their lungs. Survived another night.}

^{Sunday 15th July}

^{The main problem is maintaining body heat with them. Bit the bullet and weighed them, 20 – 25 grams each. What hope do I have of keeping them alive?? Very despondent.}

^{16th July}

^{CeeCee moved the kittens into the wardrobe where it was warmer and also gave her a bit of privacy. One of the kittens is isolating from the others and feels quite cold.}

^{17th July}

^{Weighed them again and the smallest one has only gained about 2 grams. The other two now weigh 40 and 45 grams but are still so tiny. Starting to grow a little fur.}

^{18th July}

^{The smallest kitten is causing me a lot of concern and is becoming progressively weaker. Started supplementing it’s feeding every 2 hours and gave it more Carbo veg. Nursed it all evening to give it additional warmth, and it seems to be getting stronger but I doubt if it will survive the night,}

^{19th July}

^{The little one passed away during the night and even though I was expecting it, was depressed and weepy all day. Such a young life, never even had a chance to open its eyes and see it’s mum. Buried it under a rose bush.}

^{Weighed the other two and they are now almost 100grams, quietly optimistic.}

^{20th July (Friday)}

^{7 days since they were born and able to distinguish their colour, possibly one blue and one lilac. Able to maintain body heat on their own now but will keep additional heat going for another few days.}

^{21st July}

^{Over 100grams now although one is slightly smaller than the other. CeeCee is very restless again and is bringing them into bed with us.}

^{22nd July}

^{Still going well and looking like full term kittens now – eyes still not open but fully covered in fur now.}

^{23rd July}

^{Had to take CeeCee to vet to get stitches out, and Jim, the vet, is very happy with their progress}

^{24th July}

^{A bad night with CeeCee as she appears to be sore after having stitches out.}

^{28th July (Saturday)}

^{Weight is now 180 grams and they are starting to move around a little. From 25 grams – 180 grams in two weeks, couldn’t ask for more.}

^{31st July}

^{Blue boy’s eyes are open and he weighs 190 grams, while the lilac has one eye open and weighs 195 grams.}

^{Things started to go wrong when I noticed CeeCee looked quite ill and was neglecting the kittens. Took her to the vet and she has severe Mastitis in one teat, but in a great deal of pain all over her abdomen, and a temperature. Started on antibiotics, but unable to nurse or have anything to do with kittens.}

^{1st August}

^{CeeCee no better so back to the vet for milk supplement, Formula One which the kittens are taking readily from a syringe. The Natural Therapies Course for Pets I am doing may just pay off, as I went through some books and found a homeopathic remedy called Phytolacca is excellent for mastitis, so phoned a friend for some.}

^{Giving the kittens 10mls Formula One with a little added Calcium every 2 – 3 hours, or generally, when they appear to be hungry. Their eyes and ears are open now and they are crawling out of their basket and exploring on their wobbly little legs.}

^{2nd August}

^{Started CeeCee on Phytolacca and couldn’t believe it – within 3 hours of her 1st dose, most of the heat had gone from her Mastitis, and she was actually able to move round a little. 2nd dose, 4 hours later, heat totally gone and swelling had started to subside – WOW!!}

^{3rd August (Friday)}

^{3 weeks old and will have to be moved to a larger area. The improvement in CeeCee is unbelievable, not only has the heat gone, but so has most of the swelling. Still some hard tissue there though. Kittens haven’t gained any weight in the past 3 days, but haven’t lost any either, which is a good sign.}

^{4th August}

^{Moved CeeCee and kittens into larger area where they can move around. The other 2 cats, Cassie and Becky, are very suspicious of CeeCee and the kittens, and they have nothing to do with them for the past 3 weeks. Although the Mastitis has cleared up, only one of CeeCee’s nipples has any milk, so the supplementary feeding is continuing. They are now taking up to 30mls at a time now, but don’t want to give them too much as I want them to keep suckling from CeeCee for another couple of weeks.}

^{6th August}

^{Decided they needed named so settled on Bill and Ben. Ben is the bigger and stronger of the two, and so has a monopoly of CeeCee’s milk.}

^{They look like such regular little kittens now, and are making plenty of noise.}

^{9th August}

^{Feel that Bill is going to be the quiet type while Ben is very outgoing. While changing their bedding today, Ben had the cheek to spit at me, after all I have done for him (joke)}

^{Reflections on their 1st four weeks}

^{Looking after kittens so small is so time consuming and at times heartbreaking, and things are more complicated than they should have been because of the mastitis.}

^{Ben now drinks from CeeCee whilst Bill had adapted well to the syringe. I take Ben away twice a day so Bill can still get mum’s milk, but because the syringe is so much easier for him, he prefers that. It was so funny yesterday though, fighting each other for the teat. They were really growling at each other.}

^{With only 2 of them, they are very attached to each other, it will be extremely difficult to separate them when the time comes for them to go to their new homes. Ideally, would love them to go together but this may not be possible, as Bill has been promised to someone even prior to being born.}

^{Weighing day is officially tomorrow when they will be 4 weeks old, I feel some sense of achievement at managing to raise them to this stage, because realistically, they were not due until at the earliest 22nd July, and are hypothetically only 2 weeks old now.}

^{So far, it has been worth every moment!!!}

^{10th August}

^{4 weeks old and each weighs 240 grams, an average of 75 grams per day. Would like to have seen them weigh a little more, but in view of the mastitis, they are progressing very well.}

^{CeeCee is still cleaning them, but is not using the litter tray in the room, but will give it another week or so before I start to wean and toilet train them.}

^{11th August}

^{Tried an egg yolk mixed with the formula and it came through the syringe o.k., both of them seemed to enjoy it, so maybe it is time to socialize them a bit more. Sat them on my knee and watched TV while feeding them, instead of staying in nursery with them}

^{13th August}

^{Ben is a bit out of sorts today and his tummy is slightly bloated. Gave him some Arsenicum and massaged his tummy. He is very lethargic and I am afraid it may have been too soon to give him egg yolk. 8.30pm now, and he has been asleep since about noon.}

^{14th August}

^{Sat up with Ben until about 2.00am, when he seemed more settled and less bloated. Just gave him Glucose and water today, and he voiced his disapproval!! Seemed to do the trick though.}

^{15th August}

^{Have noticed that their milestones just sort of occur with a rush. Yesterday, they were content to stay in the one place, but today, they are staggering all over the room as fast as their legs will let them. Becky, my blue girl, is now totally besotted with them, and fusses over them (just like any big sister should)}

^{Mixed a little Farex with their formula today, and CeeCee thought it was delicious, almost knocking the syringe out of my hand to get to it. Figured that the best thing to do is let them wean themselves naturally, so will put their formula and Farex into a bowl as well as the syringe.}

^{16th August}

^{Hope it is my imagination, but Ben looks a little shaky on his back legs and they seem to be a bit splayed. Surely he can’t have a deformity I haven’t noticed until now!! There is no evidence of pain or muscle wastage, so will try massage and exercise.}

^{17th August}

^{5 weeks and almost 400 grams, so maybe they HAVE been eating some of the Farex out of the bowl.}

^{They have bonded so well together I don’t know what to do about the lady who wants Bill. They look for each other all the time and cry when separated. I may have to contact her and see if she will take them both.}

^{Bill purred when I fed him}

^{Saturday 18th}

^{No stopping them now, they are running and climbing and giving their poor mum so much stress! Funny though, as soon as she makes some sort of ‘chirrup’ sound, they stop what they are doing immediately and jump back into the basket with her.}

^{I am starting to get some enjoyment out of them now, and don’t worry about them as much as I did a couple of weeks ago.}

^{Ben’s co-ordination a lot better, but still not 100%.}

^{Sunday 19th}

^{Decided to let mother nature take over from here – I will still feed them if I feel it necessary, but I am sure they are now old enough foe CeeCee to cope with them without human intervention.}

^{Tuesday 21st}

^{They spent a lot of time sitting on my lap today, chewing my fingers and jumping onto my shoulder to eat my hair; I just adore them both and wish I could keep both of them.}

^{Wednesday 22nd}

^{Put out some baby kitten food for them today but as usual, CeeCee ate most of it. Although they appear to be happy, healthy normal kittens, I am afraid that maybe I have done something wrong and that when they are older, some deficiency might present itself.}

^{Friday 24th August}

^{6 weeks old, 590 and 560 grams, but still look a bit scrawny. Cassie has now started fussing over them as well, so in effect, they have 3 mums to teach them how to be cats now, and it is time for me to take a back seat.}

^{Has it been worth it?? Most definitely. It has taught me so much about nurturing and caring and BONDING.}

^{It was almost spiritual in some ways – for no apparent reason, I would wake up suddenly at night and realize something was wrong, I became aware when they needed extra warmth, CeeCee came to me for help when she couldn’t handle some things, and seeing the other 2 cats taking over the nurturing when necessary was something I wouldn’t have believed. Cassie especially, having had kittens previously, actually started lactating again, albeit only briefly, but enough to keep them going.}

^{I have learned so much from my experience, I would do it again tomorrow if needs be.}

^{Footnote: February 2004}

^{While re-wring this, I realised how much I had forgotten about the difficulty involved in rearing them – in their 1st four months, they saw a vet 3 times, when CeeCee had mastitis and when they had their vaccinations.}

^{As they matured, they developed their own independence, probably because the ultimately had 3 mothers. They both went to wonderful homes and I still see Bill from time to time and he is HUGE.}

^{I believe the little knowledge I had of homeopathy helped a lot, and I have subsequently completed my course in Natural Therapies, including homeopathy, herbs, nutrition, massage etc.,}

^{I will be happy give advice to anyone in this area if required.}

^{Kay Campbell}