Will supplement feeding kittens dry out the mother cat’s milk supply?
Andrea C asked:
I currently have two week old kittens whose mom is with them. She was a stray and seems to be in much better health than when she was found. She was found right before she delivered four babies. Due to her health she has never produced enough milk for them. I began to suppliment feed the babies. My concern is will this cause the mom cat’s milk to dry out. I do not feed them all the time, but about three times a day and two refuse to accept milk from me. I am not sure how to get them to accept it so they can beging to gain weight. Please help with any advice and I appriciate no slams please. I am planning on having all of them checked out by a vet as soon as I can get the money together to ensure their health is up to par.
Thanks a million!
Andrea
Suppliment: To help her by feeding the kittens a milk replacement perodically giving her a chance to nurse them as well.
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I currently have two week old kittens whose mom is with them. She was a stray and seems to be in much better health than when she was found. She was found right before she delivered four babies. Due to her health she has never produced enough milk for them. I began to suppliment feed the babies. My concern is will this cause the mom cat’s milk to dry out. I do not feed them all the time, but about three times a day and two refuse to accept milk from me. I am not sure how to get them to accept it so they can beging to gain weight. Please help with any advice and I appriciate no slams please. I am planning on having all of them checked out by a vet as soon as I can get the money together to ensure their health is up to par.
Thanks a million!
Andrea
Suppliment: To help her by feeding the kittens a milk replacement perodically giving her a chance to nurse them as well.
September 20th, 2009 at 10:49 am
I may be able to help you, but I need you to define ’supplement’ better for me. Email me, and I’ll see if I can help you.
Her milk most likely won’t dry out if you aren’t feeding them all the time, but those kittens not eating for you…if the mother hasn’t got enough milk, then you will have to start giving them the supplement…again, though, in order to give you advice on HOW to do that, I need to have a bit more of a definition than ’supplement’.
September 21st, 2009 at 9:37 am
The milk will not dry up as long as she is nursing.
She probably has worms so I would discuss with the vet what to give her as a new mother.
Also feed her as much as she wants. She is trying to replace her own body weight plus the kittens take a lot out of her.
Let them nurse as long as they want, and supplement if you need to, but I would give the vet’s office a call to find out for sure what is best.
The section is good for information and advice, but a vet needs to pysically see the cat for a correct determination on what’s good for that particular cat and kittens.