Expert: Jessica - 8/14/2010

Question
Hi, I have two kittens who are 4 days old.  They weigh 3 and
3.5 ounces.  Their mother is able to clean and take care of
them, however, she had to have an emergency c-section and
subsequent spay to save her and her babies.  Anyway, the vet
told me that she would probably be able to nurse but only
for a short while, since spaying causes the milk to dry out.  
As a result he told me to supplement their feedings.  The
concern I am having is that they only rarely take the milk
replacer from the bottle.  Most recently, their stools have
gotten more runny and are yellowish. Am I over feeding them?  
Should I like lay off the bottle feeding and see if they
gain weight?  It took so much to make them live, that I'm
very nervous about keeping them healthy!  They are very
active when they are awake, tumbling and moving around with
one another, and they don't cry much other than when they
are both trying to suckle and sort of wrestle over the
nipple.  My adult cat only has two nipples that are
producing milk as per the vet, so I'm worried they aren't
getting enough, yet they are not very interested in the
bottle so maybe they are (though sometimes they suckle the
bottle like champs but only for a minute or two)?  Sorry
this is so long, but I'm a nervous new caregiver!

Answer
Hi Rebecca,

Your vet's information is not terribly accurate.  Cats undergo emergency c-sections/spays very frequently, and in my trap-neuter-return organization, we are often forced to make the choice to spay cats while they are still nursing a litter.  As long as the kittens nurse, a spay doesn't usually interfere with milk production.  It's the stimulation of the mammary area that causes the mother's body to continue producing milk, not just the presence of her reproductive organs.  A few cats do dry up, and I think it was right of the vet to warn you that this could be a possibility, but this is not the way things go necessarily.

Mothers produce the most milk with the lowest two mammaries.  This is true in all cases - you'll see the biggest, strongest babies nearly always claim these lower teats.  If only two babies are nursing, the upper mammaries may never produce any milk.  So it's probably not due to the spay that she's only producing milk with those two mammaries, but due to her small litter size.

Diarrhea is often caused by over-feeding, and sometimes it can be caused by going between natural milk and formula.  You can feed the kittens if they seem eager to take the bottle, but never make them take it if they're not interested.  If mom's mammary area, even just the two bottom ones, seem to keep producing milk, the kittens should be receiving enough nourishment.  Remember that the more you bottle feed, the more likely mom may be to dry up.  But you can feel free to supplement with a bottle if the kittens seem fussy with mom.

If you only feed when the kittens are eager to eat but the diarrhea continues, I would see how the babies do on natural milk alone.  Weigh them carefully each day with an ounce scale (you can get these for weighing mail at an office supply store).  As long as they gain 1/8 to 1/4 oz. each day during these first couple weeks, they're getting enough to eat from mom alone, and no formula supplementation is necessary.  If they aren't gaining weight steadily, you do need to bottle feed them.

Good luck!

Jessica