My cat has no milk for kittens. Will she abandon them if fostered?

Yes she can still nurse the kittens, if she still has milk. Sometimes a queen can also restart making milk. This is great as she will take care of them emotionally, hygienically and teach them everything they need to know, especially if you do not take them away before they are 12 weeks old. If she does not have milk (the kittens will get grouchy and whine ) you will need to feed them with kitten formula. You can find out their age by weighing them. For each week of age they are 3.5 oz , so if they are three weeks old they would weigh about 10.5 oz. If you are not sure that mama has milk, take her to your vet who can check that for you. Thank you for taking in those kittens.

Hi and thanks for using PetCoach! Sorry to hear about the kitten. Yes you can take the kitten and put it with her sister and see if that cat will be a surrogate mother for her if Annebelle is not producing milk or is not letting her nurse for some reason. If that doesn't work you will have to bottle feed her. I will post some links here to help you care for her if you need to take over the mother role. alleycat.org/community-cat-care/neonatal-kittens/ https://www.alleycat.org/community-cat-care/caring-for-neonatal-kittens/ https://4fi8v2446i0sw2rpq2a3fg51-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Kitten-Feeding-Chart-Guidelines.pdf https://www.alleycat.org/resources/kitten-progression/ https://4fi8v2446i0sw2rpq2a3fg51-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Reasons-Kittens-May-Not-Nurse-Well.pdf https://www.alleycat.org/resources/kitten-care-webinars/ https://4fi8v2446i0sw2rpq2a3fg51-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/BasicKittenMed_ReferencesResources.pdf vin.com/members/cms/project/defaultadv1.aspx?pId=21&catId=69&id=6718303&ind=54&objTypeID=10 Good luck with the kitten. Our local shelter has a mother cat who raised her litter and was then used to raise multiple litters of kittens who were abandoned. Remember feed the mother kitten food, she needs extra nutrition for nursing.

It is possible that she has milk. Let mama tend to them but keep bottle feeding them. If they are not hungry because they got enough milk from mama, they will drink less or not at all. She is obviously a very good mama. Suckling is also an important comfort factor, even if there is no milk. It gives the kittens security and bonds. Leave them with their mama until they are 12 weeks old. She will teach them everything they need to know including how to use the litter box, what to eat and what not, hunting, etc., and you will get well adjusted kittens without behavioral problems. And thank you for taking such good care of them! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further. Please take the time to mark this question as helpful or not as it helps us to improve on the quality of our answers to other pet owners. Thank you kindly!

She does look underweight, when was the cat she is nursing from pregnant? the milk will be sufficient only if the cat she is nursing from gave birth in the past few weeks, if not then you must feed her with kitten milk replacer which you can get from the pet shop.

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Be sure that Liona is actually producing milk before putting the kittens with her. If she isn't making milk then you need to bottle feed the kittens every 2-3 hours with kitten milk replacer. Once she gives birth you can try to put the kittens on her. Just be sure they aren't pushing her kittens off. Track the weights of her kittens to be sure they are getting enough. I wish you the best!

There are no signs of mastitis from those pictures but there is no way to know about milk production from the photo. If the kitten have not eaten in a week they wiukd not have made it this long so they are getting something. At that age you can syringe milk to them or try kitten food to wean them. If she has milk still you would be able to express some

Some kittens don't make it no matter what we do to help them out, and some cats are just not cut out to be moms. There is also the possibility that there is a congenital internal defect. If the kitten is very weak and won't suckle from the nipple or a bottle, you can try to slowly syringe the kitten milk replacer, but there is an increased risk of it going into his lungs and causing aspiration pneumonia. If this doesn't work, you should take the kitten to get checked out by a vet. The vet can show you how to safely tube feed the kitten to get its proper nutrition. Make sure that the kitten is staying warm and clean, and that you are stimulating urination and bowel movements. Here is a good article on raising orphan kittens: http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=576