Newborn kittens won't nurse from mom cat's lower nipples. What to do?

It could be those nipples are used more often than the others, leading to the different appearance. The size of the kittens could be due to genetics, or it could be these kittens are not getting enough milk. You can have them all checked out by a vet to make sure everything is ok. I hope this helps!

Hi and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Great job Icy!! I wouldn't get concerned, that mammary gland may be preferred due to a higher milk production or other reasons. Just make sure that each kitten is getting enough milk and is growing each and every day. You should be feeding the queen kitten food also to boost her nutrition during this stressful time. As the kittens get a little bigger, they may migrate to other nipples because they will be feeding for longer periods of time to account for growth. Remember also that kittens can be dewormed at 2 weeks of age and every two weeks after that with pyrantel pamoate. And don't forget to deworm the queen also. She is cleaning up the kittens poop and will get infected via a fecal oral route. The kittens will start passing parasite eggs when they are about 2-3 weeks old so deworm the queen then. Normally kittens are dewormed 3-4 times (every 3 weeks) after they have been weaned from the queen. Some parasites are transmitted in utero before the kittens are born and some are passed through the milk of the queen to the kittens. Monitor the queen's mammary glands, watch for heat, redness, pain, and a pus like discharge which would all be indicative of mastitis. Good luck with Icy and the kittens.

It might just be that the kittens have a preference for that nipple and/or the nipple is producing more milk. It is fine to place the kittens on another nipple to see if they will nurse on the other nipples, too. You should be weighing the kittens daily to make sure they are gaining appropriate weight and bottle feed them with a kitten supplement if they aren't.

Congrats on your kittens! Even though you are squeezing Peky's nipple and no milk is coming out doesn't mean that she isn't producing enough milk for her kittens. Newborn kittens are very fragile and require round the clock feeding. If they weren't getting enough food, they would every weak and crying all the time. Kittens will fight over specific nipples, this is normal behavior. As long as they are feeding, not acting weak or crying all the time, and are gaining weight every day, they are getting enough milk from their mother and you have nothing to worry about :-)

once the kitten will start suckling milk production should start to occur, you should wait at least a couple days, if you do not see any change and it seems like the kitten are not getting milk from her, you will have to buy kitten replacer milk at the pet shop and feed them with a bottle.

Cold packs may help reduce swelling and relieve pain. I would recommend a check up anyway as the mammary glands may be inflamed and infected and a mastitis may be present. If that is the case antibiotics may be needed.

You will need to bottle feed the kittens if she only has 1 or 2 nipples as she probably won't be able to nurse all the kittens. She should also be spayed after this litter so she doesn't continue to have kittens.