Why are my newborn kittens fighting? Are they getting enough milk?

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.

The best way to determine if your cat is producing milk is by observing the kittens. Newborns spend long hours nursing - up to 8 hours per day - with sessions lasting up to 45 minutes. When the mother's milk is being let down, the kittens will each latch onto a preferred nipple and stay there. If you observe closely you will be able to see their little mouths and tongues moving from the suckling action. Often their ears may move as well. Nursing kittens will knead the mother's abdomen which is an important stimulus to milk let down. After a feeding session, the kittens will have round, full bellies and will fall asleep. Ideally, healthy kittens who are nursing well will gain 7-10 grams every day. They can, and should, be weighed every few days to confirm gains.

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 :-)

A newborn kitten usually weighs about 100g. So the small one is a normal weight and the big one is really big. They will gain about 100g/week. So if your smaller kitten gains about that much/week, it is getting enough milk. Mama has more nipples, so it will likely be able to drink while the other is suckling somewhere else. Just observe them. For now I would not worry.

Bella may not be producing enough milk, and you are doing exactly the right thing by giving them KMR. One way to see if Bella is producing enough milk is to weigh the kittens daily to see if they are gaining weight. If they aren't gaining weight, keep supplementing them with the KMR. Keep up the great work!

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.

As long as they are all continuing to gain weight steadily you can continue to monitor them for now. It is normal to see some variation among littermates. However if they're smaller kittens show other signs are not thriving such as decreased play behavior, being isolated from the other kittens, or they stop gaining weight then you need to try to supplement formula again.