I made a judgment call.
Each time I went up to check today, Akira would have wandered off out of the box and Samantha doesn’t bring her back. Kai would wander off as well.
Samantha was also sitting on her nipples, so the kittens cannot reach her nipples.
So, that does it. Knowing that Samantha no longer went back to feed her kittens in the previous litter, I had to make a judgment call.
All liquid milk is out of stock, so the pet store recommended this brand. She says it is quality milk. I also read it’s the No.1 kitten replacer milk on the market.
It’s one scoop of milk powder to two scoops of warm water. I am going to use a syringe as I prefer this to a bottle. The recommended amount is 30ml of milk per 113g of body weight per 24 hours. Cotton pads to wipe the private parts after feeding for urination.
First I took Akira since she’s the one who has been wandering away today. I managed to feed her 1ml but she was protesting, so I didn’t insist. Samantha came to her rescue (okay, good, thank goodness!) and took her away by scruffing her. This is the very first time I see Samantha doing this. Okay, so you know how to do it, after all. Good girl.
Next, was little Indra. I fed him 1ml as well. Then Kai. I’m not so worried about Kai. His weight gain has been good. Also 1ml to Kai. Decided to not push too much as I don’t know how they would react to this milk.
All three, I wiped their private parts after feeding.
Akira was still hungry, so I managed to feed her another 1.5ml. Samantha was angry and gave me several warning bites. Okay, but you aren’t feeding them, and they cannot go hungry for more than 2 hours.
After that, Samantha began feeding them. Okay, phew…good.
Only now she lies in such a way that they can reach the nipples.
Samantha ni kaki lepak, ya? I bet if I open the windows, Samantha would happily go out to meet her friends. That’s what she did with her previous litter. She was back in our porch on the third day, but she only came to eat. Fair enough.
But I guess we now know what happened to her previous litter. Sigh… So the next time someone tells me not to interfere and that all animals know what to do, I’ll tell the person about this experience. If you haven’t done enough, you won’t get to see all sorts.
I didn’t think I’ll have to handfeed newborn kittens again. But here we are… And with a mother present!
If Samantha is angry that I am feeding her kittens and she wants to do it herself, well, that’s good. At least that motivated her to do it!
But to be fair, when I pressed her nipples, I didn’t see any milk. The pet store lady told me to use warm compression to help stimulate milk flow. Maybe I should do that, if Sam allows me to. She’s pretty good friends with me now. Not aggressive at all. Allows me to pat her and even handle her kittens. A far cry from the time when I could not even touch her at all.