Simply Furry - Animal Rescue Adventures

Q: 
So the bigger kitten.

Keeps clawing at its siblings to get milk from mama.

An pushes them clawing at their heads the siblings are tiny compaired to this one.

Im wondering should I separate this sibling an care for it myself for the saftey of the others? 

Or let it continue to beat up its siblings...

Im at a los here


A: 
DON'T SEPARATE THEM!!!

Depending on the age of the kittens, the best thing to do is leave them with the Queen. There is never any situation when separation from mother is the better option, barring death. If you're worried about the smaller kittens not getting enough nourishment, you can *supplement* mother's milk, by bottle-feeding them, 3-4 times per day. 

If you don't have experience bottle feeding, contact your local humane society, and they can walk you through the proper feeding technique. (Kittens younger than 3 weeks old must be syringe-fed, as they do not have a strong enough suckle to take to a bottle.) Do NOT, under any circumstances, remove the kittens from their mother, for good. They need her for body heat, and comfort. Kittens who are removed from their mother to be bottle-fed, have an 93% mortality rate. 

Since these babies are only a couple days old, you NEED TO LEAVE THEM THERE! I cannot express that any more clearly. You WILL kill them if you separate the kittens from the mother. The tiny infants need their mother's milk. Her milk has the antibodies these babies will need to build their own immune system. Without those antibodies, they will die. I'm not trying to be mean, but you need to understand, these are animals. They need their mother. They will not survive on formula as a human baby would. 

In this case, a two-day-old kitten cannot get "too much" milk. The bigger may be getting more, but he's not going to suck mom dry so the other babies don't have milk. They will all suckle until they are full, then they will detach and sleep. Kittens clawing and puching at their littermates is normal behavior. They're very competitive little things! It looks scary, but I assure you, it's normal.

It's very important not to project human emotions onto these babies. Yes, it may look scary, but cats are very resilient creatures, when left to their own devices. Again, if you're worried that the big kitten is getting "too much" milk, supplement the smaller ones with kitten formula. Use KMR powder, not cow's milk, and be sure to put all babies back with their mother after each feeding. Contact a VETERINARIAN about how to syringe feed them. It is not an easy task, and there is the potential of choking the kitten by giving them too much milk. Syringe-feeding is risky, and that's your only option with these tiny babies.

The kittens will have the best chance at survival if you just simply leave them alone. I've raised nearly 50 litters in my lifetime, and only lost 9 kittens, ever. On that note, I've only lost an entire litter, when I was bottle feeding orphans. All three babies in that litter died, because they didn't have their mother. Do not, I pray to you, listen to people who are saying things like "they'll starve to death" and validating your panic. The best thing to do is leave them, and let Momma Cat take care of them. 

Christina, Certified Veterinary Assistant/Feline Rescuer, Animal Lover