# kittens wont wean, mama cat no milk



## me1bee (Jul 30, 2012)

I am at my wits end now. Here is the story, I hope someone can offer some advice....
Ive been breeding for 8 years so I am pretty knowledgable in the process of weaning kittens, the tips & tricks etc.
My queens milk disappeared 1 week ago when the kittens were 4 weeks old. Not too much of a problem as I thought they will wean very soon and lap. NOT the case. I am still having to force feed them KMR so they are still gaining a measly 10g per day, sometimes less. 
They absolutely will NOT show any interest in food, I have a bamix blender so I have blended into a pate every brand of kitten food going. Wiped it on their litte feed, etc etc and they back off or continue to play. 
They are and must be hungry as mama cat has NO milk. 
I used Stonghold Spot On 2 weeks before mama cat gave birth, and she has been on a raw food diet and a few biscuits. This is the only change I have made. 
They just have no apitite. Absolutely squat didly. They dont even lap water or cry! they are pretty lively though. 
I have thought that 1) they may have worms? so I have just given a tiny 0.5 dose of panacur paste but I thought that with the stronghold spot on this would protect them for a few weeks until I normally worm them at 9 weeks with a milbemax tablet from the vets. But then again I am worrying that the raw meat could have caused something?
Any help or advise most welcome


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## spid (Nov 4, 2008)

The raw meat shouldn't give them worms - I would worm them properly with panacur - 1ml a day for 3 days, just to solve that problem. 

Have you tried scrambled egg? Made either with water or with cimicat (or the such like)? Or made up cimicat for them to lap up? How about allowing them to get really hungry instead of force feeding? One day won't hurt too much. What about chunks of food for them to play with and try to get their hunting instinct going. Once one starts the others should follow.

I have one that isn't interested at the mo - but mine are only 4 weeks today and mum has milk.


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## Alaskacat (Aug 2, 2010)

Good advise above. My 5 week olds dived on a chunk of still slightly frozen raw today and more or less devoured it. They do sometimes show more interest in raw chicken wings than a bowl of mush that we think they would want. I syringe fed one of mine a mix of pate food and cimicat for a week until he got the hang of eating and drinking himself. I got to desperation with a seven week old litter of three who wouldn't touch food and syringe fed them until they got the idea and ate the food themselves. 

I do the 1ml per day for three days of Panacur at two, five and 8 weeks just to be safe.

Hope they get the hang soon, good that they are active at least.


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## me1bee (Jul 30, 2012)

thanks for those suggestions, I'm gonna make some scrambled egg right now. I wouldnt be so concerned its just the mama cat has no milk. And I will put a chicken chunk in too, as they are playing with a fabric mouse. 
Great ideas, thanks so much. Its also reasurring to know that someone else has had a food strike litter!


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## sharon_gurney (Jan 27, 2010)

me1bee said:


> thanks for those suggestions, I'm gonna make some scrambled egg right now. I wouldnt be so concerned its just the mama cat has no milk. And I will put a chicken chunk in too, as they are playing with a fabric mouse.
> Great ideas, thanks so much. Its also reasurring to know that someone else has had a food strike litter!


Hi

Ive found that my kittens wean better on to raw than tinned meat. If they are playing with a fabric mouse try subsituting it for a real dead one. I buy mine from a falconry supply shop. The kittens play with these before eating them. They go absolutely crazy for the raw mice and its great to see their natural tendancies coming forward.


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## sharonbee (Aug 3, 2011)

My Siamese rejected her kittens at 3 weeks old, it took hours to feed four kittens and get them weaned, we did it with lots of patience, bottle feeding was a no go, we were wearing more than the kittens drank so we mashed whiskers kitten food and put a little in their mouths, they eventually started licking their lips, I found that putting the kittens in my lap and holding the dish on an angle they started lapping small amounts, when they feed from Mum they don't hold their heads downwards but slightly up so that is how I held their bowls, after about 4 days they didn't need coaxing and was feeding willingly on their own.

I found this recipe just in case I needed it....

KITTEN GLOP


How to make Kitten Glop
Basic INGREDIENTS

12 oz water
1 envelope unflavored plain gelatin.
1 can 12 oz evaporated canned milk (not condensed) Regular, not the low fat. They need the fat.
2 Tablespoons plain unflavored yogurt
2 Teaspoons Karo syrup (light)
2 tablespoons Mayonnaise
3 egg yolks (no white)

DIRECTIONS

Heat water
add gelatin until completely dissolved
Remove from heat
Add 1 can regular evaporated canned milk
Add 2 Tablespoons plain live culture yogurt
add 1-4 egg yolks

Put in blender or whisk by hand until completely mixed

Pour into an ice cube tray and freeze

When frozen, pop the cubes out and store in a zip-loc plastic bag in the freezer

Or refrigerate if using completely within 3 weeks

To serve, microwave 10-15 seconds
refrigerate when not in use

Heat will kill the yogurt culture and curdle your eggs, so they must be added after the gelatin/water mixture has been cooled with the milk. Use live cultured plain yogurt. Pasteurizing/heat kills the live culture.

Even at room temperature, this mixture will "gel". It liquefies when warmed. The mixture works very well and the kittens seem to like it a lot.

In the refrigerator, it sets up rather like mousse and lasts for up to 3 weeks as a gel, and can be rewarmed at low in the microwave. In the freezer, it lasts indefinitely.

Most kittens love it. Moms will eat it too. As a "jello" it makes a good weaning formula.

Hope this helps.


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## me1bee (Jul 30, 2012)

thanks for that gloop recipie, I will try them on it. I've heard other breeders who swear by the gloop but there are so many variations! thanks also for the detailed description of how to freeze it and zip lock it too. I had tried them on half water & half carnation milk but this was making them have runny poops as it was too rich. One of them is now at least sniffing food, and has cautiously licked a teeny bit. The other 2 are still just not interested and still wont lap. 5 weeks and 3 days and counting!


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## havoc (Dec 8, 2008)

> I had tried them on half water & half carnation milk but this was making them have runny poops as it was too rich


I'm not surprised. Evaporated milk needs to be diluted 4:1.


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## me1bee (Jul 30, 2012)

The recipies for kitten gloop are based on half water & half carnation. 12oz water is the same as a tin of carnation. Its far from 4:1


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## ChinaBlue (Feb 3, 2008)

I have used 50/50 evap/water on my kittens and fortunately have never had any runny bums as a result. Have you tried goats milk (diluted) instead of evap?


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## havoc (Dec 8, 2008)

> The recipies for kitten gloop are based on half water & half carnation. 12oz water is the same as a tin of carnation. Its far from 4:1


True - along with a load of other ingredients. They do make a difference. Before the days of commercially made kitten formula, evaporated milk was the standard for hand rearing kittens and it was definitely not 1:1.


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