9-day-old surrogate foster kitten nursing constantly but not gaining — looking for input.
Here’s a cleaned-up Reddit version that keeps the emotional tone but organises the timeline and clinical details clearly so experienced fosters can respond effectively:
First-time kitten fosterer here, please be gentle with me — this has been quite intense and I’d really appreciate advice from anyone experienced with neonatal kittens or milk transfer issues.
Our young (8 month) nursing queen had four healthy kittens on Thursday 7th May. They were all good birth weights (around 100g+) and are thriving, now around 300g (!).
On Friday 15th May, we introduced two orphan/surrogate kittens born on Sunday 10th May, so they are a few days younger than the resident litter. Mum accepted both immediately, groomed them, and allowed them to nurse straight away.
Both kittens had strong rooting/suckling instincts from the start. The female, Clover, has done really well. She arrived at about 87g and after just over 3 days with mum is now around 112–115g. She gets a nice rounded milk belly after nursing and I can visibly see good milk transfer.
The male, Cricket, is the one I’m worried about.
He arrived at around 79–80g and initially I did not supplement him because he appeared to be nursing frequently and strongly. He is extremely active, warm, mobile, fights hard for nipples, kneads to stimulate letdown, and has never seemed weak or floppy. Because the original 4 are much bigger, there is competition.
When he first arrived he vocalised almost constantly, but that has now settled and he behaves much more like the other kittens.
The issue is that he does not seem to transfer milk effectively.
He spends long uninterrupted periods nursing (sometimes 10+ mins on fuller nipples) but never develops the rounded “milk belly” the others get. He remains lean while the others feel full and heavy after feeds.
He did briefly go from about 80g to 90g without supplementation, but then dropped back down and stayed hovering around 80g.
Yesterday (Monday) I started supplementing him and gave about 13ml total over 4 sessions using 1ml syringes. I cannot get him to take a bottle at all.
My strong suspicion is poor latch/suction. Very occasionally he achieves a proper seal and suction on the syringe, but only briefly and rarely. Most of the time I am transferring milk by depressing the syringe very slowly while he swallows. Interestingly, when supplemented, he DOES get a nice rounded belly and settles well afterward.
He also immediately goes back to comfort nurse/suckle from mum after supplementation.
No consistent milk bubbling from nose/mouth, no coughing, no respiratory signs.
Current plan is:
Continue nursing with mum full-time
Supplement 6–7 times/day
Focus on getting calories and weight gain into him before worrying about anything else
Has anyone experienced a kitten who clearly wanted to nurse but just couldn’t transfer milk efficiently? Did things improve with maturity/strength? Has anyone encountered tongue tie, poor latch mechanics, weak suction, etc. in kittens this young?
Thank you — I’m trying very hard to do right by him.