Tomorrow the babies will have survived their first week and day 5 with me as their caretaker. Today has been a bit tougher than the other days, logic would state that any hungry baby should be fed until they feel satisfied, this isn't so with kitten or any other animal you hand feed really. Kittens like any other mammal can become "piggies" they just don't wanna stop eating, maybe its for comfort or maybe they really do feel hungry, but this usually means that the brain hasn't registered yet that it has been fed and the belly is full, so they cry and us humans who hate to hear babies cry, feed them just a little more. I spoke to the vet yesterday who said that they should be allowed to eat until the "fall" off the bottle. So ok I did as she said with my own doubts, but I am not the one who spent years at vet school, so what do I know? So I tried her way, and today baby 1 has just started with diarrhea, not severe or anything to be frantic about (this may be because of the formula change even, I started with powder but it was so lumpy I switched to premade), but given her age, it IS a worry. So I am going to back to the way that I have been taught when it comes to hand rearing any animal, the animal lies, it might think it's hungry, but it isn't. Wait 10 mins or so and see if they stop fussing, if not give just a smidge more and that will usually settle them.
We have also given the babies names. I said I was never going to name any babe that I had no intention of keeping. The inevitable happens and you get attached and that baby gets taken away and you are heart broken. So naming them was something I put off because of my own insecurities and my own heart's protection. today, I needed to name them, 1,2,3,4 just has nothing attached to it. It means nothing, it's a number. So names are as follows.
1) is now know as Muffy, or Muffers as I call her...why? well, she is a snuggler, and she likes to be under my chin, when under there she is very muffly sounding in her communication. Given the theme of the names, Muffy fits her, she is also very bossy and needs to be first for food, love, weighing etc etc..very much like the character she is named after.
2) is now known as Dw, she is one of the middle sisters and like middle children, have issues about feeling left out. She is the one who will start to cry first and fuss the loudest and until she gets attention she won't stop.
3) is now known as Kate, she is the youngest female. She likes all the attention is demands to lay across the "pile of kittens"
4) is our only male (I think) and he is known as Arthur. He is a pretty independent little man, he is content to be off on his own in the "baby box". He isn't to interested in what's going on around him, unless it involves food
These 4 names all have 1 thing in common, if you have young children I'm sure "Arthur" has shown up on your tv a time or 2. this is a great show that teaches kids "things" instead of "stuff". Things are important for living life, learning to be a friend, about growing up etc etc....stuff is junk stuff like how to catch a roadrunner a million different ways, or how to avoid the canary getting eaten by a sneaky Sylvester.
Anyway, I am tired, been a long day, and going ot be longer tomorrow. So here are their weights for today, you will see that Muffy (1) had a huge gain and she is also the one with diarreah, while I am no expert it would seem that this would make my theory more logical.
1) 164G increased 14 grams from 24 hrs ago....
2) 171G a 10 gram gain from 24hrs
3) 163G an increase of 9G from 24 hrs
4) 186G and increase of 10G
In case you are not sure how much the average gain of any newborn is, they say it's about 10G in a 24hr period. So while the babies have all been very close to their 10G gain, they seem to have finally leveled off a bit and become more predictable, as well as their eating schedules seems to have been regulated. I am off to the store to buy some plain yogurt for Muffers and some anti-diarrheal in case we should need it, which at this point we don't but I would rather have it and not need it than not have it and need it at 3am, when everything is closed.
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