Tiny squitty foster kitten

[TailsoftheManyPaws]

We have a litter of kittens plus mum that we’re fostering at present. The smallest (born small and not catching up) tends to get a bit pushed out and today was very noticeably covered in poo, although the mother has generally been good at washing them all.

I rang the charity and then their vet for advice to be told that pragmatically, there’s not a lot to be done at this age other than watch to see if mother cat is rejecting it.

It’s a big litter - six kittens - and the vet said it’s fairly normal for the mother to ‘stop investing’ in the weakest one. But is there more I can/should do , or will interfering upset the bond with the other kittens rather than helping this teeny one ?

Aw, sweet sad kitty. Looks like she needs a ton of love and TLC. (My phone wanted to say talc. Don’t give her talc.)

Lets see what the vets say.
Some recoveries can be amazing though! They develop so much at that age and sometimes a few days difference strengthens their whole little bodies.
Continence will be one of the indicators of quality of life once she gets to litter training age. I think further up the thread someone recommended watching Kitten Lady on Youtube. She is fabulous. She has uploaded a few days ago a video about a kitten with cerebellar palsy.

Appointment put back to Sunday so she can see the same vet as last time. I think if anything she's a bit worse -- more distressed or maybe frustrated. She's feeding well, though, and the biggest boy-kitten is spending a lot of time cuddled up to her (he's either sympathetic or bone-idle!).

Good luck for today!

Oh goodness, thank you for remembering - I’m touched! Well, not much progress but she’s back with us for the moment, still unable to stand without falling over. In fact we have a second one who isn’t as steady as they’d like but can at least walk, so should be ok.

At least she’s still trying, bless her.

I've been watching cerebellar cat videos. They are all far, far better on their feet than this little one, but she is still very young, so probably too soon to know.

We came back from the vet with cardboard low sided litter trays... which the other kittens think make a lovely kitten playground

Poor kitty!

bumping to knock all the cat pee threads off the front page.