Weighing In

I'll preface this post with reiterating that I have NO IDEA what I'm doing when it comes to these kittens! I mean, really, I'm winging it!

Figuring out how much and how often to feed the kittens has been quite confusing to say the least. Everything I've read and everyone I've talked to has had slightly different ideas. I guess just like there's no handbook to raising a kid, there's no handbook to raising kittens either - and a lot of it seems like trial and error, and situational dependent on your kittens.

I was feeding them 2ml of kitten formula every three hours - but I was told to dilute the formula with one extra part water to help them digest and avoid constipation. All was going well (except for my nights sleep - of course!)

Yesterday we went out and purchased a cheap kitchen scale, since we didn't own one, because I wanted to get the weights of the little guys and gals. We came home and I got to weighing. Here's what we came in at:

MAGNUS: 4oz


SPOCK: 3oz


GIRL #1 (Pink? Chloe?): 4oz


GIRL #2: 3oz

I checked a weight chart I found online at Alley Cat Allies and was horrified to find them at about HALF the weight they should be for their age. Yikes!

Now, I have to take this with a grain of salt because I'm sure there are resources all over the web with different ideas of weight vs. age etc. but at the same time I had a mini panic attack. I looked at the recommended feedings on the formula container and according to that I am definitely not feeding them enough - especially since I'm diluting it further.

Soooo... I'm upping the food. I don't know if that is right or wrong but we're going to see how it goes. I'm doing 4ml - no extra dilute - every four hours. I'm also leaving them over night (feeding right before bed and first thing in the morning) since almost everything I've read says that kittens this age can start being fed 3-4 times a day and go for 8 hours overnight. I don't want to feed them TOO much because they are so little and have little bellies - but I want to make sure they are getting the nourishment to grow - you know?

We'll see how this goes, huh? I figure with this up in nourishment, if they can handle it, they should put on weight pretty quickly. I'll weigh them again later in the week.

The good news is that they are very active, and vocal, so I think other than being soooo little they are doing just fine.

Wish me luck!