My three week old kitten wont eat!

Question
Hi my three to four week old kitten won't nurse from his mother and refuses to be fed KMR from a bottle. He is fairly skinny compared to a normal kitten his age and he doesn't do much but sleep. He crawls instead of walks, though he can sort-of walk. He's very slow when he moves and not very vocal. I have seen him nurse only a few times since birth but never thought much about it until I spent the whole day with him and mom and I never saw him nurse once. What could be the culprit??

Answer
Hi Ashley.  It's difficult to say what the problem could be, but he should see a vet.  Often, the best idea with these little ones with non-specific symptoms is just to try them on an antibiotic.  The real fact of the matter is that the baby will not survive if he doesn't eat, so antibiotics could only potentially help the situation.  A small amount of a liquid antibiotic can be safely prescribed for kittens this young.  Try to take note if it appears that the baby has any diarrhea at all, as this may influence the antibiotic that is chosen.

It would be wise to have mama checked out, as well.  Some reasons that kittens won't do well include the feline leukemia and AIDS viruses.  While this baby is too young to be reliably tested for these two fatal diseases, the only real way he will have contracted them is from mom, and she can be easily tested.  A blood test can yield results in about 10 minutes.  If mom is positive for either disease, she should be kept indoors and away from all other cats, as the diseases are contagious and incurable.  The vet can also check to ensure mom is producing adequate milk.  Some kittens won't nurse out of frustration if there is not sufficient milk flow.  If it doesn't appear she's producing enough milk, sometimes a shot of Pitocin can help.

You may want to try feeding the baby KMR from an eye dropper or syringe.  The nipples on the bottles take a lot of getting used to for kittens, so between a strange nipple and a strange formula, they can be reluctant to accept the whole situation.  You may have better luck getting him to take a drop or two at a time, and then if and when he begins accepting the formula, try switching him onto a bottle for faster feeding.

Good luck!

Jessica