Milk Intake of Suckling Kittens Remains Relatively Constant from One to Four Weeks of Age

Abstract

The daily milk intake of 14 domestic short-haired kittens (Felis catus) from five litters was estimated during wk 1-4 postpartum using the isotope dilution technique. Kittens received a single intraperitoneal injection of tritiated water, and blood samples were obtained from the jugular vein for radioactivity measurements at 2 and 96 h after injection. One kitten in each litter was used as a control to allow calculation of recycling of tritiated water. The mean (+/- SEM) biological half-life of tritiated water in the kittens increased from 2.4 +/- 0.1 d in wk 1 to 4.9 +/- 0.2 d in wk 4 postpartum. Recycling of tritiated water accounted for (mean +/- SEM) 5.9 +/- 0.8, 12.0 +/- 0.5, 7.7 +/- 1.3 and 10.0 +/- 1.3% of the kittens' daily water intake during postnatal wk 1-4, respectively. Daily milk intake of the kittens during wk 1-4 postpartum was 47.3 +/- 0.8, 47.4 +/- 1.5, 48.7 +/- 1.6 and 43.7 +/- 2.0 g, respectively. There was no effect of gender on milk intake. The daily metabolizable energy requirement of suckling kittens, estimated by multiple regression analysis, was 356 kJ/kg(0.75), whereas the metabolizable energy required per gram of gain was estimated to be 7. 8 kJ/d. The milk intake of suckling kittens remained relatively constant throughout the first 4 wk of lactation, and during this period, they seemed to have a lower energy requirement for maintenance.

A first estimate of the amino acid requirement for milk production of the high‐producing female mink (Mustela vison)

“…Milk intake per g body gain increased with increasing kit age, reflecting maintenance energy requirements making up a relatively increasing proportion of the total energy intake as body weight increases, as previously found in suckling mink kits (Wamberg and Tauson, 1998; Fink et al., 2001; Tauson et al., 2004) and rat pups (Fiorotto et al., 1991). The estimate of MEm by using milk intake per g body gain and recalculation to ME intake gave an estimate of 458 kJ/kg 0.75 , which is higher than our previous estimate of 356 kJ/kg 0.75 (Fink et al., 2001) and estimates for suckling kittens (356 kJ/kg 0.75 , Hendriks and Wamberg, 2000), and dog puppies (334 kJ/kg 0.75 , Mundt et al., 1981) but in good agreement with more recent results in mink (448 kJ/kg 0.75 , Tauson et al., 2004; and 456 kJ/kg 0.75 , own unpublished results). Utilisation of milk for body gain gave a k g value of 0.71 which is in close agreement with results in suckling pigs (Lawrence and Fowler, 1997), kittens (Hendriks and Wamberg, 2000) and mink (Tauson et al., 2004) in which k g ‐values of 0.65, 0.71 and 0.67, respectively, have been reported.…”

Utilization of milk energy by suckling mink kits

“…Utilization of milk for body gain gave a k g value of 0.67 which is in close agreement with values of 0.64 and 0.65 for suckling mink kits (own unpublished results) and the value of 0.71 for suckling kittens (Hendriks and Wamberg, 2000).…”

“…Despite this, kits from all litter sizes showed linear positive relationships between milk intake and body gain, and milk energy intake and energy retention in the body measured per g of body protein. Our estimate by using milk intake per g body gain (Equation 1), and recalculation to ME intake gave an MEm estimate of 448 kJ/kg 0.75 which is higher than our previous estimate for suckling mink kits (356 kJ/kg 0.75 , Fink et al, 2001) and estimates for suckling kittens (356 kJ/kg 0.75 , Hendriks and Wamberg, 2000), dog puppies (334 kJ/ kg 0.75 , Mundt et al, 1981) and rat pups (360 kJ/kg 0.75 , main population, Fiorotto et al, 1991). A reason why the present data deviate from those of Fink et al (2001) may be that these data are derived from measurement of individual milk intake of kits, chemical composition of milk from their dams and mean chemical composition of kits from the same litter, whereas Fink et al (2001) used data on milk and kit body composition from dams in the same stage of lactation/kits of the same age and representing the same litter sizes but unrelated to the kits whose milk intake was measured.…”

“…Our previous results have shown that recycling between mink dam and kits is below 10% (Wamberg and Tauson, 1998), and that net exchange of isotopic water between littermates is almost non-existent . Validation studies with other carnivore species (cat: Hendriks and Wamberg, 2000), blue fox and silver fox: Ahlstrøm and Wamberg, 2000) have shown that the method gives accurate and reproducible results for carnivores. Milk supply and composition must conform with the increasing needs of energy and nutrients in rapidly growing young.…”

Nutritional Care of Neonatal Puppies and Kittens

“…Gastric acid production is low in puppies and kittens until they are about 3 weeks of age. 28 Naturally, puppies of larger breeds are expected to consume a greater volume of milk, with smaller breeds and kittens consuming less volume. The renal capacity of neonates is also not fully developed and is sensitive to excessive or poor quality protein intake.…”