Orphaned kitten "nursing" off littermate

I'm fostering 2 kittens with no mother, and the kittens are just around
a half pound each, making them around 2 weeks old. They take KMR and
home-made kitten "glop" from a syringe very well and have each gained
20/100ths of a pound in the week and a half I've had them. Now that
they are a little more mobile, (walking on wobbly legs instead of just
pulling themselves around and stumbling) one of the kittens has started
"nursing" off the privates of the other kitten. She nurses pretty hard
(it's loud!) and the littermate tries to get away but is the smaller of
the two and ends up just crying but not being able to get away. I have
separated them as much as I hated to, because I don't want the smaller
one injured or unable to sleep because of the other kitten. I'm
wondering if there's something SAFE I can apply to the babies that would
taste awful (bitter apple maybe?) to keep this from happening so I can
put the babies back together. Do you think Desitin (made for human
babies with diaper rash) would be safe? If so, it would solve two
problems at once, as the babies are beyond the "stimulation" stage but
not able to stand up and squat, so their elimination is always still on
them after they go. I do bathe them once a day so their skin doesn't
burn from the mess, but in order to truly keep them clean they'd need to
be bathed 8 times a day! I really want to keep these babies together.
Thanks!

On 20 Apr, 23:35, Laurie wrote:
I'm fostering 2 kittens with no mother, and the kittens are just around
a half pound each, making them around 2 weeks old. They take KMR and
home-made kitten "glop" from a syringe very well and have each gained
20/100ths of a pound in the week and a half I've had them. Now that
they are a little more mobile, (walking on wobbly legs instead of just
pulling themselves around and stumbling) one of the kittens has started
"nursing" off the privates of the other kitten. She nurses pretty hard
(it's loud!) and the littermate tries to get away but is the smaller of
the two and ends up just crying but not being able to get away. I have
separated them as much as I hated to, because I don't want the smaller
one injured or unable to sleep because of the other kitten. I'm
wondering if there's something SAFE I can apply to the babies that would
taste awful (bitter apple maybe?) to keep this from happening so I can
put the babies back together. Do you think Desitin (made for human
babies with diaper rash) would be safe? If so, it would solve two
problems at once, as the babies are beyond the "stimulation" stage but
not able to stand up and squat, so their elimination is always still on
them after they go. I do bathe them once a day so their skin doesn't
burn from the mess, but in order to truly keep them clean they'd need to
be bathed 8 times a day! I really want to keep these babies together.
Thanks!

It is terribly difficult to hand rear kittens, but It also sounds like
you are doing a wonderful job there.

Have you considered trying to find a queen that has kittens of a
similar age to accept both of the kittens in her own litter? I think
it would be the easiest solution to the problem, if you can find a
queen with a low kitten ratio who will accept them.
In the absence of a queen, I suggest that you try either apple or
possibly try rubbing orange peel next to the smaller kittens tummy.
This might possibly dissuade the bigger kitten from attempting to
suckle off the smaller kit. Keeping them together would preferential
if for No other reason than keeping each other warm & the familiarity
of litter mates.

Well done for getting so far BTW.

I find that if you warm up a baby wipe in water, it is ever so good at
stimulating the kitten to release its bladder & feaces too. It is also
a very good way of removing the the waste and also keeping the kit
clean. Worth a try perhaps.
K.