Our 17 week old kitten is still trying to nurse on his mother since she now has a 3 week old kitten as well. This morning he was OK, tired but OK but now he is weak and breathing a little hard. He is drinking water from a syringe when we give it to him and seems to be a little better afterwards, but still to weak to stand. We can't afford a trip to the vet right now, we are in between paydays and the vet won't see him if we can't pay. Is there anything we can do for him in the meantime? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Do you have a petssmart nearby they might be able to help. You might also want to try the local humane society they might be able to help.

I am sure that the moderators are going to get me for this one. IF you can not care for and prevent this cat from having babies give them to a shelter! We can not help you with this question. YOu did not give full details as to what is wrong with your 17 week old kitten. Maybe he sees his 3 week old sibling suckling and wants to be a baby again! Get the momma SPAYED, it is obivous that you can not afford the expense of properly taking care of her babies!

I am sorry you feel this way, but you don't know me or my family and you have no right to talk to me that way. I can properly take care of my animals and I do. We have the momma separated from the older kittens, but we do need to let her out from time to time to eat, you can't keep her crated with the kittten all the time. I also have children who need things from time to time too... so not all my money can be spent on the animals can it...
As for the cat having the babies, we live out of town and have quite a bit of land, so why can't she have the kittens and help us with the mice and such. YOU Don't HAVE ANY RIGHT TO BASH SOMEONE FOR ASKING A QUESTION AND TRYING TO GET SOME HELP WHEN THEY NEED IT!!
I can see this was probably the wrong place to come and ask for help. And for the record, the momma is the only cat we have (out of 6) that is not either spayed or neutered, so it's not that we can't take care of our animals!!

Thank you to jrb252000 for your suggestions, they were appreciated.

How was I to know you live on a farm with spayed cats. Just going by the fact that you let a cat have 2 sets of kittens in ummm less than 6 months and 1 is weak and wants to suckle momma. I did not judge you. I went by the facts that you presented. If you can not get medical care for a kitten that is being syringed fed. The most humane thing would be to get rid of it, to a shelter or rescue that can help it. It may not make it to the next payday. If that makes you angry so be it you are an adult not a helpless kitten or child.

If the older kitten has not been dewormed,it may be weak from loss of blood from parasites.Vets will usually sell you a dewormer if you tell them your situation,and you can take a sample of the cat's poop in for them to check.Most feed stores or pet smart sell dewormers for cats,but since the cat has been sick be careful what you choose.Have you seen blood in the cats stool?Are the cat's symptoms similar to a cold,or is it lethargic and perhaps anemic?Look at the cat's gums to see if they are a healthy pink,or if they are pale and almost white.If they appear white the cat is anemic,and something is depleting the cat's blood supply.If this is the case,deworm it,then check it for fleas which can also eat the cats blood.It may have leukemia,but it usually does not attack so quickly,unless the cat's immune system is down to nothing.Worms will kill the cat if left untreated,and can cause the cat to be lifeless and near death.I hope your cat gets better.Let us know.:)

Thank you for your response... I did finally get hold of a vet that would let us pay out the payments. It turns out that he must have gotten into something outside that has made him sick. Unfortunately, since we live so far out and it took us so long to find a vet that would work with us, it was to late for our baby and he had to be put down. My husband has checked all over outside and we can't figure out what he could have gotten into that could have made him this sick. The vet did say that because of his age, the nursing on his mother (what little he did do) didn't really hurt him at all. So, since we can't find what made him sick, we are keeping the other cats closer to home so we can keep an eye on them and hopefully they won't get sick either.
Thank you for the advice it is very well appreciated and we know better what to look out for the next time. We are very careful to keep things that could make them sick put away where they can't get them and hopefully there won't be a next time. In fact this is the first of our cats that we have had get sick like this. That is why I came here looking for someone who could give me something that could help us until we could find a vet that would work with us. At least we know where to turn to (vet wise) if this should ever happen again...
Thank you to everyone who did help us, it was greatly appreciated!!

Living on a farm myself I know how hard it is to keep your animals safe.We have coons that kill our chickens,and foxes that have rabies.A few years ago there was a fox close to my front porch that was foaming at the mouth,and was grabbing a baseball and chewing at it.One of my cats was bitten by him and died soon after.My two angus cows were killed by a neighbor that dumped a truckload of bread in my field and the cows ate every bit of it.A cow has 4 stomachs,and they could not digest it all,and they bloated and died.I love all of my animals very much,but things happen and I've learned how to accept death a little easier.I think working as a veterinary technician has made me a stronger person,but I still cry every time I lose a pet.I look forward to seeing each one after a tough day at work.;)