Abandoned Cats Taken In One Appears Imminently About To Have Kittens - All Advice Greatly Appreciate

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SpinkyDinkyDoo

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In Nature, ferals barn cats, cats left to their own choices, tend to form prides like lions, only small cats include the males in their prides. The mothers share taking care of the kittens, feeding, washing and watching over all of them. This means if a mother cat is killed there is someone to raise her kits. The males also help.

The idea of the loner cat probably began when people moved into cities and didn't want to bother with kittens. Stories are usually about the adventures of one cat - Puss in Boots, Kipling's Rikki Tikki Tave the cat who walked alone. Literature is nice, but it isn't always based in truth.

No doubt parents pushed the idea, "you can only have one cat (or dog), they don't like living with other cats (dogs)." And the wicked advice which is still wandering the net that if you take a pair of cats, particularly siblings, they'll ignore you because they are only capable of loving one being at a time. The universe will demand retribution for that lie.

I can't tell you how many times I sat with my feet on the footstool and three 12 lb cats sitting on my lap, my thighs, my shins. It's hard on the knees but worth it.
That is super interesting... If I think about it I do automatically think of cats as solitary animals.... x x x
 
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SpinkyDinkyDoo

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I know what you mean about trying not to look for every sign this might be it. I tell myself I am just going to try and go on with life and not think about it but than...what? What was that? Did the kittens move? Are they further down than before?? Is there goo on her kit bits?? Is that dried milk on the teets. LOL

I don't want to take over on your thread so I don't want to post more of my pictures here but I did put a picture up of daddy cat on my threat "60 days" if you want to check him out. I did breed her with another registered Bengal cat that I think will make great kittens with her. :-). Keep us posted!
Hi lots of spots, just went to check out your pic and found your news.... again, so sorry about the loss of your third kitten. It all sounded quite traumatic for you all at the end. I hope you’re all resting and recovering and kits are feeding well.

I also really don’t mind if you post pics on my thread... x x x
 
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SpinkyDinkyDoo

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Still on Kitten watch....
can still see movement in her tum...
She’s still eating like a horse and is constantly trying to pretend to everyone in the house that she hasn’t been fed, lol...
I noticed on Wednesday that I can see all eight of her teats (are they called teats or nipples in cats?) Whereas before it was just the bottom four that were really prominent... these four feel quite dry, is there anything I should do about that? I have some pure lanolin which is used for breastfeeding human nipples... (Sorry if that’s a stupid question and I should just leave her be)

When are these babies going to get here?!? It’s been almost a week since I posted and I was almost certain she was getting ready. She only moves when someone else moves to see if they might be getting her some food, lol...

Yesterday we discovered boy cat can catch!!! He can literally jump and catch ham in his paws and put it in his mouth. My daughter is insisting she has taught him to do this, lol. It’s not just a one off thing, he does it consistently....
Tiggy however cannot catch but stood up on her hind legs for ages looking like a meer cat with a massive beer belly, we laughed so much, bless her... (going to have to try to get a pic of it to show you all)
Am wondering if these kits have runaway from the circus, lol....
We would have never thought we were able to have animals as my husband is extremely allergic to all animal hair, but as soon as they jumped in through the window he has fallen in love with them and it’s so lovely to watch him enjoying animals for the first time... he took himself off to the gp and got some meds to ease his symptoms and I’m hoovering like a crazy person but it seems the longer they are here the more his symptoms ease. I guess it pretty extreme exposure therapy. I thought as did he that he would be okay to go to my Aunts who has lots of dogs but as soon as he walked in through the door he started sneezing and within twenty mins red eyes and
Wheezing so we left pronto.... He can’t make sense of it as in the past he’s been to houses that have cats and it has had the same effect on him.,.. strange huh? x x x
 

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Actually not the strangest, i'm allergic to cats and dogs (and horses, trees, grasspollenmolddustdustmitescarrotssoy the list goes on) the same way your husband is, and I have found that if I go to a "stranger" house, I am bothered, but I seem to build up a tolerance for those living with me. I will say mine aren't allowed access to my bedroom, but other than that things are good! So glad your husband is enjoying this as much as you are! :redheartpump:
 

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SpinkyDinkyDoo SpinkyDinkyDoo : :camera:In case you haven't noticed, we TCSers are immune to "photo overload" and would LOVE to see pics. I got a good laugh visualizing Tiggy in the meerkat pose :flail::lovecat:

Thank you for the update! I don't know about lanolin for the nipples. I used coconut oil for my queen last year. And I would definitely allow Tiggy to free feed on kibble and as much KMR/goat milk and canned as she wants. I use the powdered goat milk because I no longer have a source for good quality, fresh raw goat milk.
And I think that your daughter has a great candidate in the boy cat for learning cat tricks. I use tricks to teach confidence building (works great for semi-feral cats and kids in foster care). My most recent cat, Silver, does "circles" and "tailwhips" - we use a round footstool for the perch & her currency is Friskies PartyMix treats. My friend Bev teaches "gimme a paw" "high 5" and "sit up", my friend Dan's cat learned "lay down", "sit" and "rollover" by watching the puppy get trained.
 
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Oh, by the way, --this popped back into my head several hours later that I'd intended to answer it but got sidetracked... :lol2:
I think it's nipples
Just made myself laugh imagining you in the middle of the supermarket saying “nipples” out loud as you remember that you were going to answer the question.... Happy Thanksgiving... x x x
 
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SpinkyDinkyDoo

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50B059FE-1CA0-4FC6-8034-BDD6D051109E.jpeg
Slinky, lol
Happy thanksgiving to you all in The States... hope you’ve had a lovely day....

Here is Tiggy not quite doing independent meer cat (the children seem to be eating suspiciously large amounts of ham since the cats arrived - blantantly feeding it to them, lol) So this is my daughter Evie using a pouch of food to tempt her so I could get a pic for you all.... Hope you like it....

Well..... guess what......
still no kittens!!!!! Still loads of movement, absolutely no signs whatsoever.... I was practically pulling on a pair of latex gloves when I posted last week, lol... Now my post title looks like the most over dramatic and epically premature post ever, lol!

Oh well, they are obviously just not cooked yet.... She doesn’t look that big in the photo (or does she?) but from an aerial view she looks huge... I don’t really have anything to use as a benchmark and I think if i google much more weird and random stuff about cats (today it was nipples!) I might get arrested for having some kind of weird internet cat fetish... lol....

Surely they can’t be much longer???? We are all sooooo excited to meet them and watch Tiggy being a mama.....

It’s been amazing sharing this all with you lovely folks... still loving and laughing at your stories and learning about your kitty’s too...
you’ve all taught me loads over the past week...

Does anyone know how @Lots of spots is getting on with Mia and her kits? Every time I’ve tried to post on her thread it keeps freezing and deleting what I’ve written....

If you’re reading this @Lots of spots youve all been in my thoughts... x x x

Happy holidays everyone.... x x x x
(P.s Is there a point I should become concerned she hasn’t had them and take her to the vet?) x x x x x
 

ans5181

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She does look big! Lol internet cat fetish :lol: I think as long as mama is acting happy and "normal" there is no need to take her to the vet...you don't know her exact time she got pregnant right? Remind me how long she has been with you? I have heard that once they get close you will see less movement when her babies drop, and she will start nesting. I say I hear bc I never saw any baby movement in my cat! Maybe I'm just not very observant lol. Also she may start following you around more or trying to guide you to where she wants to have her babies, or you may see her looking very industrious around the house looking for a nest. Lots of times that doesn't happen. Until right before (bc a dirty nest=stinky nest=predators can smell me), so she usually won't enter the nest until it's time.
 
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SpinkyDinkyDoo

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She does look big! Lol internet cat fetish :lol: I think as long as mama is acting happy and "normal" there is no need to take her to the vet...you don't know her exact time she got pregnant right? Remind me how long she has been with you? I have heard that once they get close you will see less movement when her babies drop, and she will start nesting. I say I hear bc I never saw any baby movement in my cat! Maybe I'm just not very observant lol. Also she may start following you around more or trying to guide you to where she wants to have her babies, or you may see her looking very industrious around the house looking for a nest. Lots of times that doesn't happen. Until right before (bc a dirty nest=stinky nest=predators can smell me), so she usually won't enter the nest until it's time.
Thanks for that Ans...
I didn’t realise Tigs was pregnant until a fair few days before I first posted on here which is a week ago Saturday gone.
So they have been in our house four weeks as of today (Monday 01:28am in the uk) Where abouts in the world are you?
But we were feeding them outside as soon as they appeared a few months trying to gain their confidence bit by bit....
I was getting to the point where I was thinking I was going to have to get some traps from the animal shelter and bring them into the house.
THe day I called to ask about the traps, they both jumped in through our lounge/living room window and have been here ever since.....
So I have no idea when she might have got pregnant nor who the daddy is - lol...
but it must be over four weeks ago as she hasn’t been been outside since then...
She is sooooo big. I thought because she is small and possibly quite young she might only have 2 or three but I think it might be five or more!

The movemements in her Tum are really strong now..... if I rest my hand on her tummy or side I can feel them wiggling about and kicking.... not sure if I felt a head earlier.... I’m very gentle when I do it. I’ve read other people know roughly how many kits they are having as they can feel them.... I’m too scared and inexperienced that I might hurt her or them. It doesn’t matter anyway.... but they do feel like strong little Kits..... x x x
 

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Just made myself laugh imagining you in the middle of the supermarket saying “nipples” out loud as you remember that you were going to answer the question.... Happy Thanksgiving... x x x
Oh my goodness, that's too funny, and darn near correct LOL
Thank you so much for your good wishes, it was a lovely thanksgiving here :)

As long as she's having that much movement, you'll be waiting a bit longer.
I can't remember if this was posted for you, and even if so it probably won't hurt to post it again;
How Do I Know When My Cat Will Give Birth?
 

ans5181

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So I am in Florida, about 230am on Monday here... don't ask what i'm doing up reading about cats, I have no clue what my brain is doing! I just thought about something ("Nipples!"), when I realized that my cat might be pregnant (not just fat, I was making fun of her for her voracious appetite lol), I did take her to the vet to confirm, and he told me at that time just by looking at her and feeling her that we had about 2-3 weeks to go, and it was about 3 weeks...so maybe same for you from the time you noticed??? And I could be wrong, but she does look a lot bigger than a couple kittens! The vet said Jade felt full and he thought maybe four kittens and she had three. I'll show you a picture right before she had them, I think Tigs is a lot bigger than Jade was! I only have top view pics though...
 
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