Elsa's babies

[irishmammy]

Most of the time Silky goes out of the nest when she's finished feeding. Sometimes it seems she's barely fed them.

I'm currently in the bathroom with one of Silky's babies. Elsa is curious and very gentle. She's licking him. She walks away from him but hasn't shown any aggression.

I'm getting ambushed by Elsa's 4 babies! Lol

 

[Primula]

LOL. What a day!

 

[Sarthur2]

How is the baby acting? Is he taking to her?

 

[irishmammy]

Baby is trying to get close but he's already fed from Silky so he's just sleepy now. Probably would have been better if he was hungry. I think if he cried, she'd respond.

At the moment I think she's more "did someone lose a Baby?"

The bigger kitties are curious but gentle too.

 

[Sarthur2]

He knows his own mom's scent and that of his litter mates, so let's see if he feeds from her later.

Elsa's babies look HUGE next to him!

 

[irishmammy]

 

[Primula]

He knows his own mom's scent and that of his litter mates, so let's see if he feeds from her later.

Would scent-swapping between Elsa & Silky help?

 

[irishmammy]

Poor Bandit says "But I didn't want a new brother!"

What is scent-swapping?

 

[Primula]

What is scent-swapping?

This is what you do when you introduce a new cat to a resident cat. You mix up their scents so they get acclimatized to each other.

Stroke Elsa all over & then stroke baby all over. This will make Elsa think baby is hers. Especially stroke them each around the face so they can smell each other.

 

[Primula]

Poor Bandit says "But I didn't want a new brother!"

 

[LouH]

Wow, I have to respectfully disagree. I could not even finish the video.

I only watched the first 20 seconds

I know I'm new the kitten malarkey (have 4 cats one is close to delivering) but that would bother the hell out of me.
She was so rough and mean

 

[Sarthur2]

Mother Silky also needs to be told "no" and stopped when she is roughing up her kittens. She's young and very inexperienced.

 

[irishmammy]

Elsa's instincts are so strong to care for the baby. I held the kitten in my hands and he cried and Elsa came over like a shot with a look of "you're doing it all wrong!"

Later the baby crawled off the bed and cried and she went over to him again really quickly and started licking him.

She hasn't got as far as feeding him yet.

The video, for those who didn't watch all the way, does have a happy ending where she lay peacefully and fed the baby.

 

[Primula]

Mother Silky also needs to be told "no" and stopped when she is roughing up her kittens. She's young and very inexperienced.

Very true, but irishmammy can't watch her 24/7.

 

[irishmammy]

Mother Silky also needs to be told "no" and stopped when she is roughing up her kittens. She's young and very inexperienced.

I do tell her or move the kitten away, whenever I see her doing this (except to make the video) but obviously I am not with her all the time so can only do it when I am.

 

[irishmammy]

Primula I'll give the scent swapping a go.

Never imagined I'd be spending my evening on the bathroom floor.

 

[Primula]

Never imagined I'd be spending my evening on the bathroom floor.

Before I stopped drinking, I spent a fair amount of time on bathroom floors.

 

[irishmammy]

Oh no Primula! Well at least I've got company!

 

[Sarthur2]

No one expects 24-hour surveillance. Overall, Silky is clearly doing a good job based on weight gains.

I still have concerns about Silky's babies being with 6-week-old kittens.

 

[irishmammy]

I still have concerns about Silky's babies being with 6-week-old kittens.

I hear you. Nothing is decided yet as it won't work out if she won't feed the baby.