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Oh no. Hope everything is ok with mom.
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Elsa's babies
- Thread starter irishmammy
- Start Date
Goodness! This is surely distressing.
Are mom's nipples sore perhaps? Are her kittens cutting teeth now? How old are the kiittens?
What does the vet say?
Good you separated mom and babies and did a hand feeding.
I'm anxious for an update.
ETA: The weight gains are fantastic! Pippin has hit 100 grams! Wow!
Are mom's nipples sore perhaps? Are her kittens cutting teeth now? How old are the kiittens?
What does the vet say?
Good you separated mom and babies and did a hand feeding.
I'm anxious for an update.
ETA: The weight gains are fantastic! Pippin has hit 100 grams! Wow!
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I hope the vet can find out what's going and help the situation. Tho if worst comes to worst and they have to be separated I'm sure Elsa would happily foster them.
Please keep us updated, and good luck!!
Please keep us updated, and good luck!!
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #224
Hi all,
Well that was a scary morning!
Just before we left for the vet while I was trying to hand feed some Kittens, Silky calmly fed them with no messing.
Just to be safe, I transported them in two carriers and had a hot water bottle in the kittens one.
The vet examined her and couldn't find the cause but did notice her bladder was very full so thought that and the continued spotting might suggest she's sore from the births. He thought it was a very short timeframe to give birth to 6 kittens (first was 9.50pm, last 1.25am).
He gave her three injections, a pain killer, an antibiotic and I'm not sure what the last one was, and gave me some oral pain medicine for the next few days.
She is sleeping now in the crate but away from the babies. She actually looks exhausted. Like a new mom that hasn't slept properly for days.
Babies are all sleeping too, their adventure must have worn them out.
The vet told me to watch her with them and if anything gets worse (her behaviour or her spotting) to bring her back.
Her nipples all look fine and I had checked her before we went to see if it was mastitis and all her breasts were soft and no hot or hard areas. I'm sure the vet probably checked all that too.
Eta the kittens are 4 days old now (born Thurs night/Fri morning)
Well that was a scary morning!
Just before we left for the vet while I was trying to hand feed some Kittens, Silky calmly fed them with no messing.
Just to be safe, I transported them in two carriers and had a hot water bottle in the kittens one.
The vet examined her and couldn't find the cause but did notice her bladder was very full so thought that and the continued spotting might suggest she's sore from the births. He thought it was a very short timeframe to give birth to 6 kittens (first was 9.50pm, last 1.25am).
He gave her three injections, a pain killer, an antibiotic and I'm not sure what the last one was, and gave me some oral pain medicine for the next few days.
She is sleeping now in the crate but away from the babies. She actually looks exhausted. Like a new mom that hasn't slept properly for days.
Babies are all sleeping too, their adventure must have worn them out.
The vet told me to watch her with them and if anything gets worse (her behaviour or her spotting) to bring her back.
Her nipples all look fine and I had checked her before we went to see if it was mastitis and all her breasts were soft and no hot or hard areas. I'm sure the vet probably checked all that too.
Eta the kittens are 4 days old now (born Thurs night/Fri morning)
Good news! I'm glad he was able to do something for her! Hopefully she will be more comfortable. She probably was quite sore as it sounded like a rough birth. Did he check over the kittens at all?
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #226
No, didn't look at them. I'd say he was conscious that it was very very busy there today after the bank holiday yesterday and I hadn't raised any concerns about the babies.
Poor girl has had a tough few days.
Lots of people in the waiting room were in awe of so many tiny kittens. They were oohing and aahing them through the door of the crate. Lol
Poor girl has had a tough few days.
Lots of people in the waiting room were in awe of so many tiny kittens. They were oohing and aahing them through the door of the crate. Lol
That's understandable, he probably had a lot of urgent cases from the long weekend. At least now you have a foundation set with him and he knows the situation. Main thing is that now momma should be more comfortable.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #228
I think she's a bit happier now. (Reminds me of myself on morphine after one of my c-sections!) 
She's still lying on the opposite side of the crate and three kittens have crawled all the way over to her! She's totally relaxed...ive never seen her so chilled!
She's still lying on the opposite side of the crate and three kittens have crawled all the way over to her! She's totally relaxed...ive never seen her so chilled!
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #229
She's relaxed from the pain medicine. It's a narcotic. I'm glad he gave her an antibiotic. I'm thinking she may have been having afterpains, along with exhaustion and soreness.
This will hopefully take care of things.
This will hopefully take care of things.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #231
She's been trying to feed the babies and they are fussing a lot so I suspect her supply has taken a dip as she hardly ate today. I've just given her a pouch of wet kitten food and she's demolishing that so it has obviously appealed to her more than her other food.
She's also had her bowl of krm that she wouldn't drink earlier.
Hopefully she will settle down and feed well overnight. I weighed the babies and they've barely gained at all today (not surprising).
And if Silky wasn't adorable enough, she's got a love heart on her side. Aww.
She's also had her bowl of krm that she wouldn't drink earlier.
Hopefully she will settle down and feed well overnight. I weighed the babies and they've barely gained at all today (not surprising).
And if Silky wasn't adorable enough, she's got a love heart on her side. Aww.
Aww is right!
Perhaps you should supplement all of her kittens a couple more times today. Sounds like they may be a bit hungry.
Perhaps you should supplement all of her kittens a couple more times today. Sounds like they may be a bit hungry.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #233
They're all asleep now and Silky is back under my bed where she likes to go. She's had a good meal and drink so I'll monitor the next feed - I expect it to be better - and if not, I'll help.
Part of me is wondering if I should let Elsa foster one or two of the kittens to lessen the burden on Silky but I don't know if that's a good thing to do? Or is it better to let her muddle through? Maybe she will cope when she's not in pain.
Part of me is wondering if I should let Elsa foster one or two of the kittens to lessen the burden on Silky but I don't know if that's a good thing to do? Or is it better to let her muddle through? Maybe she will cope when she's not in pain.
Give it a day or so to see if she's better. If problems persist it might not be a bad idea - at least temporarily.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #235
If Elsa could help out it'd be far better (I imagine) than me supplementing.
Would the little kitten (s) be ok with the bigger ones....Elsa's own kittens are giants in comparison. 6 weeks old tomorrow.
I've no experience of a cat fostering another's kittens.
Obviously I'll see how it goes but I'm thinking even if two were given to Elsa, Silky's feeds would be more relaxed as they wouldn't be squabbling.
Would the little kitten (s) be ok with the bigger ones....Elsa's own kittens are giants in comparison. 6 weeks old tomorrow.
I've no experience of a cat fostering another's kittens.
Obviously I'll see how it goes but I'm thinking even if two were given to Elsa, Silky's feeds would be more relaxed as they wouldn't be squabbling.
It's not ideal to have 4-day-old kittens with 6-week-olds.
Hopefully mom will feel better soon.
Hopefully mom will feel better soon.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #237
Fingers crossed!
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #238
So, after the rough day yesterday the weights are as follows... Weight gains in (brackets) are the 24h gain from yesterday morning. [Brackets] are today's 24h gains. The kittens with the small gains this morning had whopper gains yesterday so I think it's a natural lull rather than a problem.
I think they did pretty well considering all the drama yesterday.
#1 - 160g (+24) [+8] - Oreo
#2 - 178g (+20) [+16] - Maverick
#3 - 183g (+25) [+5] - Mac
#4 - 105g (+14) [+5] - Pippin
#5 - 191g (+18) [+15] - Bruce
#6 - 177g (+15) [+20] - Ranger
I think they did pretty well considering all the drama yesterday.
#1 - 160g (+24) [+8] - Oreo
#2 - 178g (+20) [+16] - Maverick
#3 - 183g (+25) [+5] - Mac
#4 - 105g (+14) [+5] - Pippin
#5 - 191g (+18) [+15] - Bruce
#6 - 177g (+15) [+20] - Ranger
Looks good to me! They are growing very nicely. Pippin is still smaller than many healthy newborns, but by golly, she's getting there.
How is Silky today? You might want to hold off on the pain meds unless she really needs them.
How is Silky today? You might want to hold off on the pain meds unless she really needs them.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #240
I'm still a bit nervous of Silky with them, her behaviour is a bit erratic. On the one hand, she's putting a lot of effort into cleaning them, and herself. But then she gets quite firm with them if they wriggle too much. Now I can see a difference in this behaviour versus yesterday in that the babies are not crying when she does it and she is doing it with the purpose of getting the baby to sit sit while she cleans them.
But she also seems a little irritable at times. E.g. she spent ages cleaning them and they could only get to feed when she was done cleaning but then very shortly after finishing the cleaning, she got up and walked away.
Pippin hadn't fed for long at that stage, so I brought Pippin out to where Silky was and let her latch on and Silky was not happy with that idea at all. She tried to bite at her and swipe her with her paws.
Now I was also thinking last night that maybe she's sensitive to my input and doesn't want me touching the babies as much. Though she never objected to me supplementing Pippin and often came to check I was doing it right. Lol.
But maybe my scent is upsetting her so I've limited my contact with them to only the weigh-in and hopefully that will help.
Maybe that's also why she was grooming them so intently. To wash off my smell.
I gave her the pain medicine this morning. It clearly helped yesterday - she was much calmer. So I think she needs a day or two of it to take the edge off and get a good routine established.
Pippin really is doing amazingly well for such a little girl.
But she also seems a little irritable at times. E.g. she spent ages cleaning them and they could only get to feed when she was done cleaning but then very shortly after finishing the cleaning, she got up and walked away.
Pippin hadn't fed for long at that stage, so I brought Pippin out to where Silky was and let her latch on and Silky was not happy with that idea at all. She tried to bite at her and swipe her with her paws.
Now I was also thinking last night that maybe she's sensitive to my input and doesn't want me touching the babies as much. Though she never objected to me supplementing Pippin and often came to check I was doing it right. Lol.
But maybe my scent is upsetting her so I've limited my contact with them to only the weigh-in and hopefully that will help.
Maybe that's also why she was grooming them so intently. To wash off my smell.
I gave her the pain medicine this morning. It clearly helped yesterday - she was much calmer. So I think she needs a day or two of it to take the edge off and get a good routine established.
Pippin really is doing amazingly well for such a little girl.
