Fostering Pregnant Cats

[heavenskitty]

So I got a call from Humane Society yesterday..they have a pregnant female that will be giving birth any day now and they needed my help..Ok I went and picked her up..she seemed sweet....not by a long shot.

Darcy is vicious. .I have a big walk in closet with just stuff that I don't use so its kind of empty..I put all her stuff there...she is now the owner of her domain...she will bite,scratch and hiss at me...how am I supposed to help Darcy and her babies...she already bit my son 2xs...she is a beautiful girl but trusts no one..her tail was cut off...but I have been trying to get her to trust me..I let her smell me and I don't smoother her I want her to come at her own time. Unfortunately we don't have time to become best friends...she is due this week. Help...anyone?

 

[tulosai]

Okay, so, you just got her yesterday, she is about to give birth, and in some way her tail was recently cut off.

My recommendations/thoughts are this:

1. THANK YOU for helping her.

2. Keep your son AWAY from her. This is both for her comfort and his safety.  It sounds like she does not need the additional stress of getting to know more than one person right now.

3. You are going to have to be VERY patient with her. There is no way you are going to be able to speed up her getting comfortable with you to the point where it will happen before she gives birth.  This is going to be a rough situation, and it is going to take time. She may never wholly trust you in the relatively short time you'll foster her though with a LOT of patience and some time, she should come around at least a bit. I am not going to sugar coat this or pretend something untrue.  If this is something you absolutely cannot deal with, it is best that you just return her to the shelter now and let someone better prepared to deal with it take over. it is possible that she will mellow out some once she has the kittens.

4. DO NOT directly approach her.  Sit quietly with her as much as possible, perhaps talking quietly.  If you don't know what to say, read aloud.  Some cats find harp music soothing. Make sure you are the one to feed her.  

5. What if anything do you know of her history? I am assuming she is not feral?

When the babies come you will have to see if she lets you approach them at all or not.  If not, we will have to brainstorm other suggestions to help you to weigh/socialize them.

 

[heavenskitty]

Yes im the one feeding her..my son is 18 and he is very patient and sweet with her but we will try putting some music and try and keep her as comfortable as possible. I dobt think sending her back will be an option since they have been trying to find someone for a while now with no luck...her being this aggressive may be a good excuse for them to put her down so thats out of the question.

I will keep updating on how she is doing. Thank you for your comment.

 

[tulosai]

Please do keep us updated!

I envisioned your son as significantly younger.  While I do still think ti's best to limit her exposure to new people now, I am less concerned for several reasons now I know his age. 

I am very glad you will keep her. 

 

[StefanZ]

My luck Tulosai saw your post before me, so I dont need to write this lenghy post above, and need just to nod agreeing to all this. 

Re you cant help her effectively while she has this defensive aggresiveness.   And are also not so little scared.

So dont do it.   Leave her demonstratively alone there in peace, so she knows you do respects her needs of privacy, security zone, calm, non stress...   Put her litter and food nearby, so she has just a few steps to fetch it.

-  this way you can help  quite a lot even with a very defensive mom - or a very shy mom...

The situation reminds me quite a lot of my very beginning as on-line advising person, 10 years ago.

It was this newbe who got this shy semiferale high preg.  and wondered, "how can I help her when she comes  in labor, if something goes wrongly?"

I wrote; "take it easy.  The self fact she may deliver and raise her children at your place, dry, warm, no enemies, water food and litter - it will by itself  be more than enough help for her, compared with being  a homeless"

And so it was.  this new be told even, the mom warmed up to her, and let her be near at the delivery...

This was an enormous eye opener for me!

When the mom notices you are non hostile, even friendly, you are the best practical chance for her and her children - she will copy with the situation and even cooperate, even if she is a shy semiferale....

 

[mum2daisy]

Aww well done you for taking her on with your other kittens still so young, lots of work for you! I imagine just being heavily pregnant and having to change address again (who knows how many times before) is enough to make her very highly strung, I know that Daisy was a lot more temperamental before she had the kittens and is now so sweet and chilled so hopefully this one will calm down for you soon

 

[heavenskitty]

Im thankful for all your advice ladies. What I did was I put everything she needs in her space..I do check in maybe 4 times a day to make sure she is ok.

She seems calm and not stressed at all but still hisses at me...so I just tell her a few sweet words and I leave..I just want her to see me regularly and that I mean no harm to her..hopefully she will get better after she has her babies so she can get adopted because she will not get far with that attitude.
I have a crate in there with warm blankets but she preffers my sons laundry basket wich is fine because wherever she decides to give birth in there will be safe for her and babies.
When I see her I want to hold her and kiss her and tell her everything will be ok...; ( but its not happening.
I hope she can sense me soon and see that I just want to help her.

Ill let you know what else comes up.

I have my babies and mom in my room. Those little ones are safe with me..lol I love my babies.

Thanks again[emoji]9829[/emoji][emoji]9829[/emoji][emoji]9829[/emoji]

 

[heavenskitty]

Hi everyone...I wanted to know what you think since 2 or more heads are better than 1....today I went to pick up two 9 day old babies..mom left them and they were found in some bushes tied still to placenta.
This lady started bottle feeding them and they look good..but they have a huge belly..she fed them at 7pm and then I got home at 9pm and I helped them to do poopie.. I made them their bottle..mind you their belly was still unusually big..so when they got ahold of that nipple they seemed like they had not eaten in days...they were suckling on my face my fingers it was wild and cute ofcourse...they ate it all...now their bellies are even bigger and Im even more worried now..so they pooped again..they made a mess since it was kind of soft..but normal yellow poopie...I took them a quick hot bath and they loved the warm water coming down their bellies. Now they are sleeping..my Gorda thinks they are hers so she took them in...but im still worried about the bellies. Should I take them in to see the Vet or should I wait a couple of days? Maybe this lady was over feeding?

 

[midnightkitty]

Hi, my thoughts on the two little ones.  Since these kittens were strays, it is possible that they have worm bellies.  If you got them from the Humane Society, I would call them to see if they have a vet on staff or one that they use.  Voice your concern over the big bellies and the huge appetite.  If they dont have a vet available, then ask if i  it is okay for you to seek medical care on your own.  I worked with a foster group last year and they wanted me to use their vet. If they do have worms, I am not sure how old they have to be to have medicine, they might be too young. 

 

[heavenskitty]

Thank you Midnight I thought the same thing..these are from another lady not Humane Society so I have to take them to my vet..they are only 9 days I hope its not worms but I dunno...poor babies...I will be posting some pics later when they are ready for next feeding so you can see their belly.

 

[midnightkitty]

I know with my vet I can get away with bringing in one cat and getting enough medicine to treat everyone. Since both have the same symptoms, ask your vet about this option when you call.

 

[tiggs2012]

Hi HeavensKitty, just wanted to say what a remarkable person you are, not only do you have a nursing momma cat, but if I have read this post right you also have a heavily pregnant nervous and quite aggressive stray and 2 orphan kittens less than 2 weeks old. Is this correct? How do you do it lol. Could you upload pics of your girls and the babies?

 

[heavenskitty]

Oh wow you gave me a great idea..u r the best..lol I will definitely do that..I did not think about that.

 

[midnightkitty]

Last year I started with 5 cats of my own and after rescuing 10 kittens with eye infections, 6 short term fosters, 4 long term fosters and two litter of kittens later, you learn some cost saving tips. I currently have 17 cats in the house and 1 dog. Needless to say the vet knows me pretty well.

 

[heavenskitty]

Thank you Tiggs...yes I have my Gorda and my Skittles...Gorda gave birth to 5 babies on the 10th of March...those babies are so precious. Im also a foster mom for Humane Society and I have a female from them, her name is Darcy she is about to give birth anytime now..she is more calm now wich is good because I want to be there for her when she gives birth...and last night this lady sent me an email about the 2 stray boys. I dont know how I do it I do know why..I want to know that I can help these babies..its so sad how people just throw them out like if they are trash. I will post pics tomorrow. I promise.

 

[tiggs2012]

It takes a very special kind of person to do what you do. And this forum is full of you special people. I have a female cat, Tigger, who is getting close to birth. She was a stray I took in off the street last July. I wish I could do what you do but my tom cat, Sam, is very dominant aggressive with all other cats and he's my boy so it wouldn't be fair to him. I'm pushing my luck having Tigger with us but as long as I don't let them see each other they're fine. They both just go about their day no problems most of the time though :-)

I say he's a tom cat, he is neutered, but he's still VERY dominant.

 

[tiggs2012]

Last year I started with 5 cats of my own and after rescuing 10 kittens with eye infections, 6 short term fosters, 4 long term fosters and two litter of kittens later, you learn some cost saving tips. I currently have 17 cats in the house and 1 dog. Needless to say the vet knows me pretty well.

My gosh, you have a houseful :-)

 

[heavenskitty]

Ill make sure and get some of momma and all the kittens...and one of Darcy also.
It looks like he is laying drinking his bottle but he is not I just put him that way to take picture. I ordered this new nipple from the interbet and they love it its called Magic Nipple...its very soft and it looks like a nipple.

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• heavenskitty
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• heavenskitty
• Apr 4, 2014

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• heavenskitty
• Apr 4, 2014

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• heavenskitty
• Apr 4, 2014

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• heavenskitty
• Apr 4, 2014

Sorry ladies been really busy but thank you once again Tiggs. I also have my male cat he is 1 yr old but he is so sweet..he licks the babies and loves to just sit and look at them. I do keep Darcy away from both my male and female because I dont want to stress her out even though she has gotten used to us and is a sweet heart.
I did put the 2 new babies with my momma cat n babies but they wont grasp the nipple so I still feed them and she stimulates them and cleans them so thats good and the kittens have accepted them as their brothers. This is what I have for now..im sure u can spot the 2 kittens.

 

[StefanZ]

 I ordered this new nipple from the internet and they love it its called Magic Nipple...its very soft and it looks like a nipple

Could you please tell us where you found this?   Perhaps even describe it, and or give a photo of this as it is.

I tried to google, but the first page of "magic nipple" + kittens  gave totally different results...       

 

[GemsGem]

It looks like he is laying drinking his bottle but he is not I just put him that way to take picture. I ordered this new nipple from the interbet and they love it its called Magic Nipple...its very soft and it looks like a nipple.

Could you please tell us where you found this?   Perhaps even describe it, and or give a photo of this as it is.

I tried to google, but the first page of "magic nipple" + kittens  gave totally different results...       

I would like to know too. Could you provide a link or something please.

I tried to google it too but couldn't find it