Hi everyone! Wow, I love this site, wish I would have found it a few weeks ago! Here's a little background on Gracie...
Found her starving, outside the house. Old softy here, took her for a feline leukemia test before bringing her back home with my 2 boys, Baby and Mr. Panther. We lost our last one (was a stray too) to the virus so I am very careful and cautious. Anyway, they made great friends. A little TOO great. Gracie and Mr. P did the dance before I could get either one of them fixed. I already had Mr. P's scheduled, but I wasn't able to get it done in time.
Fast forward to Feb 26, she FINALLY goes into labor at 7:45am in her box I prepared, thankfully. She had a very, very, long labor and had her fifth kitten at about 6pm. She didn't cut cords at all, open sacks, or eat all of the placentas. It was a mess with all FIVE babies, cords, and sacks. I think from my observance, this must have been her first litter. Then, we had an emergency. I was waiting for her to deliver the last placenta and she seemed to, but all the sudden, blood everywhere. Her uterus prolapsed. It was FAR out and she was freaking out. Trying to run with the babies and get out of the box. So, I scooped her up, in a kitty box and headed for the emergency vet. They fixed her all up pretty easy but she had to spend the night, so I had to bottle feed the kittens for about 12 hours til she came home the next morning. Went right back to nursing, all was well and normal. Meanwhile, the 2 boys have been locked in my room all this time with food, water, and litter box.
The vet said to keep the boys seperate, so I have been. It's not very fun though, for anyone. I'm afraid to be away from Gracie and the babies, and I feel guilty being away from the boys. The kids have helped by sleeping in my bed with the boys and I have too, but it's so very hard with 3 kids, keeping everyone in the correct rooms with doors shut. Anyway, Gracie's been begging to see the boys, so every day, I've been bringing her in here to socialize with them for a bit. They love it, she loves it. BUT, now the kittens are 2 weeks, thriving great it seems, and I really want to open the doors up and let everyone be normal. But, I'm very scared. In the first few days, Gracie moved her babies to my sons room, under his platform bed with drawers (which are removed) and she has them in the drawer spot. Nice and cozy, dark, etc, but very hard for me to monitor, but I do it. I'm worried if I don't move them to a more accessible place when I let the boys out, it would be hard to get to them if there's a problem or something.
I desperately need advice on how to handle this introduction. Leave the babies where they are and hope for the best and stop worrying so much? Move the babies to the original box in the dining room so it's more observable and accessible? Wait another week? I'm so torn on how to do it. One of the boys is older and more mellow. I think he'll hiss a few times and then not give a crap lol. Mr. P on the other hand is very playful, and very affectionate to Gracie, bathing her etc. I'm a little worried about him. Neither one are the slightest bit aggressive, but you never know with kittens. I keep hearing horror stories.
I didn't mean to make this a novel, but what do you guys think? I really appreciate any advice you could share.
Karen
Found her starving, outside the house. Old softy here, took her for a feline leukemia test before bringing her back home with my 2 boys, Baby and Mr. Panther. We lost our last one (was a stray too) to the virus so I am very careful and cautious. Anyway, they made great friends. A little TOO great. Gracie and Mr. P did the dance before I could get either one of them fixed. I already had Mr. P's scheduled, but I wasn't able to get it done in time.
Fast forward to Feb 26, she FINALLY goes into labor at 7:45am in her box I prepared, thankfully. She had a very, very, long labor and had her fifth kitten at about 6pm. She didn't cut cords at all, open sacks, or eat all of the placentas. It was a mess with all FIVE babies, cords, and sacks. I think from my observance, this must have been her first litter. Then, we had an emergency. I was waiting for her to deliver the last placenta and she seemed to, but all the sudden, blood everywhere. Her uterus prolapsed. It was FAR out and she was freaking out. Trying to run with the babies and get out of the box. So, I scooped her up, in a kitty box and headed for the emergency vet. They fixed her all up pretty easy but she had to spend the night, so I had to bottle feed the kittens for about 12 hours til she came home the next morning. Went right back to nursing, all was well and normal. Meanwhile, the 2 boys have been locked in my room all this time with food, water, and litter box.
The vet said to keep the boys seperate, so I have been. It's not very fun though, for anyone. I'm afraid to be away from Gracie and the babies, and I feel guilty being away from the boys. The kids have helped by sleeping in my bed with the boys and I have too, but it's so very hard with 3 kids, keeping everyone in the correct rooms with doors shut. Anyway, Gracie's been begging to see the boys, so every day, I've been bringing her in here to socialize with them for a bit. They love it, she loves it. BUT, now the kittens are 2 weeks, thriving great it seems, and I really want to open the doors up and let everyone be normal. But, I'm very scared. In the first few days, Gracie moved her babies to my sons room, under his platform bed with drawers (which are removed) and she has them in the drawer spot. Nice and cozy, dark, etc, but very hard for me to monitor, but I do it. I'm worried if I don't move them to a more accessible place when I let the boys out, it would be hard to get to them if there's a problem or something.
I desperately need advice on how to handle this introduction. Leave the babies where they are and hope for the best and stop worrying so much? Move the babies to the original box in the dining room so it's more observable and accessible? Wait another week? I'm so torn on how to do it. One of the boys is older and more mellow. I think he'll hiss a few times and then not give a crap lol. Mr. P on the other hand is very playful, and very affectionate to Gracie, bathing her etc. I'm a little worried about him. Neither one are the slightest bit aggressive, but you never know with kittens. I keep hearing horror stories.
I didn't mean to make this a novel, but what do you guys think? I really appreciate any advice you could share.
Karen