Help Needed In Japan

[Solcita]

 

[m3rma1d]

Nice work! And they're adorable.

 

[Norachan]

Awww! Cute pictures!

I think they would be more comfortable with a cardboard box that they can use as a bed inside the cage. It won't be very warm with just cardboard to lie on, could you get another box and put an old fleece or a blanket inside of it?

Turn the box on it's side and cut a hole in it like this, to make a kind of cave for them.

I suggest keeping the crate half covered with a blanket as well, so they feel more secure.

If you want to save money I recommend going to Daiso. They have Silverine powder for 100 yen a box and some nice thick pet blankets for 200 to 500 yen.

Silverine is similar to catnip, the powder they give you to put on the scratchers. Most young kittens won't react to it until they're about 3 months old, but I'm sure your older cats will love it.

The cheapest places for cat food are Don Quixote or Cains Home Store. You have to shop around a bit to find the bargains, but these places are always cheap.

I think it will be easier to socialise the kittens without Mom around.

When you take the kittens for their blood test get them vaccinated too. They'll need a second vaccination about 4 weeks after the first one. Your vet will tell you when to bring them back.

Make sure you keep the blood test documents and vaccination certificates, as well as all the receipts from the vet. It's much easier to re-home kittens if you have all the paperwork to show what vet work they've had done.

I usually ask adopters to give me around 10,000 per kitten, which just about covers the blood tests and the vaccines. If people are serious about giving the kittens a good home they won't mind paying this, it costs ten times that much to get a kitten from a pet store, so they're getting a bargain anyway.

I had a lot of luck finding new homes through 犬、猫、里親さがし「いつでも里親募集中」〜ペットショップ保健所へ行く前に〜

You could also try Animal Refuge Kansai | Caring. Rescuing. Rehoming.

Good luck, please keep us posted.

 

[Solcita]

Awww! Cute pictures!
I think they would be more comfortable with a cardboard box that they can use as a bed inside the cage. It won't be very warm with just cardboard to lie on, could you get another box and put an old fleece or a blanket inside of it?

THANK YOU! I have a couple of blankets they used in the bob house outside. I will bring them in with a box.
I will ask hubby to do it once we figure out how to put it inside the cage without causing a massive chaos!

If you want to save money I recommend going to Daiso. They have Silverine powder for 100 yen a box and some nice thick pet blankets for 200 to 500 yen.
Silverine is similar to catnip, the powder they give you to put on the scratchers. Most young kittens won't react to it until they're about 3 months old, but I'm sure your older cats will love it.
The cheapest places for cat food are Don Quixote or Cains Home Store. You have to shop around a bit to find the bargains, but these places are always cheap.

That is exactly what I used yesterday for the first time and my cats went crazy. It seems to relax the kittens and Kato as well. They don't go mental though.
About food, we are currently buying it from Amazon. We are currently giving them:
http://amzn.asia/d/7aQeVy7
http://amzn.asia/d/j0TovlW
http://amzn.asia/d/geD8hv2
I also give some adult wet food to Kato. But as she is still nursing most of the time she eats kittens food.

Now I am being adviced in Facebook to stop giving them food in plate and try to feed them from outside with a spoon and being their sole food provider to start bonding... does it make sense? I try to bother them as little as possible. Kato is getting more and more relaxed, now sometimes she won't even wake up when we go inside as long as we announce ourself before opening the door. The kittens are still very afraid of course... and as usual, they won't start eating until we are far away from the cage, so even if they are very hungry.

I think it will be easier to socialise the kittens without Mom around.

I think so too... but I wanted to check first as this is all so new for us. I will prepare the ofuro room for her when she comes back from surgery, and we are already planning on making a bigger cage for the kittens.

When you take the kittens for their blood test get them vaccinated too. They'll need a second vaccination about 4 weeks after the first one. Your vet will tell you when to bring them back.
Make sure you keep the blood test documents and vaccination certificates, as well as all the receipts from the vet. It's much easier to re-home kittens if you have all the paperwork to show what vet work they've had done.
I usually ask adopters to give me around 10,000 per kitten, which just about covers the blood tests and the vaccines. If people are serious about giving the kittens a good home they won't mind paying this, it costs ten times that much to get a kitten from a pet store, so they're getting a bargain anyway.

OK about vaccination and paper keeping. I was also planning on asking the adoption fee, as I've seen it. Depending on how they leave our house (together or not), we could also give the remaining of kitten food.
And depending what the vet say next time we might even fix them as well before giving them up for adoption, we will be becoming members of the rescue center so we can fix ferals at a reduced price and then we can basically get a full reimbursement of that cost by the city reimbursement...

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

 

[Solcita]

Help... doesn't she look in distress?
Is it normal for her to be like that? It just started, she was perfectly fine until 2 minutes ago... I ask because around the dates we think she had the babies she was acting like this as well...

And this is a close up of her belly...


Should we worry?

 

[Norachan]

OH! She does look a lot rounder in that close-up picture than she did in the first one you posted.

Is she panting?

Let me ask our kitten people.

StefanZ catwoman707 Sarthur2 What do you think?

 

[Solcita]

No panting, she simply breathing fast and short... like agigated.

 

[Norachan]

She could be stressed. It is quite a small cage for her to be in with the kittens.

Can you see any kittens moving inside her belly? I don't think she's in labor, because if her kittens are only 6 to 7 weeks old she couldn't be ready to give birth yet.

What's the temperature in the room they're in? I guess it's pretty cool today, right?

 

[Solcita]

I'd say it's around 18-19ºC
I don't see any movements inside her belly.

 

[StefanZ]

As the kittens are 6-7 weeks, its too early for the Braxton Hicks contraction either. So lets hope its the stress. Kittens were perhaps hard on her... Kittens at this age are quite movable. And a good momma wont want to beat them into submission.

As you dont see any movements inside her, she is probably before the time where the movements are visible. Thus, should be at least 2 weeks left.

This means, IF you still plan on spaying now, now is high time. Tuesday eh? OK.

This is not pleasant such late abortions, but its not as bad as it sounds. Human babies would easily survive if delivered at this relative point. Kittens no way. They need at tenday more to have any even theoretical chance to survive.

 

[Solcita]

Thank you! I passed the initial shock of terminating, I know it's the best for her, of course we do hope it's just fat...
If the cage is too small for all 3, try separating them now will be better?
I don't want to place them in a bigger one as we wouldn't be able to use it to take them to the vet ..

 

[catwoman707]

I would take the kittens out, she has no way of getting relief, and I dont care for her breathing that way.
Gosh I have several things I want to say but am just getting finished at work and need to do my nightly report and get some sleep.
I will return later on today.

 

[Norachan]

How easy is it for you to handle the kittens or Mom? If you think you can pick the kittens up it might be better to bring them into the ofuro and leave Mom alone in the cage. They're going to be separated in a few days anyway, so doing it a little early doesn't make that much difference.

Does the cage open at the top or the side?

I would wear a pair of thick gloves, open the cage just a tiny bit, grab a kitten by the scruff of the neck and remove him/her. You'll need a carrier ready to place the kitten in so you can take him/her to the next room.

What do you think? Do you feel confident doing this? Can your husband help you? Any way you could slide something into the cage to separate the mom from the kittens before you try to grab one??

If Mom darts out of the cage do you think you can keep her contained in the store room and get her back in there?

Very risky if you've never handled the Mom before.

 

[Solcita]

The problem is the moment we come the kittens hide behind Kato and even one sometimes ends up under her... What we can try tomorrow is try to lure her with food to a second cage.
We can open the cage (the door is at the front) and take out plates and litter, etc.. but we cannot access the kittens and removing her is impossible.
We will try to separate them tmw and see how it goes
Thank u everybody!! Will keep updating!!

 

[surya]

I'm wondering if you could zip tie the second cage together with the one you have her in to give her more room? She does look very crowded. If you are not already doing this, cover the cage with a sheet or something so she feels more safe.

 

[Solcita]

We could totally do that, to give her more space and then unzip it before going to the vet. We have part of the cage covered and they have a box the kittens go in.

 

[Norachan]

That sounds like a good idea.

 

[Sarthur2]

She could easily be pregnant again since she was outside and free. Cats can mate again within a week of giving birth. If her kittens are 7 weeks old, she may be six weeks pregnant.

She would not be due for 2-3 more weeks if the dates are correct. Cat pregnancy averages 63-65 days. Also, nursing stray cats rarely put on fat. If anything, they look thin from using their reserves to nurse.

She may simply be stressed, but I suspect she may also be low on calcium, particularly if she is growing babies and still nursing a litter.

Low calcium can cause this type of breathing and can be life threatening. The cure for this is to give her calcium in the form of plain, full fat yogurt, cheese, goat milk, or better yet, sprinkle finely crushed egg shell into her food. Egg shell is pure calcium.

https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/hypocalcemia-or-low-calcium-levels-in-cats

More space is a good idea regardless, as she is accustomed to freedom of movement and the kittens need room to play.

 

[catwoman707]

Exactly what I was going to suggest! Zip tie another cage to her cage around the doors, but leave the top not attached, when mom who will likely be lured first then kittens will follow, once she goes to the new cage slide something down between cages and there you are, separated kits from mom.
Do this with the door closed in case of any mis-haps, if so only feed her inside the cage and you can create a closure with string so the door will close when she thinks nobody is watching and goes in to eat.

Kittens need socializing now, you do not want to tame them at their speed, their mental development now until 8 weeks will determine how tame and accepting they are of people/strangers and their new home.

 

[Solcita]

Mission success... as you can see when we started moving them today, they all 3 went into the box.. we didn't think it was possible for all 3 to fit, but they did... and they stayed there.



As separation was going to be too hard for them and us, we attached a second cage where the door used to be.



They now have double the space.
We left the blanket on where the box is so they have a place to hide.
The litter is now in the opposite side, and food will be in the middle.
Now the door is in the side, but they are still so afraid that whenever we open the door they go into the box or next to it, so there's no danger of any escapes.
Just in case we also built a small divider.
The old door is still attached on the top, so when it's time to go to the vet, we simply close it and bring them in the cage all together.
We will bring a second carrier to bring the kitties back home when mom stays there the night.

Due to the size of the cage, they are now in the hall in front of the genkan and toilet, so they will see us even more often than before.
This also allows us, by opening doors, to send them some of the heat from the living room (but not all the time as we use the doors to separate cat areas.

They keep eating and drinking, and pooping soooooooo much. They seems to be doing very well.

Thank you everybody for your support and ideas.
Yesterday Mini1 (the brave one) ate from my hand, so we plan to keep on that track and talking to them a lot, even with mom in the cage (mom doesn't interfere with us interacting with the kittens, as long as we don't get too close to her (even if they hiss sometimes, she doesn't mind).


Regarding her breathing, she is doing better, and breathing normally.
I will keep the calcium in mind. I have a doubt: is there any problems if the kittens also eat those high calcium meals? As normally mom lets them eat first and then she eats the leftovers, so after each meal I always put more food around.

Is there any issue with "overfeeding" keetings?

Thank you again!!

Sol