Help with pregnant kitty

[Sarthur2]

I'm wondering if she just wants affection and attention. Have you tried just sitting with her in your lap? She may be jealous of the attention the kittens get.

My mama kitty has days like that where she hounds me until I stop and sit down and pet her. Moo Moo may be feeling needy, and expressing it through food.

 

[krisrath11]

I tried that too. I pick her up and carry her around with me bcz she gives hugs at least once a day. I did that repeated times yesterday, she laid on me in the bed and I petted her, sat in a chair and she jumped in my lap (she left in like 3 minutes). Maybe she was just like extra super needy if that is it. Ok, well to add to it apparently she got the bag of dog food I got yesterday down again and ate holes in it to get to it. (It was a little bag til payday tomorrow) I just saw it so I thought I would add it. She did this yesterday as well and I put it up higher and thought she would leave it alone. O what am I going to do with moo? U know, as I mentioned way before, the lady did tell me that "she usually eats dog food". It didn't dawn on me until now, is she so used to them only giving her that that's all she wants? She eats cat food, but maybe she doesn't like it?

 

[mazie]

Moo is the mom cat, right? If she is still nursing, she really does not cat and not dog food for the vitamins in the food.  Does she eat wet cat food?

 

[krisrath11]

Yes, moo is the mom cat. She eats all of it. She eats kitten food, cat food, wet food, dry food, dog food. She has an abundance of cat food at all times and she's always eating the cat and dog food. The dog bowls are empty at the moment (I feed them in the evenings as much as they want) and she stole the bag of dog food. I do not try to get her to eat dog food by any means, it just seems that may be what she wants.

 

[Sarthur2]

Goodness! It sounds like she was raised on dog food. Poor gal. She really does need cat and kitten food. The nutritional needs of dogs and cats are different. With that said, however, you could try mixing a small amount of dog food in with her cat food if she's craving it that badly. This is a peculiar situation!

 

[krisrath11]

This poor kitty is confused! So I found a trial sized bag of instinct raw dog food in the freezer. They make both cat and dog that feom what I remember r almost exactly the same. I fed her some of that to calm her and hopefully fill her up. I'm baffled she lived like this and had 3 litters so young and survived. Is there more protein in dog food? Idk, I even fed her some ribs I boiled last night bcz I knew there wasn't anything in them but she still went for the dog food right after. She's munching it down so maybe that'll do the trick.

 

[Sarthur2]

She has apparently thrived on dog food and misses it tremendously. Just experiment and see what happens.

 

[krisrath11]

I wonder if she was an outside cat and they had dogs out with her. She immediately went to try and eat the dog food when I put it down. She ate all but 2 pieces of the raw. The dogs beat her to it so she left but as soon as I brought chocolate milk in she was trying to drink it! Maybe I'll start putting cat food on my plate and see if she still wants what I have! Maybe I should see if who I got her from will answer and tell me what they actually did for feeding her.

 

[kittylover100]

Poor girl why would someone feed her the incorrect food or was that their only option even still if you get dog food you can get cat food I'm sure

 

[Sarthur2]

I think calling her previous owner for information is a good idea. I think it's obvious that she was raised with dogs and ate their food.

You are probably aware that chocolate is a hazard for cats and dogs, so good you did not let her drink it.

 

[kittylover100]

It is absolutely so sad though that couldn't give her correct food I would definitely call to see what's up about this

 

[krisrath11]

Well I talked to moo moo's old owner and she said "She ate dog food her she just shared it with the dog." Her actual text. After she was told you I asked this is what she said "as far as eating goes we just always had food in the food bowl so I don't know if you're just doing intervals were you feed them theym it could be just she was used to having it out all the time but she usually ate anything I gave her and she really like tuna" and "I never had trouble with her trying to eat my food but if we left something out on the table for too long she try to get it". All in all poor moo wasn't ever taken care of properly and now she thinks she needs to eat dog food. Hopefully it won't hurt her and it's not all she eats so maybe it won't be so bad on her. I feel bad for her now. Maybe I'll keep just enough in the bowl for her to have a bit while I'm gone and then she is kind of forces to eat cat food for the rest of the day. She eats, so that at least accounts for something I suppose. And the babies took over mama kitty's spot in the cat tree. Boy oh boy is she not happy lol!

 

[Sarthur2]

That's what I figured, poor Moo Moo was left to eat dog food or whatever she could get. She was not cared for properly, we know that. It may take her some time to learn how to eat like a cat. [emoji]128533[/emoji]

 

[krisrath11]

So is it more of a hope she gets the idea and stops eating the dog food? I want her to be as healthy as possible but I also don't want her making me nuts forever either. I hope she doesn't stop doing the trilling (isn't that what u called it when she calls the babies?) I think it's so cute. Merlin was talking back at her the other day, it was adorable! Moo-moo is also starting to wean the babies more and dozer sure gets hissed at a lot! He's the big boy, and he loves to eat! The babies r so possessive it's hilarious. They find something and growl at each other if they come near them lol. Such entertainment! Poor Bob hates being squeezed, he yells and yells and makes me feel bad. He hasn't had any real accidents since he had that med. I guess it did help with something! I still diaper him after he eats wet food just in case. I am going to start him back on the med probably next week and see if it helps anymore.

 

[Sarthur2]

Poor Bob. I hate that he yells. [emoji]128533[/emoji]

Mom WILL stop trilling eventually, when she no longer needs to call her babies to eat. It just stops as the babies grow more independent. I love trilling too though! [emoji]128522[/emoji]

Mom will hiss more and more and fuss with her babies more, and even tussle with them as they grow. This is how she tames them and teaches thrm manners, so be prepared.

I think regarding the dog food you just need to play it by ear. I think she should continue to get some each day along with her cat food for now. She seems to love it.

 

[krisrath11]

I feel like Bob is growing to hate me for squeezing him. I try and give him lots of love to offset it.

Dang, I wish she would always call the 2 we keep[emoji]128532[/emoji] maybe her and merlin can keep it up and have conversations lol

O so she's going to pretty much start being mean to them? Poor dozer gets it a lot already. So this is all going to be blowing up here before long? Ugh, that's going to be no fun.

I feed the dogs while the cats eat the canned and for once today she didn't come running like usual to try and get it before them. The kittens do sometimes, I think moo taught them. The dogs just move them out with their big heads so they rarely ever eat any of it.

 

[krisrath11]

Just thought I would give an update. All the kittens r little brats but still adorable! I stopped giving Bob the med more than like once a week. As long as he is going he doesn't get it. I worry about long term affects and we have a pattern now so he's ok. I am waiting until he is old enough to fit in the diapers he has that r big bcz he needs to stay used to them but doesn't require them nearly as often (he gets a little nasty sometimes though). My mom agreed to watch him while I go out of town (yay!) So he has to have them then bcz little poo here is one thing, somewhere else is totally different. I switched to pine pellets for cat litter. The smell of litter is bad enough and all that emptying was for the birds. They did pretty well getting to use it. Mama kitty will use whatever I give her, she's the best. I love it! No smell (the pine goes away in like a day), and I'm not digging at or having to scrape the bottom. I do have to get a sifting pan to make it less time consuming to sift though. O, I do need to know how to get moo to use a covered box.... I used a tote to put the box in with mama and merlin, since the kittens and moo I have covered boxes and one open which everyone prefers but moo won't use the covered ones. How do I get her to?

 

[Sarthur2]

That's great news that your mom will watch Bob for you when you go out of town. I'm sure that's a big relief for you!

It's good to hear that Bob is doing so well and that you do not need to use the medicine all the time. He will grow into those diapers eventually!

I don't know how to get Moo to use the covered box. I do know that some cats prefer the privacy of a covered box, while others prefer being in the open and have a hard time going in a confined space. Are you trying to do away with your open boxes?

 

[krisrath11]

I am most definitely relieved that she is going to watch him. I just hope she doesn't change her mind since he will be a big kitty by then.

I am trying to get rid of the open ones as the dogs think they r full of treats for them. I cut a hole in the top of a tote for mama kitty and that was where her box was until moo moo and the babies came out of their room. I don't like the boxes u can see, the litter everywhere (which isn't really a problem anymore) or the dogs eating a mound of poop. I was hoping to reporpose a chest of some sort to cover it, but I can't do that if moo won't use it. I have a fairly small house with only 2 bedrooms so space for the litter box is pretty vital. I want to try and toilet training but dozer has to be 6 months or more first and idk if it will happen with 5 cats and 1 toilet!

 

[mazie]

For the cat that does not like the covered litter box concept, is there a way that you can position some sort of "front" or "sides"  around the open litter box sides that would not be enticing to the  dogs from bothering the open litter box, yet the cat can get to it?