Mama Cat Doesn't Clean Kittens Or Understand How To Be A Mother?

[MissTea]

First time poster and a first time kitten mama, so please forgive me for all that I am most likely doing wrong.

So the story is that last month, my boyfriend and I decided to take in a friend of a friends cat, since she was moving and couldn't take the her, even though we already have a male cat and a female cat that are both fixed. The new cat, Princess, wasn't spayed so we decided that we'd give her a month or two to settle into her new home before we'd take her to the vet and get her check up, schedule her to be spayed, etc.

Well, imagine our surprise when she had a single kitten on the 12th! We had ZERO clue she was pregnant and the previous owner had no idea at all either. Princess was TERRIFIED during the birthing experience, even getting up when the kitten was about half-way out and running to the litter box, because she was confused and thought she might have to use the bathroom! That being said, after the baby did successfully come out (when she calmed down finally) she did what she was supposed to do; she ate the placenta, cleaned the baby, nursed, etc.

However, only one kitten arrived and three days later, still just the one. Princess doesn't seem to understand how to be a mother, either. She often leaves her baby until it cries, then she comes back. If I'm not in the room with her or nearby her, she'll meow and cry until I come in and often still cry when I'm in the room, just not petting her. She doesn't clean the baby anymore, which I discovered today when I was putting out a warm water bottle for the baby to lay against. The baby's back end is filthy and I did what I could with a damp, warm washcloth and the baby crying and freaking out while Princess did the same.

Does anyone have any advice for me? I've read it's a bad idea to give a kitten a bath but.. I might really have to give this three day old a bath, because Princess isn't cleaning it at all and honestly, I don't want it to get an infection or get sick from not being cleaned. I have washed the bedding as well, and will continue to wash the bedding every day or every other day.

Sorry for the long read, I'm just really worried. Should I take them to the vet? I really wanted to avoid moving the kitten (and Princess) around as much as possible. Again, advice would be greatly welcomed and before anyone says anything, yes, I do believe in spaying/neutering your animals and she will be spayed ASAP!

Thanks

 

[StefanZ]

Yeah you must help them out.

Easiest is prob if you stimulate the kitten before and after the meals, so kitten gets emptied in controlled form easy to clean.

Clean with this damped cloth as long you can.

Bath CAN be done but has risks.
IF you do be very sure kitten doesnt get chilled out.
Not during the bath nor afterwarwards.

 

[catsknowme]

Welcome to TCS! and welcome Princess and little solo
I agree with StefanZ about stimulating to go pee and poop before & after eating. I like to use the jumbo sized cotton pads sold in the make-up aisle. I moisten them with warm water (about 100°F). For bathing, I very rarely do the whole baby - I wrap up in warmed washcloths (a purrito) and expose only the area to be washed. I hold the area being cleansed under a slow-running tap. I do not use soap - at the most, I use a baking soda solution.
Our fellow TCS member Hissy has a great website @ www.kitten-rescue .com & the articles are well-written. If you get a chance, read her blog as well - she is an amazing cats' guardian.
and fyi: We TCSers LOVE pictures

 

[StefanZ]

Observe bathing them as Catsknowme skisses up, such a bath is in itself a good poo pee stimulating.
There are some variants here.

Good to know if the usual stimulating doesnt work or they got irritaded skin.

 

[MissTea]

Welcome to TCS! and welcome Princess and little solo
I agree with StefanZ about stimulating to go pee and poop before & after eating. I like to use the jumbo sized cotton pads sold in the make-up aisle. I moisten them with warm water (about 100°F). For bathing, I very rarely do the whole baby - I wrap up in warmed washcloths (a purrito) and expose only the area to be washed. I hold the area being cleansed under a slow-running tap. I do not use soap - at the most, I use a baking soda solution.
Our fellow TCS member Hissy has a great website @ www.kitten-rescue .com & the articles are well-written. If you get a chance, read her blog as well - she is an amazing cats' guardian.
and fyi: We TCSers LOVE pictures

Thank you so much for the website - I’ll definitely be looking at that when I’m more awake! I totally feel like I’m a new mom to a human baby right now, not to a new Mom cat and to her kitten!

Speaking of Kittens, here’s some pictures of Princess and her little kitten. I think it’s a boy but I’m not for sure. (: thank



I’m just a little worried about her, is all. She’s a sweet cat, but I don’t think she’s mother-material. I thought the meowing thing would go away, since it’s most likely all her new hormones, etc.. except it hasn’t at all, hence it feels like I have a baby with all the crying, lol.

But really, thank you all so much everyone! I greatly appreciate all your advice during my time of need. (:

 

[StefanZ]

How much does the kitten weigh?

Good you take weigh every day.
It easier to follow development.

 

[MissTea]

How much does the kitten weigh?

Good you take weigh every day.
It easier to follow development.

I haven’t weighed them and now feel extremely silly for not thinking of this. Do people use kitchen scales to weigh the kittens on?

 

[StefanZ]

Whatever measuring in grammes

 

[catsknowme]

Princess is a very beautiful Persian!! Her baby is beautiful as well
I suggest putting the nest into a cardboard box and covering it at least part way with a towel - this will conserve heat for the baby. I have a friend who breeds Himalayans & she often uses the same comment "not mom material".
Regarding Princess' meowing, does she seem to be in any discomfort & is there any sign of trouble? Are you feeding her a good quality kitten food (I ask this because since no one realized that she was pregnant, she probably did not get the extra calcium and other extra nutrients & the baby looks to be a healthy size). I would supplement Princess' feedings with plenty of canned food and kmr (I prefer goat-milk based); as with all nursing moms, those extra calories go towards making good, rich milk. And if she gets sore nipples, you can apply a light coat of coconut oil or open a low dose Vit. E capsule and use that. Hopefully the extra nutrition will calm her crying and let you get some rest. Bless you for taking her in - I shudder at what she would have gone through if you hadn't - in "street work" we see too many sad cases of dumped & abandoned cats, especially pregnant ones. You are both an angel & a hero

 

[MissTea]

Princess is a very beautiful Persian!! Her baby is beautiful as well
I suggest putting the nest into a cardboard box and covering it at least part way with a towel - this will conserve heat for the baby. I have a friend who breeds Himalayans & she often uses the same comment "not mom material".
Regarding Princess' meowing, does she seem to be in any discomfort & is there any sign of trouble? Are you feeding her a good quality kitten food (I ask this because since no one realized that she was pregnant, she probably did not get the extra calcium and other extra nutrients & the baby looks to be a healthy size). I would supplement Princess' feedings with plenty of canned food and kmr (I prefer goat-milk based); as with all nursing moms, those extra calories go towards making good, rich milk. And if she gets sore nipples, you can apply a light coat of coconut oil or open a low dose Vit. E capsule and use that. Hopefully the extra nutrition will calm her crying and let you get some rest. Bless you for taking her in - I shudder at what she would have gone through if you hadn't - in "street work" we see too many sad cases of dumped & abandoned cats, especially pregnant ones. You are both an angel & a hero

Thank you so much! It's been tough trying to brush her every day with her hiding almost all the time and as soon as I can (which probably won't be for quite a while) I'm going to make sure I give her a nice bath. I'm still trying to make sure she doesn't get any matts under her arms; I had to cut one off last night because it was so bad and there was no way I could have saved the fur.

As soon as she had the kitten, I did a ton of online searches about what I should do and it came up that you should give the mother cat kitten chow so I immediately went and got her some Purina dry kitten chow. I was going to get her both dry and wet so she could have different options, but all my store had was dry, so I also got her some other canned cat food that I'll give to her at night so she has all that she needs - with a big bowl of water.


I'm so glad you think that the kitten looks healthy! I've been so worried and have been considering taking them to the vet, but I've already moved them around so much. I don't want Princess to reject her kitten because I might be handling it too much (I try to handle with a hand towel or a rag, although now I'm going to have to handle by hand to clean the backside of the kitten)

Princess just meows because she wants someone by her, I think. She doesn't appear to be in any pain, there isn't anything visible that I can see that would be causing her distress. I think that she's just stressed out from the kitten and very confused and wants me around her. I've been checking on her and the kitten a lot, so maybe I'm spoiling her. (:

I have been noticing she's been panting a lot, like a dog. I can't think of any reason she would do this aside from the fact that she's stressed out and it's been extremely hot lately; she decided to have her baby in the basement where there is no air conditioning and only a fan and believe me, it gets hot down there (not too hot, but enough that there's a fan; don't worry, I wouldn't leave her down there if it was REALLY hot). I got worried, so I actually did move her and the baby upstairs in a nice little cat cage I have so she could cool down in the air conditioning (baby was nestled in blankets and rags with a small cloth over him while she was nearby eating, so he would stay warm) but that actually made the panting worse for awhile.

I moved her back downstairs today to see if that would help and I haven't noticed her panting as hard, so I put the stand up fan in the room with her. I have her shut in with plenty of food, water, a fan and a litter box as well as a few towels on the ground. I've tried to put her and kitten in a box with a bed in it (with lots of blankets and towels/rags, as well) but she doesn't seem to like it and pants a lot then too.

 

[StefanZ]

She may have had some aftercontractions "afterpains"

 

[Sarthur2]

Yes, it could be after pains, but she may be low on calcium. This causes panting too, and can be dangerous.

You’ll want to get a can of powdered kitten formula (no Hartz products) and give her a dish a day for the calcium. PetAg makes a good one, and it’s at Walmart and pet stores.

 

[talkingpeanut]

And yes, please use a kitchen scale to weigh the kitten daily. This will help you a great deal! You want to see at least 6-10g of growth per day.

 

[catsknowme]

If possible, video record the panting and ask the vet's office if you can send it for an opinion. Also feel her stomach to see if there are contractions. In my experience, mother cats do not reject their babies like other mammals, such as sheep or rabbits, do. So if the vet wants to see her, by all means go.
Thank you for the update!

 

[MissTea]

I’m VERY happy to report that Princess is being a much better mama now!

As I said before, I left her and baby in a closed room with a fan (so it didn’t get too hot), a litter box, canned food, kitten food and a big bowl of water. I’ve tried to stay out of the room, mainly just peeking my head in to make sure everything’s okay and every time I did so (about every hour or two) baby was feeding.

She doesn’t really get up from baby’s side, preferring to stay with him until she needs some mommy time and come finds me, so i can follow her back in the room while she settles back into position. I’m also REALLY a happy to say that she’s also paying more attention to baby, licking him and cleaning him a lot!

I’m the panting is gone and she seems extremely relaxed. I came in and brushed her which she seemed to appreciate; she’s now sleeping while baby is once again feeding. I’ll be getting some coconut oil tomorrow for her.

Thank you guys so much for all your help! Seriously don’t know what I would have done without you; you saved my sanity!

Here’s a picture of Princess and baby taken just a few minutes ago. (: