I called my breeding mentor, but some times it takes a while for her to get back to me. So I thought I would ask here, because you lovely people are usually pretty quick to reply and I am freaking out a little.
My queen just had her second litter on the 18th (all my cats are registered and health tested). Her first litter she had 5 kittens, all kittens were 95g-100g at birth. This time she had 6 kittens, they ranged from 89.5g to 98g.
The lightest kitten (we'll call her purple for now) weighed 89.5g at birth, now on day 3 is 128.5g, she is still the lowest weight of all the kittens but has gained a reasonable amount of weight, so I am happy about that. When looking at her compared to the other kittens she looks as if she is one of the biggest, 3rd only to the two males in the litter.
My issue is is that last night at like 2 am, I was woken up to mom dropping purple basically on my face. We snuggled for a minute, I was waiting to see if mom would bring the other kittens too, but she didn't. She just hopped back into the basket with the other kittens. So eventually I put purple back in the basket with mom and the others.
Then this morning, after getting my kids ready for school, I went up to give mom her morning wet food meal and to weigh the kittens; only to find mom had moved purple again onto my bed. She was standing over her at this point..
I've never had a cat move only one kitten.. Normally they move the whole litter to a new nest, or my other queen would bring me the kittens in the middle of the night (usually drop them off in my armpit) and then lay at the bottom of the bed for a break.
I am wondering if the kitten has a possible defect that I am not able to see? She is gaining weight, so mom is still looking after her and feeding her, but I am not sure why she keeps moving her away from the others.
While in the basket I notice purple is more often then any other, laying slightly away from the other kittens. But she is strong, with a loud meow when you pick her up, and has no issues smacking the crap out of her littermates for a nipple.. So I am not sure what is going on.
Last time mom did everything herself, I just watched giving encouragement. This time around she cleaned all the kittens, but only removed 1 placenta, I had to do the rest.
I weigh the kittens twice a day in the morning and evening, so I will be able to spot fairly quickly if I need to step in and supplement. But I am not sure what to do or if there is anything I can do to stop mom from moving purple.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
My queen just had her second litter on the 18th (all my cats are registered and health tested). Her first litter she had 5 kittens, all kittens were 95g-100g at birth. This time she had 6 kittens, they ranged from 89.5g to 98g.
The lightest kitten (we'll call her purple for now) weighed 89.5g at birth, now on day 3 is 128.5g, she is still the lowest weight of all the kittens but has gained a reasonable amount of weight, so I am happy about that. When looking at her compared to the other kittens she looks as if she is one of the biggest, 3rd only to the two males in the litter.
My issue is is that last night at like 2 am, I was woken up to mom dropping purple basically on my face. We snuggled for a minute, I was waiting to see if mom would bring the other kittens too, but she didn't. She just hopped back into the basket with the other kittens. So eventually I put purple back in the basket with mom and the others.
Then this morning, after getting my kids ready for school, I went up to give mom her morning wet food meal and to weigh the kittens; only to find mom had moved purple again onto my bed. She was standing over her at this point..
I've never had a cat move only one kitten.. Normally they move the whole litter to a new nest, or my other queen would bring me the kittens in the middle of the night (usually drop them off in my armpit) and then lay at the bottom of the bed for a break.
I am wondering if the kitten has a possible defect that I am not able to see? She is gaining weight, so mom is still looking after her and feeding her, but I am not sure why she keeps moving her away from the others.
While in the basket I notice purple is more often then any other, laying slightly away from the other kittens. But she is strong, with a loud meow when you pick her up, and has no issues smacking the crap out of her littermates for a nipple.. So I am not sure what is going on.
Last time mom did everything herself, I just watched giving encouragement. This time around she cleaned all the kittens, but only removed 1 placenta, I had to do the rest.
I weigh the kittens twice a day in the morning and evening, so I will be able to spot fairly quickly if I need to step in and supplement. But I am not sure what to do or if there is anything I can do to stop mom from moving purple.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!