Momma keeps moving one kitten....

Csundeen

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Hi! I’m a newbie here and looking for help!

We have an outdoor cat (Barney) that brought home his girlfriend (Thelma-Lu) and now we have 5 kittens. (Thelma has been very loving and friendly towards us.) I found them yesterday afternoon in a very small box on our back deck that is very secluded. We moved Thelma and the kittens to a nice wooden box with food and water.
Yesterday after supper time, my kiddo went to check on them and there was only 4 kittens. I had him go check the box where they were born and sure enough he found the kitten back there. Again this morning that kitten was missing and it was on our back deck again. Later this morning I noticed she brought a different kitten to the back deck and nursed it before leaving it there. (I’m guessing they are 2-3 week old kittens??)
I’m trying to figure out why she is doing that. Do you think she does not have enough milk and that is why she’s trying to lessen the demand? If it was consistently the same kitten I would think there was an illness thing going on but she’s moved a different kitten now.
I have never done this before-so I’m at the mercy of a google search and found this site! Hope you can help so that all these kittens can survive!
( this is her second litter this year. 1st litter was only 3. She is a relatively small cat. And she had a litter of three in our barn that we did not know about for quite some time .)
 

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Sarthur2

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Sometimes mom cats sense that one or another of their kittens need extra nursing and they will move them away to nurse. However, the kitten does need putting back to stay warm. Keep checking on them!

Can you bring them inside where they will all be safe?

Can you get mom spayed in a few weeks? Litter after litter is very hard on cats. If she stays inside until then she will not get pregnant again.

Is Barney neutered?

C Csundeen
 

Furballsmom

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Sarthur2 Sarthur2 is an expert :), but I think if she's trying so hard to move them since she moved one, then tried with a second one, let her do so, but help her so one kitten isn't off by itself, getting cold - which is a very good point!

awww, is that a calico baby I see in that pile? :cloud9:
 
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Csundeen

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Sarthur2 Sarthur2 is an expert :), but I think if she's trying so hard to move them since she moved one, then tried with a second one, let her do so, but help her so one kitten isn't off by itself, getting cold - which is a very good point!

awww, is that a calico baby I see in that pile? :cloud9:
Looks like it... is calico a pattern or a breed??
 

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Looks like it... is calico a pattern or a breed??
Hello C Csundeen and feline family and welcome to TCS! "Calico" is a pattern, and calico cats are almost always female.
Good luck with your sweet cat family and yes, PLEASE get your mama cat spayed as soon as her babies are weaned, and the kittens spayed and neutered once they are over 2 pounds!
 
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Csundeen

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Sometimes mom cats sense that one or another of their kittens need extra nursing and they will move them away to nurse. However, the kitten does need putting back to stay warm. Keep checking on them!

Can you bring them inside where they will all be safe?

Can you get mom spayed in a few weeks? Litter after litter is very hard on cats. If she stays inside until then she will not get pregnant again.

Is Barney neutered?

C Csundeen
We don’t have inside cats. We had 1 barn cat “Barney” and He comes in for cheese and to nap a couple times a day. He was a pretty hungry boy when he showed up. I’ve been through almost everything with him.
My hubby thinks if he’s fixed he won’t be as effective of a mouser. It sure if that’s right?!
Her other litter was hardly weaned and she was flirting with Barney again. 🤦🏼‍♀️
Might have to do something!
 
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Csundeen

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Hello C Csundeen and feline family and welcome to TCS! "Calico" is a pattern, and calico cats are almost always female.
Good luck with your sweet cat family and yes, PLEASE get your mama cat spayed as soon as her babies are weaned, and the kittens spayed and neutered once they are over 2 pounds!
We moved them so that we could handle them so they’re used to people and hopefully find homes for them - Her other litter turned out to be extremely skittish.
 

tarasgirl06

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We don’t have inside cats. We had 1 barn cat “Barney” and He comes in for cheese and to nap a couple times a day. He was a pretty hungry boy when he showed up. I’ve been through almost everything with him.
My hubby thinks if he’s fixed he won’t be as effective of a mouser. It sure if that’s right?!
Her other litter was hardly weaned and she was flirting with Barney again. 🤦🏼‍♀️
Might have to do something!
The cats' health and wellbeing should always be more important than anything else. But no, neutering will not affect his hunting skills, nor will spaying affect female cats' hunting skills. Those are hardwired into cats and they never lose them. That's why they like playing with toys, which is mimicking hunting.

Those of us in the advocacy community are working very hard to ensure that every cat has a loving permanent home, but there are still many cats who lose their lives because they do not have homes. For every cat who finds a home, there are others who do no. Please do not add to this tragedy by adding to the population, whether or not they find homes. Please do the responsible and caring thing and get every one of them spayed or neutered. Thank you.
 

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Csundeen

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I am thinking we’ll move the box to the back deck and see what happens... it would be one thing if she moved them all but she’s just moving one . Although I don’t know if we’ve given her enough time to move them all but I would’ve thought she would’ve done that in the night ?? It’s a fairly warm day today so I think she just moved one again so I will wait to see how it goes ...
 
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Csundeen

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If you can find it, you might want to buy some powdered Kitten Milk Replacement. Then mix a saucer or two a day for mom cat. The KMR will provide her the extra minerals, fat, and proteins to aid her milk production. You can generally find KMR at pet supply stores. Do not feed cats cows milk. It will give cats diarrhea.
 
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Csundeen

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If you can find it, you might want to buy some powdered Kitten Milk Replacement. Then mix a saucer or two a day for mom cat. The KMR will provide her the extra minerals, fat, and proteins to aid her milk production. You can generally find KMR at pet supply stores. Do not feed cats cows milk. It will give cats diarrhea.
Thanks for the info, I'll check it out!
 
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