Mother Cat Smothered One Of Her Babies. Ignores The Rest Of The Litter Now.

[ans5181]

If she's not nursing the babies at all you need to start asap. I don't know if you have access to kitten milk replacement or goat's milk, but you can bottle or dropper feed them with that. No cows milk. If she is nursing them, you need to keep her with them, even if she is struggling. That is going to be their best chance for survival if she will feed them. Bottle fed babies don't always have a high survival rate. I'm sorry that you are having such a terrible experience. The babies will me to eat every 1 to 3 hours, like human babies, and they will need to be kept warm if mom is not with them. The best case scenario is if she will stay with them. I'm sure that other people will have advice here to, good luck and let us know what happens.

 

[ans5181]

Oh, also the babies will need to be stimulated to go to the bathroom, they can't do this on their own under 3 weeks old. Mom usually does this with her tongue, you can use a warm wet washcloth and rub over their genitals to stimulate them to go to the bathroom.

 

[Teddy777]

If she's not nursing the babies at all you need to start asap. I don't know if you have access to kitten milk replacement or goat's milk, but you can bottle or dropper feed them with that. No cows milk. If she is nursing them, you need to keep her with them, even if she is struggling. That is going to be their best chance for survival if she will feed them. Bottle fed babies don't always have a high survival rate. I'm sorry that you are having such a terrible experience. The babies will me to eat every 1 to 3 hours, like human babies, and they will need to be kept warm if mom is not with them. The best case scenario is if she will stay with them. I'm sure that other people will have advice here to, good luck and let us know what happens.

She nurses the older kittens and the babies often go without milk. I try to feed her as much as she wants in hopes of the babies getting fed enough. Sadly, I get to scoop more but the babies still get very less milk as those dracula-cats from 1st litter suck her dry. Regarding the kitten formula there is only one product on Amazon with very poor reviews. I can't get goat's milk as I don't talk to anyone and even if I try it will create numerous problems. I'll try to find something from a pet store.

She drove me nuts with her meows. Anyone who hears will think there are 2 Cats talking- one soft kitty pleading and another rowdy kitty threatening the soft kitty. I dont know how she changes her voice and meows like that. It's cute and depressing at the same time. To prevent a brain aneurysm I let her go to the older kittens as I must have at least few hours of sleep in order to function tomorrow.

I'll keep the babies warm. Thanks for your suggestions. You have no idea how much it means a lot to me.

 

[Teddy777]

Oh, also the babies will need to be stimulated to go to the bathroom, they can't do this on their own under 3 weeks old. Mom usually does this with her tongue, you can use a warm wet washcloth and rub over their genitals to stimulate them to go to the bathroom.

WOW! I never had babies. All this is so weird but I am not nauseated. I'll do what you said. -_- But for this post and this comment I would have missed that. Thanks a LOT for telling me.

 

[ans5181]

You are welcome, I am rooting for you and the kittens! A pet store should have a kitten formula or milk replacement. Also, at the beginning of this section, there are a bunch or articles on how to care for kittens, you might want to take a look because I'm sure I'm missing some things! Specifically articles on how to hand raise kits.

 

[ans5181]

Recipes For Homemade Kitten Formula • Kitten Rescue

I am at work so I didn't read all of it, but maybe this can help till you can make it to the pet store?

 

[catsknowme]

just chiming in real quick - you can get goat milk at almost any grocery store worldwide. and you can get tips and recipes from www.kitten-rescue.com (that is TCS' member Hissy's website). I hope others chime in soon. There are also articles and threads on here. or you can search member's posts - I would start with StephanZ and SArthur2 and Ashade1

 

[ans5181]

Thank you catsknowme , I knew there were other people that could offer more but I couldn't think of anyone to name!!

 

[catsknowme]

You're welcome! there are many more excellent members here but those were the first that I could recall

 

[Teddy777]

Thank you so much catsknowme and ans5181 for the links and suggestions. I am checking them all!

 

[Teddy777]

Last night I let her go to the older kittens around 12.30 before I went to sleep and she started crying around 5.30 am. Assuming that she wanted to see the babies I opened the door and she went straight to the bowl and had some dry food after which she tried to go back to the older kittens. I lost my cool and picked her and took to the babies. She was like, "Oh! These look familiar! They are mine!" After nursing them for a couple of minutes she started scratching the door again meowing to go back to the older ones. The babies were crying for milk but she just didn't care.

I made sure that she stayed and fed the babies during the day. But I am going to keep the babies warm at night and feed kitten formula as I need some rest to meet my deadlines. Will check the links now so that I can take care of the babies on my own. It's taking a toll on me to 'make' her stay and feed the babies. It's kind of sickening.

 

[war&wisdom]

It sounds like she had litters much too close together and simply can't comprehend or tend to the needs of both. It's good that you're preparing yourself to take care of the recent litter on your own, because it seems clear that she truly can't.

 

[Teddy777]

It sounds like she had litters much too close together and simply can't comprehend or tend to the needs of both. It's good that you're preparing yourself to take care of the recent litter on your own, because it seems clear that she truly can't.

Today I crept in to see what's going on. She treats the older kittens with utmost care as if they are babies. It was different from what she was doing before the babies came along. She were licking them thoroughly as if they were babies. Though she used to lick them in the past it wasn't the same. She visits the newborns for few mins and runs back crying. I am at peace after I started taking care of the babies. Trying to make her care was stressful, time-consuming and fruitless.

 

[ans5181]

It really does sound to me like she had litters too close together and simply can't comprehend that they both belong to her, but instinctively she may be treating the older ones like "new" babies because the poor thing is confused. How are the new kittens faring? Are they eating and going to the bathroom? Gaining weight?

 

[talkingpeanut]

Do you have your male and female cats separated, and kept entirely inside now?

 

[Teddy777]

It really does sound to me like she had litters too close together and simply can't comprehend that they both belong to her, but instinctively she may be treating the older ones like "new" babies because the poor thing is confused. How are the new kittens faring? Are they eating and going to the bathroom? Gaining weight?

Yes they are eating, pooping and gaining weight. I love them to bits! Though the fur is dull and light they are active and meow for milk. The guy at the pet store told me that he'll procure the best kitten formula available in the market in a couple of days. For the time being I am making her stay and feed using silly circus tricks (scaring her into it) I hate doing that as it's not in my nature to interfere.

At night, I keep the babies warm by making a cave on the bed using a soft towel. They snuggle together as I get some sleep. I make her feed them until I go to bed.

You guys have helped me to get a hang of it! I was so scared when I came here. Now I feel confident. Thanks a lot.

 

[Teddy777]

Do you have your male and female cats separated, and kept entirely inside now?

I never allow them to go out. When Sunshine (mostly) or Fluffy (rarely) breaks out and I go after them and catch them immediately. They never mated anyone else. I tried to separate them but she throws a kitty-tantrum and meows incessantly that I have put them all together like she wants and demands.

Must separate them sooner. Right now I am looking for a new place as I need a bigger house. I must concentrate on my work (Christmas deadlines) and they need more room. All this is so crazy. I feel like I am on the road to becoming a Crazy Cat Lady! Given that I never wanted a pet, nor a kid, it scares me to death when I realize how a Kitty caught me off guard and tamed me with doing some belly dancing on the ground.

 

[talkingpeanut]

You must keep the males and females separated or you are going to have a much larger problem in no time at all.

 

[Teddy777]

You must keep the males and females separated or you are going to have a much larger problem in no time at all.

Actually I am terrified. I work, sleep and live in my living room and the Kitties have taken over the entire house. I don't cook as my parents live nextdoor. I moved here to escape the commotion and work on my projects at peace. My family is mocking me now. -_-

 

[war&wisdom]

Where are you located? We can help you find a low-cost spay/neuter clinic near you (or possibly free -- both of my kittens' surgeries were done at no cost to me because of a grant program in my area).