The babies are a week old today. The two females have opened their eyes, and some of the boys. Twisty leg runt is getting much better, although he's definitely still on the small side.
I moved them back into the crate and took the bed frame away so she can't get back underneath. Now the bed is just sitting on another mattress on the floor. She has since kept her babies in the crate. She won't take KMR, but she will take wet food now. I had some canned A/D leftover and gave that to her, but it wasn't enough to help her put in some weight. She's not underweight, but nursing seven kittens will take its toll.
I was in the same position you are now; rescued a stray from the streets March 23rd of this year, wound up pregnant, got an X-ray from the vet and confirmed her pregnancy and about how far along she was. She ended up giving birth to four beautiful, healthy kittens on May 17th. Pregnancy only lasts about 60 days in cats so she must have been JUST impregnated when I found her. I was PETRIFIED when she gave birth. I had never had a pregnant cat before so I was on the phone with the vet every five minutes. What I noticed a day before and the morning of her giving birth, she was nesting loudly and ferociously, being extra territorial towards my other female and male and super cuddly towards me all day until the birth. Around 4:30, she started having some yellowish green vaginal discharge, which she had white discharge for a week prior. I was convinced it was a vaginal infection as she had diarrhea badly for two weeks prior due to the high hormone levels and pregnancy. It was basically her mucus plug coming out prepping for birth. I would confine her to one room when you aren't home and when she starts to look like she's nesting, which it seems you already have so good job! I learned that momma cats are very good while giving birth and caring for their babies, more so then I ever imagined. If they are stressed, they can give birth to one or two babies then "suck" the others back up and birth them weeks later when feeling comfortable again, so keep her stress free. My girl gave birth to all 4 in a matter of 3 hours. I had to break the sack on the last one and wipe all of their faces clean to prevent suffocation from afterbirth, liquids, etc but all have been very happy and healthy since. I've had issues with eye infections since they all fight for the best nipples and scratch each other's faces to get to them so I've trimmed their nails very carefully, guided them to nipples, cleaned their eyes with saline and warm compresses and made sure momma was fed kitten chow, wet and dry 24/7 with clean, cool water since it's very hot in my apartment/kitty sanctuary room. Good luck and please post to keep us updated! You are in good hands here, as everyone guided me through Mini's pregnancy wonderfully!
I'm so confused as to why your most recent posts didn't load for me before I posted my main post to you! I apologize but they're beautiful. Hopefully little twisty leg will be a-ok and the rest live happy, healthy, long lives! You are such a wonderful person for taking in a stray, pregnant momma cat. Not many would. Bless you and your new babies![emoji]10084[/emoji]️
Thanks everyone.the kittens are gaining well and little twisty's leg is much better than it was. Still has a bit of time to go, I think, but he's getting there.
Almost all the kittens have opened their eyes. The single grey female has a goopy eye, so I'm applying erythromycin twice a day and using a warm compress. It's getting better very quickly.I'm thinking they'll mostly be medium hairs, but I guess we'll see.
Good news, also. I got momcat to take some KMR. Not as much as I'd like, but I suppose I'd rather she not get diarrhea anyway.
I just caught momcat with one of her babies out of the nest on the hard floor. She wants to move them under the desk where it's freezing. I'll change the blankets in her nest and see if that helps, but she's a cat, and so of course thinks she knows best.
Try putting her nest under the desk and if its that cold put a heating pad under the blankets just an idea might help her from picking them up and moving them (:
So I picked up a hooded litter box and threw in some clean blankets and put it under the desk, and she moved them into it right away.
I found the softest blankets at goodwill, it's amazing.