My friend is currently fostering a mother cat and her four kittens for the local Humane Society (she does this quite frequently because the kittens she fosters always end up so well-socialized). The mother cat is obviously still a kitten herself, and we think her previous owners just surrendered her to the Humane Society when she got pregnant. What I don't understand is how they could let her get so terribly thin!
The kittens are on the small side (they were estimated at being about 5 days younger than they actually are: their eyes are now open, for the most part, but that's a new development) but are otherwise thriving. The mother, on the other hand, is tiny. Aside from the fact that she is still a kitten and is therefore quite small, she's far, far too skinny: you can see her hipbones jutting against her skin, and you can count all her ribs. Everything she eats is going towards feeding her kittens. Because of this she's eating kitten food, but is there anything else we can give her or do to help her bulk up a bit? I know once the kittens are weaned she'll get bigger, but that's quite a while from now and in the meantime, she's just tragic-looking.
My friend does have access to the Humane Society's resources, but I thought I'd check on here to see if any of our resident experts have any advice. This poor cat just breaks my heart to look at her!
The kittens are on the small side (they were estimated at being about 5 days younger than they actually are: their eyes are now open, for the most part, but that's a new development) but are otherwise thriving. The mother, on the other hand, is tiny. Aside from the fact that she is still a kitten and is therefore quite small, she's far, far too skinny: you can see her hipbones jutting against her skin, and you can count all her ribs. Everything she eats is going towards feeding her kittens. Because of this she's eating kitten food, but is there anything else we can give her or do to help her bulk up a bit? I know once the kittens are weaned she'll get bigger, but that's quite a while from now and in the meantime, she's just tragic-looking.
My friend does have access to the Humane Society's resources, but I thought I'd check on here to see if any of our resident experts have any advice. This poor cat just breaks my heart to look at her!