Stray Kitten About To Give Birth!

[Rbecker]

Mistie is doing really well. We are done with the antibiotics the vet gave her last week and she's eating better and caring for the kittens even better than before.
She will be staying with us after the kittens find their furever homes. That is if we can get her and our other 2 cats to get along. (They are both fixed)

 

[Rbecker]

I have a question to ask...
When would the best time be to introduce my resident cats to Mistie? I know she's protective of her babies right now, but we know it will be harder to find her a home and we are willing to keep her. I just want the process to be as smooth as possible.
I've been swapping scents as much as I can. Feeding by the door might not be ideal as we have a dog that would eat the resident cat's food if I put it on the floor.
I did let Mistie out while one of my cats was holding under my bed. As soon as they saw each other, the growls started. Mistie is protective of her babies so she's going to be more aggressive for sure. Just could use advise if anyone else has been in this situation. Here are pictures of the other 2 kitties.

 

[TobiDaDog]

One thing that I think really helped with my two was not just swapping scents, but grooming them every day with the same brush. Grooming is such a bonding ritual, and they were smelling one another's scents the entire time they got brushed!

 

[Rbecker]

Here's another odd question for anyone...
One of the kittens seems to always want to be with me when she's not eating. I mean she will cry for me to pick her up and hold her. When I place her back into the nest after I hold her she cries again. Unless she is sound asleep when I put her in there.
She loves to sleep in my hand, which I do love, but I can't stay in the room all day holding her. Lol! Is it possible to make a kitten choose to be with a person rather than her mother?
I do love it though. She wiggled herself right into my heart.

 

[ileen]

I was going to say she'll grown out of the problem, but it looks like she's already too big for your hand and still at it. What an adorable problem to have. I can't even get my cat of nearly two years to sit on my lap, so I'm afraid I don't have any advice for you.

 

[Rbecker]

Lol! Yes, she almost 4 weeks old now and still loves to climb on me and sleep.
I think momma is trying to start weaning them so I am doing a shallow bowl with milk replacer, but they want nothing to do with it.
I don't want to waste the milk replacer, but if they don't drink it, I have to dump it out. I don't want them to get sick by leaving it out.

 

[Rbecker]

The kittens are 1 month old now! 2 are eating kibble like momma and 1 just started eating wet food tonight. The other 2 are being stubborn aboya eating. Oh well, they will get it eventually.
All seem to be using the litter box finally! I don't see a bunch of puddle places anyway.
They are all doing great so far and full of energy!
I will post pictures later. My phone app saved them to my account but deleted them from my phone.