Hello,
We took in a stray about a month ago, not realizing she was quite pregnant. Surprise - she had kittens last week (the same day I took her to the vet to confirm she was pregnant, ha), and all 4 of them seem pretty healthy so far and she’s doing a good job of feeding them, cleaning them, etc.
I’ve been doing a ton of research since she had them. My concern is at the 3/4 week mark, I understand they start needing a mix of solid food and formula in addition. Me and my partner work normal work hours where we are gone for approx 9 hours a day. There is not really anyone we can depend on EVERYDAY to feed them within that 9 hours that we are gone - meaning their feeding might lag between 7am and about 4/5pm.
They would be able to regularly get fed at about 11pm, 4am, 7am, 430pm, 8pm. There is a large gap in the middle that doesn’t follow the 3-5 hour range.
Will this be detrimental to their health and development? We want to do everything we can to make sure they get what they need and are healthy, but I’m an extreme worrier and if we know that it’s not survivable for them, we will try to find outside resources (but the mom is very settled with us and we don’t want to have to remove her from the environment. Plus, we love her and the kitties!)
I appreciate any help and advice. We didn’t plan on having kitties, but we are trying our best to be good caretakers.
We took in a stray about a month ago, not realizing she was quite pregnant. Surprise - she had kittens last week (the same day I took her to the vet to confirm she was pregnant, ha), and all 4 of them seem pretty healthy so far and she’s doing a good job of feeding them, cleaning them, etc.
I’ve been doing a ton of research since she had them. My concern is at the 3/4 week mark, I understand they start needing a mix of solid food and formula in addition. Me and my partner work normal work hours where we are gone for approx 9 hours a day. There is not really anyone we can depend on EVERYDAY to feed them within that 9 hours that we are gone - meaning their feeding might lag between 7am and about 4/5pm.
They would be able to regularly get fed at about 11pm, 4am, 7am, 430pm, 8pm. There is a large gap in the middle that doesn’t follow the 3-5 hour range.
Will this be detrimental to their health and development? We want to do everything we can to make sure they get what they need and are healthy, but I’m an extreme worrier and if we know that it’s not survivable for them, we will try to find outside resources (but the mom is very settled with us and we don’t want to have to remove her from the environment. Plus, we love her and the kitties!)
I appreciate any help and advice. We didn’t plan on having kitties, but we are trying our best to be good caretakers.