the girl's tame cat had babies Saturday... I had to help poor Mist deliever the first two... she had the rest on my freezer in a box the girls had for her... Now Mist is missing, she has not been around all day. The girls are getting so worried... and what makes it worst.. I can hear those baby kittens crying in the house... I don't know if they will make it... :cry:
Aw... poor things! Is Mist very young? Is this her first litter? Can you nurse them yourself? Googling pulls up tons of sites with advice on how to care for abandoned kittens, like this one: http://www.feralcat.com/raising.html It could be educational...?
yes, this is her first... she stayed with them yesterday, but this morning she was no where around...
I'm sure you can find info online to help you care for them. You should be able to find powdered kitten milk replacer at any farm store, maybe even walmart these days. If all else fails, goat milk works well. Aside from feeding, make sure they are not too chilled or hot. And...and this is a very important "and"....you will have to take a warm wash cloth and "poop" them. The mama cat (or dog, etc.) will lick the area to stimulate excretion. You can rub from tummy to tail and back to tail to help the kittens after a feeding. Hope this helps. Another thing to keep in mind....our cat was a bottle baby my great aunt took in. He is the best cat EVER. He was so well socialized since he was handled and cared for by humans from the time he was born.
Oh no!! Poor babies...momma cats are usually good mothers, but very young ones can get confused or spooked...I hope she comes back! Like others said, there are tons of websites to help you, and if you call your local shelter, I bet they have lots of good tips too.
Keke our girl dog has taken to them and licking and cleanning them... I just wish she had milk... she has jumped on to my freezer and is in the box with them taking care of them so to speak... if she had milk she could provide everything for them!
Our best cat is one we found abandoned at 2-3 weeks. We bottle feed him with kitten formula. He's now 4 years old.
It might be worth getting some kitten formula pretty soon. The mother might be spooked and might be away for a few days, and it isn't safe for babies to go too long without milk. Being fed from the mother is better, but if that isn't happening, you do what you have to. I hope she comes back!
I would contact the vet. I'm sure they will tell you exactly what to do, and can help you do it. Brooke, the "pooping" was very interesting!!!
We put the baby kittens in the shed with our other moma cat and her kittens (they are about 4 wks old) and she has been feeding them all... I am so glad.. We had to try something.. those poor babies needed to eat.. I think all is good! thanks ladies... I don't know if I could have had the engery to feed all those babies so much! lol
Oh, that sounds like the best solution! I know it's always touchy whether another cat will "adopt" them, but if it works out, it's a good way to go!
I never knew about the pooping thing. Before I met Handsome, I had a momma cat that was eaten by a coyote. Her kittens were very young when she was killed. I bottle fed them, but two of them didn't make it. Looking back, it was most likely because they weren't pooped. The others eventually pooped on there own, but they all struggled with bloated stomachs after she was gone. They meowed like crazy and didn't seem to be the healthiest of kittens. YIKES! They were being poisoned with their own poop. Poor kittens! Thankfully the momma was around just long enough to help them out in their early days or they all might have all died. Interesting, indeed! Well, I can no longer plead ignorance in this department.:lol:
Awesome! The momma cat deserves a special treat! I am so glad it worked out, I was just telling Dh this morning about the poor kittens...he looked warily at me...I'm always trying to adopt animals My brother and I once found a box of abandoned baby kittens. Our cat had just had her kittens and she was still lactating, so we tried to have her adopt those little babies, but she just hissed and spat and swiped at them. We had to give them to a shelter, but I doubt they survived, the shelter didn't want to take them
Update! Well, one kitten has past away. My oldest was checking on them tonight with me and saw it.. She then started screaming and crying because it scared her.. she thought it was just stuck.... I think she had an anxiety attack because she sounded like she was weezing and it took me for ever to get her calm an breathing normal again... her dad comes home and is not help... he can care less... which is fustrating! My poor dd, she loves all animals and this is just breaking my heart! and I am upset with my husband for not showing any comppation1:twisted:
Poor girl! That could be scary. I went out on the back porch last night and found a dead baby possum the dogs thoughtfully left for me. It startled me, and the kids found that quite amusing. I can imagine being a young girl, and the kitten was a pet, not a wild animal.
we used canned kitty milk when my cat went wild after having kittens in a raspberry bush in the middle of a snow storm... yeah, nothing came easy with her! lol
The poor little thing! I hope the others make it alright. But that's one of the reasons why we get pets, I suppose. To teach hard life lessons about life and death in an easier to swallow way. It still hurts though. Your daughter sounds so compassionate.
