Questions on nursing mom-cat and kitten care

[gsc]

I adopted a stray female the beginning of June. To make a long story short, it turns out she was pregnant. The birth went fine and I now have a litter of four 25 day old kittens and a nursing mom-cat to care for.

Mom-cat is a great mother and everyone is healthy and reaching all the development milestones they should. But any articles or cat health books I can find only really deal with develomental milestones and health issues. I need some day to day advice.

The family is happy in the nest box I prepared (about 2'x2' with a mom-cat chest high lowered doorway in the front). But now the kittens are strong and agile enough to escape from the box if they try hard enough. And I know that in a few days they will be able to get out easliy. When they escape from the box or I take them out to "play" mom-cat gets very nervous. Once they are all safely inside the box mom-cat calms down again. Mom-cat seems to want them inside the box but she does not seem to know how to pick them up and carry them in herself.

Should I get a bigger box that mom-cat can get into but they can't escape from? Create a kitten safe area around the box so if they do escape they are safe and just let mom-cat get nervous and eventually get used to it?

Any advice anyone has on these questions would be greatly appreciated!

Gwen

[Cleo]

Hi Gwen,

Along with my 2 resident cats, I have a mama cat (her name is Gwen too!) and her four kittens. I've had them since they were roughly five weeks old and are now four months old.

Initially I purchased a large training kennel to keep them close together and also give me a chance to kitten proof the area they were in. It cost around 50 bucks, got it at WalMart. Needless to say they outgrew it fast. If you are concerned about keeping them enclosed, what about a kennel/pen? Click here to see a picture.

As far as day to day care goes, mama is in charge for now. Be sure to feed her plenty and feed her food for pregnant or nursing moms. I'm assuming she's helping them along when it comes time to potty? Don't use scoopable/clumpable litter right now. It's too fine.

I can't think of what else to offer you but if you have any specific questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Here's the page on Kitten Care from this site.

Cleo

[Traci]

Along with Cleo's advice, I would add providing one room that is kitten-proofed, safe and private for both mom and babies. The kittens are at a stage they want to explore and exercise, so there would be no harm in letting them out of their box to explore, as long as the room is free from dangerous obstacles (things that could fall on them, areas they could get trapped or stuck between, electrical cords/outlets, etc)

[Dawn]

I have a stray with kittens also and I have them in their own room inside a nesting box in an old portable crib I used to use for my neices and nephews when they were little and visited (the fold up kind with mesh sides). Sweet Pea, the momma cat, loves this as she can see over the box and out of the mesh to survey her surroundings and also "escape" to the crib only area for some rest but not have to be far from the babies. My kittens aren't yet climbing out of the nesting box (they are 15 days old) but once they do, they won't be able to climb the mesh sides for quite some time. Once they show signs of that, I have a large heavy cardboard cover to place over it as I did for a 4 week old kitten I adopted last year. You can usually find used ones at thrift shops, eBay, classifieds or a baby consignment shop. Good luck!