Mama cat and kitten questions

[stephanier.1765]

We tamed a pregnant cat just in time for her to have them in our house. Today I took the 3 of them to our low cost vet to get them checked over only to find it shuttered. Since we've never done this before, we had some questions so I'm hoping there is someone here that might know the answers. The kittens will be 3 weeks old on Friday

1. How much food should we be giving her? Today she has had 3 cans of Fancy Feast  and about a quarter of a cup of dry Purina One kitten food. She's asking for more.

2. Can she be given flea medication? We have all our other cats (all indoor kitties) medicated but we are afraid to put any on her for fear it would transfer to the kittens.

3. She either won't or doesn't know how to use a litter box. We want to make sure the kittens do know how since they will be indoor cats. How does one go about training a kitten and how old do they have to be in order to start?

4. Most importantly, when can she be safely spayed? We are petrified at the very thought of her getting pregnant again. We can keep these two kittens but there is no way we can keep more. Already we will be in the crazy cat lady category. 

We don't have good pictures of them yet with them being so tiny and so black. My camera spazzs out any time I try. One is solid black with a short, wide-ish tail which reminds me of an otter so Otter is his name. The other has a tiny nub of a tail like a bear so Bear is his name. 

[maize]

I would give her as much food as she wants. Nursing growing babies takes lots of calories and protein.

Don't know the answer to your other questions.

[Tanaqui]

Fleas kill kittens. Period. Your mama should have Advantage or Frontline put on, and the kittens should be thoroughly checked for fleas. Any fleas must be ruthlessly killed and if there's any hint of them then the bedding and, ideally, the sleep box (it looks like they're in one?) must be switched out daily until it's under control. You may also want to generously apply Gentrol, an insect growth inhibitor, to the baseboards in the room they're in, because fleas kill kittens. Your vet will agree with me - the medicine might not be safe for kittens, but the fleas definitely aren't safe. (Indeed, if Mama has a bad infestation then I'd recommend giving each kitten a half dose of the medicine.)

You should give Mama as much food and water as she wants. When the kittens start eating solids, though, you'll want to put the food out only in small portions - for a few weeks, kittens really will eat until they vomit. You may also want to switch to wet-food only for two reasons. First, because kittens often gag on dry food intended for adults, and secondly because cats don't drink enough water in the best of times and wet food is better for them.

Mamas usually teach their kittens how to use the box. Have you tried putting the box where she naturally goes to pee? Will she pee and poop if you fill the box with shredded paper or sawdust instead of clay litter? Is the box big enough for her?

Mama can be spayed as early as 8 weeks after giving birth. If you've brought her inside and she hasn't weaned yet, I'd wait until 12 weeks, because she will stop nursing when she's been cut open. The kittens can be done by 12 weeks, and they really ought to be - 16 weeks at the very latest.

Edited March 18, 2020 by Tanaqui

[stephanier.1765]

10 minutes ago, Tanaqui said:

Fleas kill kittens. Period. Your mama should have Advantage or Frontline put on, and the kittens should be thoroughly checked for fleas. Any fleas must be ruthlessly killed and if there's any hint of them then the bedding and, ideally, the sleep box (it looks like they're in one?) must be switched out daily until it's under control. You may also want to generously apply Gentrol, an insect growth inhibitor, to the baseboards in the room they're in, because fleas kill kittens. Your vet will agree with me - the medicine might not be safe for kittens, but the fleas definitely aren't safe. (Indeed, if Mama has a bad infestation then I'd recommend giving each kitten a half dose of the medicine.)

You should give Mama as much food and water as she wants. When the kittens start eating solids, though, you'll want to put the food out only in small portions - for a few weeks, kittens really will eat until they vomit. You may also want to switch to wet-food only for two reasons. First, because kittens often gag on dry food intended for adults, and secondly because cats don't drink enough water in the best of times and wet food is better for them.

Mamas usually teach their kittens how to use the box. Have you tried putting the box where she naturally goes to pee? Will she pee and poop if you fill the box with shredded paper or sawdust instead of clay litter? Is the box big enough for her?

Mama can be spayed as early as 8 weeks after giving birth. If you've brought her inside and she hasn't weaned yet, I'd wait until 12 weeks, because she will stop nursing when she's been cut open. The kittens can be done by 12 weeks, and they really ought to be - 16 weeks at the very latest.

We put flea medication on mama before the kittens were born so we are about 4 - 5 days late for the next dose. We've been checking her and the kittens religiously and haven't seen any critters. So it's a relief knowing we can give her more. We don't do fleas. Yuck!

She thanks y'all for her fourth can of food for the day. She gave it a big thumbs up.

She's a small cat and we got for her the same box that our large cat uses. Could it be too big? We've seen a paw print in it but that's it.

So far she is refusing to be an indoor cat. She gets upset and will start pacing if we don't let her out. One day just as I was getting ready to leave, she asked to go out. I refused her because the kittens couldn't be left alone. As soon as I opened the door when I got home, she bolted. Nothing but a black streak racing by. So I'm hoping vets will resume business in time for her to get fixed.

[RootAnn]

If you do find fleas on the kittens, don't put the medicine on them! You can give them a bath (Kitten Lady has a video & instructions on YouTube plus how to tell if they have fleas). The important thing is to prep ahead of time so you can make it fast & keep them warm.

The kittens can be spayed/neutered once they they are two pounds, I think. (DD#2 is the one who knows all this, but that is what I think is the guideline.)

Kitten Lady is a great resource. She has one about litter training kittens, too.

[Tanaqui]

1 hour ago, RootAnn said:

If you do find fleas on the kittens, don't put the medicine on them! You can give them a bath (Kitten Lady has a video & instructions on YouTube plus how to tell if they have fleas). The important thing is to prep ahead of time so you can make it fast & keep them warm.

The kittens can be spayed/neutered once they they are two pounds, I think. (DD#2 is the one who knows all this, but that is what I think is the guideline.)

Kitten Lady is a great resource. She has one about litter training kittens, too.

 

That is also an option, and possibly safer, but I've never given a flea bath without ending up with live fleas climbing all up my arms.

Honestly, I wouldn't bother with either approach so long as you don't have a very bad infestation. Treating Mama and the other cats in the household should be enough for a mild infestation, and protective enough if there are no fleas just now.

[katilac]

We've never had to do anything beyond showing kittens the box and placing them in it. There's usually a few accidents at the beginning but it doesn't take long (for kittens - we've never had a stray wander in who didn't immediately get the hang of it). 

Keep an eye on mama and make sure she doesn't try to move the kittens outside. They usually move them around in the wild and it can be a strong instinct in strays. Ours was very persistent on trying to move hers, even though she deliberately brought them to us shortly after birth. 

[MercyA]

God bless you, Stephanie. ❤️

[MercyA]

Here are some suggestions for litter box training a semi-feral cat: https://pets.thenest.com/teach-semiferal-cat-use-litter-box-7649.html

[Pen]

She will know how much to eat and also imo she will know how long she can leave her babies to go outside to potty.

my favorite cat of my life looked a good bit like her and always was an outdoor pottier, not a litter box user.

Our current cats are indoors outdoors and figured out litter box use on their own afaik.  At least I don’t recall training them, and their mother didn’t use one.  But one of our two is very high strung nervous and can’t use litter box if under stress.  And being confined inside when she wants out stresses her.

[Tanaqui]

Quote

Our current cats are indoors outdoors and figured out litter box use on their own afaik.  At least I don’t recall training them, and their mother didn’t use one.  But one of our two is very high strung nervous and can’t use litter box if under stress.  And being confined inside when she wants out stresses her.

 

You know, I forgot about this, but a few years ago I brought home two semi-ferals at about 10 weeks. They'd clearly never been indoors in their life, but they picked up the box concept within days - I just waited until they pooped, and then I picked up the poop, put the box down where it had been. When they pooped somewhere else I put a new box there. Three boxes later, no more problems, and I was able to cut back down to one box in the room.

We only had them a week. I'd been planning to keep them longer, but we had a family emergency and I had to rehome them fast.

Cats like to keep their environment clean. Given the chance, they're usually smart enough to realize that a litterbox helps them do it.