I thought I was going to get a litter of barely weaned kittens - about four or five weeks. Well, I have a family instead. The very, very pregnant cat was picked up and... had kittens! Four little ones, born April 16. Their eyes are not open yet, but boy can they scream up a storm.
Here's a better pic of the kittens. One grey tabby, two black/brown tabby, one black. Kittens are sucking well and although the mum is small, she isn't scrawny, and this is not a large litter. I think the kittens will be fine. Despite the dour pessimistic view of the rescuer. LoL. "This is the runt," she said as she handed it to me. "They look fine, but you know how it is. If they survive, they survive."
Not that good a mommy cat. I heard a different kind of cry and went to investigate. 3 kittens nursing. Move nursing kittens to see if one got trapped under it's siblings. Crying unabated. Lift mommy cat's front leg, hind leg, hind quarters, front quarters - find crying kitten she had lain on. All is well and kitten is back to nursing.
Sad news. One of those little faces did not make it. The little runt - which was only about half the size of his largest sibling passed. He was doing poorly Sunday and the mother cat had already rejected him, pushing him aside. I knew it was only a matter of time. The runts if especially small usually don't make it past the first week.
However, mother cat is eating like a champ now, and has figured out the litter box. The remaining kittens are doing well.
Day 8 - the largest kitten - Little Blackie has his eyes open! Whether he can actually discern anything other than light and blurry images is another thing altogether.
Kittens are two weeks old. I had a call about a ten day old orphan kitten and we set him on the nursing mom last night. I got her out for a bit of supper and slipped the orange boy in to snuggle with the other kittens and mingle in their scents. I kept Mamma cat out by petting her and when she finally went back in, she took one sniff at him and promptly bathed him. I can just imagine what's going through her head. "Ewww! How did you get that much human stink on you in just a little while??"
He took a bit before he figured it out as he had been on a bottle for 3 days by then, but this morning, he was nursing fine when I left the house.
Luckily cats cannot count and don't see color the same way we do.
Lumbering around drunkenly on wobbly legs. Driving mother cat nuts as she tries to herd them back. She comes and gets me help. LoL. To be a distraction to them so they will climb over me and not try to explore too far.
Mother cat moved them. The girls who brought the orange orphan over stressed her out a bit. They are now ensconced between my piano and a stack of video games.
Four weeks old now. The orphan has tried Mamma's food. A mixture of goat milk and tinned cat food.
This is George after having some goat milk. More successfully this time. The first time he tried, he got some up his nose. Kitten sneezes must be one of the cutest sounds around.
The other kittens have sniffed at, but have not tried the food. I'm starting with Gerber no. 2s - the Turkey/Chicken with Gravy. Mother cat is loving it, and only George has had any. Come on kits, you are now four weeks old. Time to start weaning.
I have yet another orphan. This is Tex - my neighbor downstairs was at a conference in Houston with a colleague and this little guy was in the middle of a busy road. She called around the shelters - "Oh he bit you? We'll euthanize him then," she took it to a vet, got him cleaned up and tested, bought a carrier and paid the airlines the exorbitant fee of $125 to take him on as carry-on luggage. Her 14 year old cat went into a decline and hid in one closet, he hid in another. For several days. So I have him now, and he's doing fabulously. He's about a week older than mine and after a few days, the mother cat stopped growling at him.
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