My kitteh had kittens yesterday...

[Mezzo]

and I am a newbie at this, so i don't know what to do. I plan on keeping them, and getting them fixed. ;) I put some food in her little birthing box that is in a cool, dark corner. She also has a water bowl. But, at what point do I start feeding the baby kittehs with bottles? :shrug: Should I leave it all to their Mama?

[China_cat]

1. Leave it mama

unless she shows an inclination not to take care of them. That doesn't mean she never leaves them...she'll need to move, go to the catbox, take a break. Put her food OUTSIDE the birthing area and put clean bedding in. Make sure her food is high protein (not dry, please) and that she gets it at least twice a day, not just once.

If you worry, watch for kittens pushed out of the group, that seem to be cold or flopping. Then you may have to intervene. But that's rare and mama will do for them what needs to be done.

Don't be surprised when she moves the kittens in a few days. Mama cats tend to move their litters every few days for safety. Make sure she can't get up into the mattress or into walls or insulation., maybe make a couple nests in dark, quiet closets and leave them for her to find for herself.

Watching new kittens develop is a neat thing to do.

[stuntcat]

11. moving them, I was gonna say

Every kitty mom I've known has wanted to move the litter soon after they were born.

They should get some fresh new rags to sleep on too!

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Mama is more than capable. :^) Gratz on teh bebbies!

[LeftyMom]

3. Like most healthy mammals, mom should have the baby thing under control.

As long as she's nursing all of the babies, all of their little bellies are getting fat and they're all growing, they'll do much better on mother's milk than on kitten formula. This is just as well, because bottle feeding doesn't provide immunities like real milk does, so the kittens often don't all make it, and it's a pain in the ass, and the formula stains and smells horrible (worse than human baby formula even, and that stuff is pretty foul!)

It may be tempting to give them supplemental feeds, but the thing is, milk works on supply and demand, and if you feed them they'll nurse less, mom will make less milk, and pretty quickly you'll wind up with a litter of kittens to bottle feed and no sleep. So unless one of them is clearly not thriving, don't bottle feed or you'll create more problems than you'll solve.

They'll start exploring out of the box and trying to get into mom's food in a few weeks, but they'll nurse for 6-8 weeks, at the end of which Mom can go in and get fixed. Be very sure to keep her inside until then, once they start eating solids and weaning a bit, she'll be real eager to get out and get herself a fresh load of kittens, and a female cat looking to outside for that purpose is one of nature's smartest, sneakiest creatures.

[meow2u3]

4. First thing: please provide us with pictures

There is an unwritten rule on DU that requires all posts about kitties to be replete with pictures for the amusement of your fellow DUers. Please oblige.

[ashling]

5. wouldn't that be

kittehns? Or maybe kittehens?
:rofl:

[noel711]

6. Ok, describe them in detail...

If not actual photos, help us paint a mental picture
of aforesaid kittehs...

How many?

What colors?

Males? Females?

Is Mama proud?

Cats are intensively private,
no touching.. at all...
she may reject the ones that you paw...

make sure she gets enough water, and food, and privacy.

Mama needs some time away from the nest occasionally..

when they are ready (eyes open, when they start teetering around,
they may follow her to the food bowl to taste it themselves,
but they'll still nurse until she shoves them away...)

Enjoy, its a privilege and honor if she allows you to be
part of this...

They won't need to use litter box like mama does
until they start eating real food..
mama cleans newborns very thoroughly..

[Mezzo]

7. UPDATE: mama seems to be a bit nauseous...

I am especially happy that she just threw up on my freshly made bed.

This is the second time she's thrown up today, and the third time I've seen her get sick...ever.

I am starting to worry.

[Wcross]

8. You didn't change her food did you?

I would keep everything the same for her food wise. It is VERY possible she just over ate because she went through a traumatic experience. It may be, if she is a first time mom, that she overate because she saw all the kittens and wanted to get her "fair share" before the kittens ate it all on her? (my two male cats will over eat if both are fed at the same time).

[Mezzo]

9. same food. This is her second litter, but...

she was too young to carry the first, and the kittens died of something called "Fading kitty syndrome" at the fourth week.

I am making an effort to not repeat anything from before. Being much quieter this time. .

[stuntcat]

12. I hope she's feeling better

that does sound worrying, so much barfing. She needs a lot of strength right now.

[China_cat]

15. You may need some vet intervention

Can you check for discharge? Does she seem to be running a fever? Otherwise seeming lethargic or in pain? Bloated belly?

She could have a retained kitten and that could be fatal.

[Wcross]

16. Seriously good advice China_Cat.

I hadn't considered that problem & I agree a visit to the vet is in order.

[LynneSin]

10. This post is just totall bullcrap......

...you post about kittens being born and you don't have any pictures

:cry:

[Mezzo]

19. I'm sorry. she won't let me near them right now...

I can't tell if there are four or five. She has gone out to the porch just twice, and that is when I looked.

Her nausea seems to have gone away...mama is sleeping with babies right now.

All seems well.

They are all grey. I've seen three adorable faces, white masks is you will. :)

[emilyg]

30. Don't disturb momma and babies

or she'll carry and hide them somewhere.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

13. I am horrified !! NO PICTURES !!

congratz on the new family :D

[Inchworm]

14. I was all tweaked for bebbe pictures!

The humanity!

:cry:

Sounds like fun though.

:hi:

[bertha katzenengel]

17. Leave it to Mama, Mezzo. Cats are amazing moms to watch.

Just stand back and watch the magic. You don't need to do a thing but keep plenty of food and water for Mama because those babies will eat every ounce of food she consumes and then some.

Congratulations!

(BTW, She will teach them to pee and poop, too, and to use the litterbox. Get a short-sided card board box for their litter - something they can climb over easily. Like a Coke case box.)

[Jamastiene]

18. Let mama do it if she is already doing it.

There is no need to bottle feed them, unless she rejects them for some odd reason or another.

Congrats on the new births in the family. :D

[Solon]

20. As others said, trust Momma, and everything should be fine, we had kittens born only a few years ago

4 healthy kittens, two boys and two girls. If Momma cat looks ill, take her to the vet, but if she seems to be ok, without swelling in the belly or anything, then just leave her mostly alone. I was lucky, momma cat wasn't wary of me at all, indeed, I helped her round up the kittens soon after birth when they started squirming away, still bloody and wet. I made special spots for her to move them too, if needed, but she actually didn't want to move them from the place we made initially. She gave birth to them in a high walled cardboard box with a hole cut in the side, and lined with old blankets. I guess she felt the place we made for her was safe enough. She was, we knew, a first time mom, so I was concerned about how she would treat them after birth, but she took good care of them.

She was a stray we let into the house only a couple of months before, and soon after the kittens were weaned, she took off, snuck out of the house, and we never saw her again. I'm just glad that, as soon as the kittens were weaned, we got her spayed but still miss her, she was a sweet cat, and gave us gifts! :)

[Burma Jones]

21. We have a five week old litter of six kittens

We switched MomCat's food to Kitten Chow and gave them an isolated and warm place to hang out. Now, they're all healthy and jumping on each other and our legs and have been taught by their Mom to use the litter box. Oh, and 2 of them have started purring when we hold them. All our intervention has been passive, limited to providing the best environment, food and water we could. And here are some pics


At one day old


At a week


At 2 weeks


Three weeks


Five Weeks.......


The Vocalizations between the kittens and their Mom are very interesting..........

[Beaverhausen]

22. Thanks for those pics. What adorable babies

At least someone knows the rules about kitten threads!

[Skittles]

23. OMG I AM SUFFERING FROM CUTE OVERLOAD

I CAN TAKES NO MORE I TELLS YE !!! :D

[lost-in-nj]

38. YOU WANT I SHOULD KICK YOUR ASS!!!!!????

yanno


so you come back down to earth!!????


:hug:

I agree

my sugar level just went up


lost


WANT!!!!!!!!!

[mike_c]

25. ahhhhh-- I can rest peacefully now....

This thread !!!WITHOUT PICTURES #*%@#*!!!-- um, excuse me, without pictures-- was stressing me out.

[yellowdogintexas]

26. they are so sweet so cute so tiny....

I can't stand it!!

[Shakespeare]

27. I want one of those SO BAD!!!

You're not 1. giving them to good homes or 2. anywhere near southern California, are you??? :7

[Mezzo]

28. How adorable. She won't really let me close just yet. She jumps up and runs to me to keep me from

getting too close. It's only been two days though.

[jazzjunkysue]

32. Terminal cuteness!!!

HOw did you get them all to look right at you at the same time!!?

[noel711]

24. I really need a new kitten now...

Can I come over?

[AwakeAtLast]

29. When my cat had kittens, I supplemented her food

I used a powdered supplement from the pet store. It mixed up into a formula like consistency and I fed her with a food dropper. She was such a good mom to her babies that she didn't stop feeding them long enough to eat. Sound familiar? ;)

Don't know if that is helpful, but that's what I did and she seemed to do well with it. :hi:

[Mezzo]

31. Update: There are FIVE.

The next time she wants to sit on the porch for a spell, I'm taking piccies.

[LaurenG]

33. What the heck!

Where are the pictures now? I really need pictures!

[Mezzo]

34. She is under an end table in my living room and

she does best when we "pretend" we don't know that there are kittehs in there. She is sort of "hiding" them.

[LaurenG]

36. Oh I understand, maybe later, when they're older

:hi:

[Mezzo]

37. yeah. They're only four days old, so I am going to wait until they're at least a few weeks.

[Mezzo]

35. She is under an end table in my living room and

she does best when we "pretend" we don't know that there are kittehs in there. She is sort of "hiding" them.