Why did my cat kill her kittens?
My younger female (18 months) had a first litter of eight kittens. She did well at first, but her milk came in slowly. At feeding time, all eight kittens went to four of her teats which produced milk. She never got milk in her other teats. Even though we monitored her and shifted kittens, they would not nurse on the other teats. She would let them nurse as long as she could, but within two-three weeks she was unable to nurse. The kittens had sucked and chewed those four teats raw. She was unable to feed her kittens. We started bottle feeding them.Then kittens started disappearing. I thought she was moving them out of protective instinct. I was wrong. We found the first kitten in a empty box under the kitchen table. She had suffocated her kitten because she wasn’t able to nurse it. She would wait until we were at work, or sleeping and take another kitten and kill it. We kept bottle feeding, by the time the remaining kittens were a month old there were only two left. Even though they were growing and healthy, she continued to try and kill the last two up until they were almost six weeks old. She would groom them, play with them and they were beginning to eat solid food. Then in the middle of the day, she picked up a kitten and carried it towards the kitchen. By the time we got to her, the baby was gone. She laid or sat on his head and chest until he stopped breathing. We kept the remaining kitten closed in the bedroom, far from his momma. My roommates did not understand why she killed her kittens. Thought she was evil and just didn’t understand. I felt so bad for her. She knew that she could not provide her babies with what they needed to grow and thrive. Matricide(?) happens more frequently than people know. If a kitten is weak, deformed or not thriving, the mother will move it away from the rest of the litter, not care for it or feed it.It is a bit of Darwinism. Pass on the strong genes, survival of the fittest, the carrying on of the species.I cried and buried those kittens. They rest next to my second big orange male “Appolo” and my grey mouser “Bruce”.
Do we HAVE to get kittens/cats their shots? what happens if we don't?
If you skip vaccinations you run the risk of them contracting disease should they come into contact with an infected animal. DID YOU KNOW "DECLAWING" IS TEN SEPARATE, PAINFUL AMPUTATIONS OF THE LAST DIGIT OF A CATS FINGER including bone (third phalanx), dorsal ligaments, flexor tendons, connective tissue, blood vessels, nerves, claw, and fur as these pictures and diagrams from the Textbook of Small Animal Surgery and then real surgery pictures reveal? Warning: what follows are pictures showing what declawing actually is. If you are disturbed by graphic photos, these may not be to your liking. No surgery is pretty, but declawing is a surgery that is one of owner convenience only. Unlike spaying and neutering, there are no direct health benefits for the cat. http://www.pawsneedclaws.com/Declaw_Info... http://declaw.lisaviolet.com/declawpics.... I urge you to try Soft Paws instead. It’s a wonderful product that is humane and works! http://www.softpaws.com
What causes feral cats to abandon their kittens?
See my feral foster kittens below. Feral feline mothers will only abandon their litter out of pure fear. I wouldn’t even say abandon because their maternal instincts are strong, so they will be close by, but you wouldn’t know because they’re hiding from you. The kittens also must feed frequently and to keep up her milk supply for her nursing babies, she must find food often but momma isn’t gone long.A feral cat is wild just like a raccoon or a rabbit, you can’t get near them.Every single kitten season here in New Jersey from March till about October hundreds of feral kittens from newborn to about 4 weeks old, (by this point in age they will run and hide making them harder to catch), come into our Shelter.What these kind hearted people do not realize is that when they stumble on a litter of tiny helpless kittens under a wood pile or inside an old shed they aren’t abandoned. Their mother must frequently feed herself to keep up her milk supply and or also she fled because you are there.The silver lining is that these kittens will become adoptable pets and will also be spayed or neutered. Last year I had 3 litters of “abandoned” kittens. I had gotten 2 separate litters that were about 2 weeks old and also had a momma give birth at the Shelter and took her home when her babies were 3hrs old. All successful endings!2 days old1 week oldReady for adoptionThis entire litter was adopted along with their momma!This is the 2nd litter 2.5 week old bottle babies successfully weaned and All four adopted!3rd litter successfully weaned and all three adopted!Being a surrogate mother for these helpless babies is what I feel I’ve been put on this earth to do, and I will do it every single year, every time the phone rings. The feeding schedule is like that of a newborn baby. Very tedious but 100% rewarding.
What happens if I don't feed my kittens at night?
It seems like your doing a good job so far. :) However, if it's so much trouble, and it exhausts you too much, and now with your limited resources, wouldn't it be better if the bottle babies go to another foster mother for now? Ten hours sleep is somewhat excessive, and bottle babies must be fed every 3 - 4 hours or so, which means they miss about 2 feedings while you sleep. I'd suggest, if you don't want to hand them over to another foster mother, to limit your sleeping time. There is such a thing as sleeping too much, which might contribute to the fact that you feel exhausted all the time. Try sleeping for 6 hours, with one or two catnaps of 20 minutes to an hour during the day. You'll feel WAAAAY better. (Trust me, this part-time student, full-time workaholic, breadwinner, kitty owner and fiancee knows what she's talking about. ;) Hahaha!) These little babies need someone to care for them by loving, feeding, cleaning them and giving as much affection as they need (which is a lot). This period in their life is when they have to eat regularly and healthy so that their future health is not compromised. Please consider the advice about the sleeping, and if you feel you cannot do it, rather hand them over to another foster. It won't mean you don't care, in fact, it would mean quite the opposite. Good luck. :)
Does any one know how to make a kitten stay small?
I have 5 kitten's and people love kitten's but when they get grown they just don't seem to cat about them as much. I thought If I knew a way to make them not get so big maybe who ever takes them will care for them all their lifes I don't want to worry about them going to the dog pound and being killed. or getting hit by a car because the new owner did not care about it any more. i got these kittens because some one had a cat and got rid of her because she was going to have kittens. I live in a animal dumping arear. I can not afford to keep her and her kittens I already have 3 cat's and 8 dog's because of people who just don't care.
Does a kitten NEED shots? What happens if they dont get them?
Our last cat who has now passed away, was vaccinated regularly every two years and kept up to date with every recommendation that the vet gave. I found she had terrible reactions to the injections, but the reaction was temporary, so continued to regularly get her her shots. After she passed and I reflected on her life of 19 years, I came to really regret some of the precautions that we took because they seemed unnecessary after all and she was the one who suffered from it. With our current cat, who is now 5 years old we have done nothing except what the shelter that we adopted him from insisted on upon leaving the shelter. Since then, nothing. We also have two porch cats....couldn't catch them if we wanted to (and not from lack of trying) to get them to a vet just for neutering and spading without much luck. Neither of them have had any shots that I am aware of, and both of them are now well over three years old and nothing negative has happened to them. Outdoor cats are given an average lifespan of two years, so I figure mine are on borrowed time by now. Rabies and feline leukaemia are the greatest threats that I have heard about, but have never experienced in any of my five lifelong cats. It is good, perhaps best, to take the precautions.....just in case, but it also depends on where you live, and how your cat lives.
Can my cats raise kittens that aren’t their own?
Most females in any mammalian species can raise young that aren't their own, particularly if the 'adoptive' mother is of child-bearing age. If a mother cat is lactating, she will easily adopt an orphaned kitten or kittens as her own. It can possibly be straining on her body if it is her first litter, although she will produce more milk when more is demanded. Make sure to give her extra love, treats and nutrients, like in the form of vitamins for cats... while I can't say this will work for sure, I think it doesn't hurt to try as they can be ordered online for a relatively low cost for this one time event. When you introduce the new kittens to her, giver her some good treats (try bonito flakes, they're a favorite treat among most cats) or some of her favorite wet food, so she doesn't feel they will be a threat to her survival or that of her kittens. If she's eating, she knows she will be able to feed them. It's also a good tip to wipe them down to get the other mom's scent off them. Definitely look into what's going on with the mean cat... she could be in pain and not able to be normal... even early arthritis or something. Take her to a vet to get evaluated. Make an appointment for both cats to be spayed so they don't keep having more kittens. Adopt and spay, don't shop or sell cats! Good luck.