Is it true that male cats will eat newborn kittens. We adopted a stray cat or I should say.. she adopted me..?
She was running to me while in giving birth and a trail of three male cats followed. One kitten was ripped odviously by a claw. I quickly got her into a box with soft grounding. I was at the store and the wind blew open the door. I ran into the garage and found she had a bite mark on her neck and one kitten left. I searched the garage and found the other 3 kittens but only the heads I cryed. The one that was left looked like they must have pulled his foot because it was just not right. She was not to happy and hissed at me..that was normal but she still wanted me by her. Well I wanted to get her fixed but was unable to. She is indeed a wild cat. But I have made friends with her and her little one. She is again pregnet and for the last three days has been walking around the house meowing..What is going on. If am trying to get her to a vet to check on her but she wont go into any type of box or cage. ug..She is very big. Did she eat her babies are was it really the males in the area??
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.
I adopted a cat yesterday who is hiding under the bed, didn't use the litter pan, or drink any water all of last night. Is this normal? Will he be ok?
I hear this question a lot and recently our friends from the U.K. adopted a cat from a shelter near Nottingham. This was an abused cat that’s been previously returned twice to the shelter, but the lady of the couple fell in love with this all white beauty and took her home.Weeks went by and she would still hide under their bed all day long, barely coming out to eat and poop when they weren't around. Her husband had all but given up after a month and wanted to return her.We stepped in and recommended to try this “Scaredy Cat” herbal remedy distributed by a famous TV personality here in North America. I had previously used the same treatment on our of our 4 kitties that came down with stomatitis a couple of years ago while she was still a kitten. The antibiotics worked and she’s recovered from the inflammation in her mouth, but as a result she had gotten skittish from being chased to take her medication twice a day and also became rather depressed. Yep, cats can suffer from all the same mental and physical ailments that befall humans.So, we did 2 things, we tried this herbal remedy and also rescued another kitten her size from the shelter. She was always like “the middle child” ignored most of the time by her 2 older brothers one black & one ginger coloured cat, so we thought we’d make it an even 4 and get her a female playmate.Both have worked out incredibly well. She’s now the most cheeky & playful cat together with a slightly younger sister and she’s even buddied up to the 2 male cats in the household. The positive effects have so far kept any reoccurrences of stomatitis at bay and we have a happy clowder of 4.Going back to our friends in the U.K. after applying this herbal remedy to her coat and a couple of drops into her food, she started to gain confidence within days. After 2 weeks, (into month 2 and 3) she now sleeps with them in their bed and has become very playful and outgoing.Moral of the story is, do NOT give up. Ever! The more scared shelter cats are returned the more likely they will be euthanized. It’s not their fault some humans can’t understand them, but it requires patience & love to gain the trust of most pets, but especially felines. I fight a lot on social media to dispel myths and falsehoods about cat guardianship. Please know, there’s no such thing as a bad cat, only misunderstood ones and incompatible humans.Finally, always adopt, don’t shop!
A stray female cat just walked into my house, need a little help here?
I opened the door to grab a UPS box and she walked right in and went straight to the food bowl. She is gorgous, but very thin. I can feel her hip bones. I know all the local niebors cats. She is not theres least within my block. She has had kittens. I felt her nipples and they are some what large. I rushed my cats in my bedroom and closed the door. She is still eating and it has been 30 minutes almost. She purrs big time when I pet her. So she is someones pet. But I also live by a gas station that has had many cats just dropped off. So now tell me what i should do...I am torn with ideas. Do I need to bleach my cats food bowls now? And should i let her use the litter box. The reason i ask is she has to be someone elses cat and i do not plan on keeping her. Least I hope not. oh our Animla rescue league is full and has been since Nov.
Have you ever adopted a stray cat straight off the street?
Not exactly from the street. My parents have a farm. People abandon their cats at the back entrence to the farm. It is at the end of the village hidden behind bushes and a curve, so I guess people don’t feel the shame. I often went and feed the farm cats and discover the new ones. They are terrified. Most of them have been a few days alone, before finding the feeding spot. I am quite sure that these cats were indoor cats before. A forest is not far away and there are foxes, a lot of them. I can’t say how many cats probably didn’t make it long enough until we found them.My sister discovered one early. That one really stuck in my mind. This cat was tiny, probably less than a year old. She was walking the dog and found this little cat at the back entrance meowing in the pouring rain and brought it to the farms office building. We named her Mini. Mini was a cute cat. I don’t know why somebody would abandon her. Maybe a leftover one from an unwanted litter? Mini was an attention seeker. She was not shy at all. Really just wanted to be pet and cuddled. Always wanted to be in the spotlight this little princess. She was living about four years on the farm until my mom found her death in the office building one morning.The number of abandoned cats has decreased a lot in the past years. The last one I know about came during the summer a year ago. My dad told me that he had found a litter of kittens. After some observation, the mother cat was there to. Never saw her before, so of course she is one of the tragic ones. She was extremely thin, looked quite young and terrified of humans. Tried everything to keep her kittens safe. Since I didn’t wanted to scare her even more, I was bringing food to her hideout. From her fist litter only one kitten made it. This summer she had kittens again. This time the kitten seem to be healthy or at least that’s what my mom told me. I am this week at the farm again and I hope they are well.I really have no respect for the people who abandon their pet. Most of those cats never learned to fully trust again. I just feel so sorry for them.Lala, the little survivor from the first litterTwo from the new litter in JuneThe mommy cat. She has gained a lot more trust. Last year I could have only dreamed about her sitting so near and even being able to take a photo.
A black baby kitten just walked into our house. Should we adopt it? From a Feng Shui or related perspective, when cats walk into a house and stay, is it a good or bad omen?
Ooh! Time to share a story.Just two weeks ago, a little black kitten showed up on our doorstep. My husband spotted it and would not accept anything less than hunting it down, catching it, and taking care of it.About 20 minutes later, he triumphantly brought the little black kitten into our house. The adorably little thing was desperately thin and missing large chunks of fur on it’s back legs and tail. We fed it, my 5-year old daughter claimed ownership of the kitten and named it “Starshine”.Being the practical one of the bunch, I made a vet appointment. $300 later, we know that our adorable black kitten, which weighs only 5 lbs, is actually 2–3 years old. Her hair loss was from flea allergies. We got medicine for worms, for fleas (for all our pets), for allergies… We were instructed to watch for signs of “heat” and to return to get her spayed if any appear. If she doesn’t appear to go into heat in the next 8 months we’re probably OK. All signs indicate that she’s not had kittens.She tested negative for feline leukemia and some other thing they tested for. She had no microchip.We now have a new cat! She has not left our house since she was captured and brought in. My husband tried to get her to go out with our other cat, but she flipped out completely and refused to abandon her new warm refuge where food and water magically appear with reliable frequency.Happily, she is very nice with our 2 year old and 5 year old, letting them pet her. She did bite my husband when he gave her a bath, though.So, in my experienced opinion, a black kitten showing up on your door step is an omen that you will soon spend about $300 and have to come up with a name for your new family member.Good luck!Edit: Here are some photos of Starshine
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.
My 4 week old kitten randomly became very jumpy and afraid of me- Really worried...?
I am having a problem accepting that the kitten is really four weeks old. At that age, they are only starting to move around with any confidence, are are not yet weaned. A four week old kitten is not likely to be able to jump out of your hands and run away very easily. But young kittens are often quite jumpy. Everything is new, and they are very tiny, so they will strongly react to many things, as they don't know the threat level they are reacting to. If you are lucky you will get the sideways bounce. They arch their back, fluff their tail, and do a sideways bounce, all the time looking fierce and protective.