Need Advice

[heidiv]

Well I have my rescue kitty and her kittens here at the house and she seems to be doing o.k. at best she is nursing 3 kittens now and so far that is a good thing. She is so malnurished so today I had my sister stop by our vet clinic and buy some of the canned food that is easy to digest mainly because I remembered that when Cilla was ill with stomach surgery that there wasn't much but that she would eat. Momma kitty is very interested in the food so I am going to set my phone for a four hour increments and get up to feed her. I am starting to gain her trust slowly she is very happy to be here with us. As we are that she is with us. I am just so conserned that she isn't eating enough. She hasn't really drank a whole lot of water either. Hopefully the canned food will assist with her water intake?? Anyway I am going to the Humane Society first thing in the morning to get her some antibiotics for her cold. Although her labored breathing is getting better. I am sure because of the stress level is much lower here in our quite house. Any advice would be great I shouldn't be real conserned as the kittens haven't made very much noise since the little guy passed away last night. :( Should I just be watchful for them crying to help with the feeding?? I think I may do more harm than help???? I really want these guys to do well. I really like the momma I can't wait to fatten her up.
Anyway any assistance would be greatly appreiciated.

[catnapper]

You can feed her kitten food. Its loaded with all the extra fats and proteins she'll need. Canned kitten food will give her additional water if you don't think she's drinking enough. Let ehr eat as much as she'll want. A nursing mama can never get too much food.

[moosmom]

When Mattie Grace and her babies were with me, I'd go to the store and buy fresh chicken livers and boil them for her. I mixed them with canned kitten food. Catnapper is right though. Feeding her kitten food is a great idea. It will help put some pounds on her and might even increase her milk production. Are her teats full?? You might want to check to make sure she HAS enough milk.

If the babies are crying and seem hungry, you might want to get a can of liquid KMR, a mama's milk supplement and feed them. Because Mama is malnourished, it could be her milk supply isn't what it should be and that's why the babies are hungry.

[Laura's Babies]

Great advice already given, GOOD LUCK with the Mama and babies!

[smokey the elder]

Boy, you have a tough case for your first foster. Supplementing the mama's milk with KMR is a good idea. A few years ago I had a mama who was caring for two litters! There were 7 kittens in all, but 2 died right away. The other 5 did fine.

[heidiv]

She seems like she is doing better today. I went to the humane society and got her some antibiotics for the respritory infection and they also supplied me with subcontaineous fluids for her dehydration. The only thing that I noticed today is that she seems to have a discharge coming out of the her from having the babies is this normal???? If its an infection would the medicine that I am giving her help with that. She has been coming out and talking to me all day. She is a pretty special kitty I think my sister has decided that she is going to take her when she has weaned her babies she really fell in love with her the moment she saw her. She told me that she is going to come and be with her tomarrow because she misses her. Isn't that really neat?? I will get to see her all of the time then. That way I can foster another mommy. She is a really neat kitty. She is going to have wonderful loving kittens I am sure of it. ;)

[catnapper]

Yikes, a discharge? From what I've read here, it could signal an infection of her uterus -- very life threatening!

[Craftlady]

Could the discharge be afterbirth spotting?

[smokey the elder]

I'd be worried about pyometra (sp?) We almost lost a mama cat to that, and all but one of the litter died since she couldn't nurse. I think she should go to the vet.

[heidiv]

Well she seemed more irritated this morning so I took her to the humane society so she could be checked by a vet the kittens were just barely hanging on I think I cried all the way to the hospital and all the way home :( I did tell them that if something should happen to the babies that I wouldn't mind if she came here to be spoiled rotten and fattened up it still didn't make me feel any better though. I feel like such a failure. I lost two of the babies probely because of hand feeding and I have managed to take all of the blame for everything yet my husband said they really didn't give you very good odds the mother was malnutritioned and really ill. I really did get a bond with her though. She was a really honey. I don't know girls, I am don't know if I am cut out for this stuff I have a hard time getting a thick skin. I am going to miss momma kitty. I might go and vist her next week if she is doing better?? I just hope and pray some momma kitty will take those babies in. Real momma just didn't have the instinct to help the babies along. The one kitten must have not gone to the bathroom at all because when I barley brush its rear it just unloaded so I don't think she knew what to do?? She was really young about the same age as my youngest kitty Chloe. I can't imagine that little maniac with kittens she has so much growing up to do? Thanks for everything I am still thinking about what I will do.

[smokey the elder]

Please don't give up. This is not a typical litter. You said it yourself; mama was very undernourished. She can't feed herself and has trouble feeding the kittens. I don't think bottle feeding the baby did any harm. {{{Hugs}}}

[heidiv]

Hello-
Well as suspected another of the kittens passed away this weekend leaving one kitten left. They tried to bottle feed up at the shelter but they really wouldn't nurse for any of the pros either. So they decided to euthanize the last kitten so it would no longer suffer:(

I don't think I am going to still close my house for a foster home. I really would love to take care of siamese they are truely wonderful. The mother kitty thing is really hard. I love kittens they are so cute but it is very hard watching the little ones suffering.

Thanks for the hugs needed them. This was a hard weekend for me but in hindsight I really learned a lot about how important it is to take care of Momma kitties when they are carrying their litters. I can't stress that enough. I can't stress enough how important it is to take GOOD care of their pets.

[smokey the elder]

Maybe you can socialize some kittens that are already weaned, but too young to go to their new homes. I'm so sorry that your first experience was so negative. You can love on the mama cat, too.

[Lori Jordan]

I just had kittens back in the summer time and by the time the kittens were old enough to be found homes our cat Alex was drained really thin now im no vet but it does take alot out of them ecspecially when they have large litters now i still have the two males left and mom cat dont want anything to do with them and our other cat callie actually produced milk and is still feeding them and there almost a year old...every cat that i have owned with kittens has always gotten thin through out the 2 months they care for there young

[Scooby4]

I noticed you said that you didn't believe the mother cat was doing it's job correctly because one of the kittens went to the bathroom when touched in that area. :confused: Well, I don't want to get too gross on this but this is helpful advice. It may also explain a few problems that may have happened with the kitty's.
Have you noticed that mother cats seemingly are always licking their kittens? There is more to it than just showing "affection". There is a reason behind this. Kittens can not stimulate their waste to expell like human children do. The mother MUST lick the genital area to stimulate waste "release". The mother then licks/eats this up. The kittens eventually are able to go to the bathroom on their own after a few weeks. About the time of them opening their eyes. This is also why you do NOT see much waste materials in the areas of birth/nesting area.
Since the mother was taken away, the kittens were unable to go to the bathroom correctly. This could have caused other related illnesses. Hence, why some kittens were not drinking or eating properly.
If the mother cat can NOT be around it's very young kittens, this is what you do. Take a WARM wash cloth and wipe the genital areas of the kittens on a somewhat regular basis. Especially 1/2 hour to an hour after feedings. The warm cloth will simulate the mother's tongue. You may have to wipe a few times but NOT too much. Don't expect too much to come out and it to be runny. Once the poop comes out solid you may not have to do this method anymore. I would stop it then and start regular training in litter boxes.
I hope this helps. I know you tried to help the mother cat. That is a good thing. I took in a stray or too myself. One I named "Rambo" who was an unruly alley cat. Turns out "Rambo" was a "RambA" and had kittens on my back porch. She abandoned them and they died. The next time she was able to take care of them and was a good mother. She was just too wild the first time around. Thank you for taking care of the cat!