Hi all,

Can I have some advice please.

The kittens are just 3 weeks old.

They are still in the basket. However they are just starting to find their feet and wobble forward.

If we take them out of the basket to clean their eyes are whatever, if we put them on the floor they start to screech and their mum comes running over and gets really stressed out and starts to look like she is trying to pick them up but doesnt know how. She nips their head and bum and then goes back to her basket without taking them with her! I can see it in her face, she is panicking cos she cant do it!

Well what will happen if one of the kittens gets out of the basket and cant get back, she wont pick it up so it will be there all day.

why cant she do it?

I think that the answer to that is that she's very young and hasn't done this before and is just as likely as you to be fretting about hurting the babes. There are certain parts of this job that obviously don't come naturally to every mum.

I think that the answer is going to be to see how things go and actually to let her babies screech for her for a while if they get out of the basket. Either she'll learn how to pick them up or they will learn how to get back into the basket. At 3 weeks old they'll be independently mobile in another week or two.

I think if she genuinely feels they are under threat then she will manage to pick them up but as Meds says, she's new to this game and a bit uncertain at this stage. Ashia seemed to have problems picking hers up at first but then we kept finding them in the process of being moved from one location to another, as if she'd been disturbed halfway or given up through lack of energy (remember Ash doesnt have many teeth to grip with). They were fine though-the room was warm, we'd placed fleecy bedding in several locations and we made sure the other cats and Ailsa couldnt get anywhere near them at that stage.

We found that at 3 weeks, the kittens werent yet strong enough to crawl too far anyway and as long as they're in a warm safe room they shouldnt come to any harm. In all the research I read when it was Ashia's turn to be mum, it said the 2 critical points in a kitten's development were immediately after birth (when the mother might reject one or all of her young or it became apparent one was destined not to thrive so was seperated from the rst of the litter, which is when we lost one of ours) and at weaning stage, when occasionally a kitten does not get the hang of it (although our lot took to it like ducks and even helped themselves to mum's grown-up food whilst she tucked unto their kitten mush!).

I think that the answer to that is that she's very young and hasn't done this before and is just as likely as you to be fretting about hurting the babes. There are certain parts of this job that obviously don't come naturally to every mum.

I think that the answer is going to be to see how things go and actually to let her babies screech for her for a while if they get out of the basket. Either she'll learn how to pick them up or they will learn how to get back into the basket. At 3 weeks old they'll be independently mobile in another week or two.

I know bless her. Last night they were out of the basket for a while and eventually she just stopped trying to pick them up and went and laid down. I think we will have to go with the fact that the kittens will have to figure out how to get back in. For now they dont get out of the basket, but they are trying!

She is such a good mum and im really proud of her. Cant wait to get her speyed now though. :)

Bless! We're wondering about what to do with Ashia - you know how much I fret because our first wegie died being neutered... I know, I know I'm being paranoid and we should get her spayed...All the other cats are. Anyway, it's going to be an issue for us because we'll need to get Arnie done when he's 6 months old which is only a couple of months away. The good thing is that Wegies are late developers so chances of him showing any interest in mum before his trip for the snip are slim. Oriental cats on the other hand are known to reach sexual maturity at a much earlier age- as early as 4 months.

One thing that you will need to take into account is that after they've had a litter the seasons can get a lot more pronounced, so it depends if she drives you up the wall Katkin!

One thing that you will need to take into account is that after they've had a litter the seasons can get a lot more pronounced, so it depends if she drives you up the wall Katkin!

Fortunately she's nowhere near as vocal as the cornish rex the other half's brother used to own. We haven't ruled it out entirely and given that she had to go under anasthetic anyway when she had her teeth sorted and she came out of that alright..