Cats 1st litter due any day now!!

[em2656 10]

My cat is due her first litter any day now and I can't wait.

I have so much sympathy for her, waddling around in her own catty way.

I've read a fair bit on the net about what to expect, but was wondering if anyone had any tips or advice for me about both the labour and births and also care of mum and kitties.

 

Any help greatly received

 

Thanks

[xxhunniixx 10]

has she picked her spot yet hope uv got a box towels etc ready

[em2656 10]

She spends most of her time sleeping in my room, so I've put a box with some newspaper in it by the radiator (she often sleeps under it) but she hasn't paid any attention to it yet. I think she may opt for under my bed, but we'll see!

[Gemima 10]

Was it a planned litter em2656?

[Joey 10]

My cat had her first litter a few months ago. She hadn't got a clue what to do and just "dropped" them out and sat looking at them and showing no interest in looking after them. I went into panic mode and sat rubbing them with towels and crying !! ( It was 4am so I did have a bit of an excuse!)

 

I finally realised that I really couldn't take care of them myself so would have to let nature take its course. I put them into the box I had ready, put her in with them, shut the door and went upstairs fully expecting them to have died when I came down. I sat on my bed for 20 minutes crying my eyes out. Then I came back down and there she was in the box feeding them, with another 2 perfect babies in there with her.

 

The moral of this story - she might need a bit of a push in the right direction, but in the end she will do what nature tells her to do!!

[em2656 10]

Thanks for all of your replys.

It wasn't a planned litter at all and she wont be having another.

I had her booked in to be fixed a few months ago in London but I split with my husband. So me, the 3 kids and the 3 cats ended up here in Sheffield and as I'm sure you can imagine, things have all been a bit up in the air.

I've only realised that she was expecting in the last week or so and have a rough idea of when there was a tom almost resident in our garden for a week or so, so I'm working the dates out from that. Her appearence, behaviour etc all seem to tally up. Now that I'm paying a bit more attention it seems obvious.

[katkin 10]

em, might be worth investing in a tin of Cimicat or Lactol and a feeding set- Jolleyes or Pets at Home or most pet stores stock one or the other. When Ashia gave birth in October, one of her kittens died after 2 days despite all efforts to save him/her. We tried our best to give enough nourishment in him, but it wasnt meant to be. The lactol or similar is the nearest thing to cat milk you can get and can also help when you get to the weaning stage (having said that, our 3 kittens decided to skip weaning at 4 weeks old and went straight from mother's milk to solids (and taught themselves to use the litter tray straight away) but it isnt always that easy.

 

Now at 9 weeks old I'm glad I took heaps of photos because it is amazing just how quickly they grow - and one day, they'll all be gone (to new homes), so it's nice to have a lasting reminder of the process. I say all- we'll be keeping Arnie.

 

Oh - make sure you are feeding mum a good quality diet- kitten food wet/ dried, so she is getting all the supplements she needs to build those strong kittens. When you get to weaning stage, try to introduce as many different types of kitten food as possible so they dont turn into fussy cats - mine will eat whatever you put in front of them now, unlike some of our older cats who turn their noses up at dried foods because the breeders they came from never experimented. Contrary to popular belief, just feeding Whiskas kitten food isn't the best option. A good quality dried food such as Royal Kitten babycat34 or James Wellbeloved Kitten food is much better for them than wet food alone (which is often full of sugars and does not help to develop strong teeth).

 

Definitely invest in a scratching post and make sure you get a big enough litter tray for them to use when they're ready.

 

Medusa recently posted some good advice on fleaing and worming. Dont mess with the cheapo shop -bought stuff, it's useless. Check out http://www.hypervet.com or vet-medic.com or similar- they are online vet supplies that sell Panacur, drontal and frontline and similiar products at a fraction of the vet prices.

 

What else? Good luck. Be aware of any changes in mum's habits and be ready to help out if she has problems when she givces birth (Ashia managed to have the first 2 OK but needed help cutting the cord on the 2nd one- I had to do it with sterilised scissors and then present the gooey blood-covered kitten to mum to get her to wash it and I had to point it at the milk taps (mum). Cats are pretty good at birthing and looking after their young but sometimes the event is too tiring, especially if you have a young cat or one that has a large litter, hence it's good to be on call, just in case- and if things are looking a bit too scary - don#t mess about- get her to the vets asap.

 

 

Try to start finding potential homes for them now - I know you wont know what youve got til they arrive but if you sow the seed you might get a bit of interest from genuine cat lovers.

Best of luck xK

 

Check out my kitten pics on Alfie's blog if you want to hear more. Oh and don't get too precious about your soft furnishings - or the hard ones- I used to have a lovely leather sofa but it's got frilly arms now...

[Noodle 10]

I've not ever had kittens... not me... you know what I mean! but maybe let your local vets know kittie is due? I'd register her first so if like Katkin says if you have an emergency you don't have to worry about where to go etc.

[em2656 10]

Some really helpful advice thankyou so much!

[medusa 16]

I'd second all of katkin's kitten advice- she's another experienced catophile like me.

 

I'd also add- please please please please don't allow the mummy cat outdoors after she delivers at all until she is spayed, not even just for a loo break. She will have a season some time between 2 and 4 weeks after they are born and you're likely to find her pregnant again before you can get her to the vets after drying up her milk from weaning the babs.

 

Also, please worm your mummy cat now. You can't use Drontal when she's pregnant, but the vet will advise, there are treatments that are used during pregnancy to reduce her worm loading so that she doesn't pass as many worms on to the kittens.

 

From 2 weeks old you also need to be worming the kits every 2 or 3 weeks with kitten wormer. Worms can take a whole lot of energy from the kittens that is meant to make them grow up stronger.

 

The other thing that can kill kittens (most people are unaware that they can be this serious) is fleas. There isn't much blood in a tiny kitten, and all it takes is a couple of fleas to make them seriously dehydrated and anaemic which weakens them terribly. You can't treat mummy for fleas whilst she's pregnant either, but what you can do is to go to the vet and get a flea comb and a bottle of Frontline spray. Not the spot on- the spray.

 

All you need to do is to spray the comb and allow it to dry, then comb over mummy cat every couple of days. Some fleas will be removed directly with the comb (assuming that she has them, of course) and some will be killed just by the contact of the comb over the next day or so.

 

Repeat the same process once a week with the babies until they're old enough to be sprayed with the Frontline itself.

 

Preventing/treating fleas and worms is such a small thing- but it could mean the difference between life and death, health and not thriving for tiny kittens.

 

I hope that your mummy cat delivers a collection of healthy little bundles of purrs and is a fab mum.