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- Mar 2, 2016
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My housemate's 6 year old cat, Smoky, has just had two kittens. I'm a bit annoyed about it, because I told him to get her spayed after her first litter and assumed he already had when he moved in with me a few months ago. I myself have raised a litter of five from my cat, who was a stray and chose my house to give birth in. I really don't agree with avoidable amateur breeding, particularly when there are so many unwanted pets already. To make this all worse, this is Smoky's third litter and her other two litters (of three and two, respectively) have all died before weaning and my housemate has no idea why.
I'm really concerned about some of Smoky's behaviour so far with them. They're only four days old and she seems to leave them more than I remember my own cat leaving hers. I've checked on them to find the kittens on opposite sides of the whelping box and a little cold and she left them last night to cry outside my housemate's bedroom door when he got home. I've also found her nursing one while the other is behind her in the box, she seems a little oblivious. We moved them out from under his bed as soon as possible because his room is honestly pretty unclean and he smokes and after I found out his other kittens had all died, I got really worried about these two in that environment. I have seen her nursing them and grooming them, but only on the tops of their heads and backs. I've yet to see her lick around their bottoms to stimulate them to defecate. Before we moved them out of his room, we tried just moving them to a whelping box in his room to get her used to it, but she moved them back, so I'm a little hesitant to handle them too frequently in case she decides to try to move them back upstairs. The good news is that she does show appropriate concern when they cry, she's chased off my dogs when they've gotten too close to the baby gate that keeps them out of the area with the box in. The kittens were both very large at birth, more the size of week old kittens than newborns and they are putting on weight. They seem as healthy as can be for now.
Regardless, I really don't want to risk letting her get on with it when clearly something has gone wrong with her previous litters. Really any advice on what I can do, what I should look out for, anything really would be really appreciated. Obviously, I'd like to avoid the stress on Smoky of taking them to the vet if at all possible, but I will if the kittens show any decline in health. Money is no issue when it comes to pet health for me, so I'm not worried about vet costs or anything like that.
I'm really concerned about some of Smoky's behaviour so far with them. They're only four days old and she seems to leave them more than I remember my own cat leaving hers. I've checked on them to find the kittens on opposite sides of the whelping box and a little cold and she left them last night to cry outside my housemate's bedroom door when he got home. I've also found her nursing one while the other is behind her in the box, she seems a little oblivious. We moved them out from under his bed as soon as possible because his room is honestly pretty unclean and he smokes and after I found out his other kittens had all died, I got really worried about these two in that environment. I have seen her nursing them and grooming them, but only on the tops of their heads and backs. I've yet to see her lick around their bottoms to stimulate them to defecate. Before we moved them out of his room, we tried just moving them to a whelping box in his room to get her used to it, but she moved them back, so I'm a little hesitant to handle them too frequently in case she decides to try to move them back upstairs. The good news is that she does show appropriate concern when they cry, she's chased off my dogs when they've gotten too close to the baby gate that keeps them out of the area with the box in. The kittens were both very large at birth, more the size of week old kittens than newborns and they are putting on weight. They seem as healthy as can be for now.
Regardless, I really don't want to risk letting her get on with it when clearly something has gone wrong with her previous litters. Really any advice on what I can do, what I should look out for, anything really would be really appreciated. Obviously, I'd like to avoid the stress on Smoky of taking them to the vet if at all possible, but I will if the kittens show any decline in health. Money is no issue when it comes to pet health for me, so I'm not worried about vet costs or anything like that.