I need advice

We took on an 8 month old cat as the previous owner couldnt take her to her new home. We was told that she was never allowed out but after about 2 weeks of her living with us we found out she was about 5 weeks pregnant and that was about 4 weeks a go now. She gave birth on Saturday (yesterday) to 7 kittens and as far as I know this is her first litter.

Mum seems to be very skittish, rushing around and leaving her kittens but she does seem to respond to the kittens mewing, but we went out today and found the 2 smallest kittens had died, she is now left with 5 fairly strong kittens but I am worried that more will die.

We go on holiday tomorrow for 4 nights and I have someone coming in to see her at least 4 times in the day just to see if she is ok, do you think that I should ask my friend to come over more than that?

I dont know what to do for the best, please advise.

Keep her inside with the kitties, be sure she is a confined space, a closet, a large box where the only way she can leave the kittens is to leap over the barrier. If she isn't nursing, then you need to intervene or the rest of the kittens may perish www.kitten-rescue.com will instruct you how to bottle feed. If bottle feeding is going on, whoever you leave in charge needs to know how to feed, every 3-4 hours round the clock- it can be grueling.

She also may know something you don't. Her kittens may all perish. If they sense the kittens are ill, they will abandon them, sit on them, refuse to nurse etc.. They instinctively weed out the weakest.

Watch her closely and if she doesn't improve her mothering skills, please start supplementing the food. Is she paying any attention to them at all? Licking them? Young mothers can be quite overwhelmed. Please also get her spayed and keep her inside until she is. If she gets out (and she will try) she'll return pregnant.

She is nursing the kittens, but she is leaving them a lot and when me and my hubby leave the room she leaves them. I dont see her stimulating them to urinate either, maybe i am just being paranoid. She did have 7 kittens and I have read that its a lot for a first time litter, I just hope that she will cope now its only 5.

I will find a big box for her and hope she takes the roll more seriously.

Keep her in the room, shut the door. Leave her litter pan and food out in the room where she can get to them. Try and not visit her a lot. I know it is tempting because newborns are so cute. But visitors will make her nervous and she sounds like she is nervous enough. She is in a new place and now has babies! She is so young, she shouldn't be in this position. Leave some classical music on in the room, really low, so you can't hardly hear it, but she can. Dim the lights and let her be. Honestly, if the kittens are going to die, she will hasten their way. That is just what they do. She is going by the code of the predator she is, survival of the fittest. The moms eat the stool of the babies most of the time, so that may be why you aren't seeing anything. Change the bedding when it becomes soiled, but otherwise, leave the young mother alone for the better part of the day and see if she settles.

Good luck-

Thank you hissy, i know its the order of things and if they are going to die they will no matter what i do. I will leave her alone and let nature takes its course however upsetting it may be.

i will definately agree to confine them to a small room. The bathroom is perfect for this. When your friend comes to check on them, she can let the mother roam the house for a bit to stretch her legs but then put her right back in before she leaves. This will give her a few minutes to check on the babies and make sure they are gaining weight and doing alright.

Thanks for all the advice, I have just seen mum stimulating one of her babies so I think that I am worrying over nothing, but when I go away I will definately put her in the bathroom and shut her in so that she is forced to bond with them. She does seem to be a bit more calmer this afternoon than she did yesterday.

We had to help her deliver the placenta's of 4 of them, She was so tired. The 2 she lost were very small, their siblings are double the size that they were.

I would just like to update you all on how mummy tiggy is coping with her babies. I went away and I was so worried about her and her little babies that I phoned my friend every day.

Anyway, the remaining 5 babies are all doing really well and they are all starting to open their eyes.

Thanks for the advice I was given, it really helped me not to worry so much when I left her.