"I know nothin' 'bout birthin' no babies!"...

...that famous line from gone with the wind has been something I've repeated over and over the last few days since my husband brought home a pregnant kitten!

Her story:

She was the kitten of my husband's coworker's girlfriend. She got pregnant some months ago and had her first litter, 3 kitts. Then, they let her out again, disgusting I know. She got pregnant while nursing these guys evidently, because they were about 3 months old, and she is due in 1 week MAYBE 2 the vet said on Thursday. The REALLY sad thing is, she is not even a year old the vet discovered. She is the size of a 6 month old kitten. I am pretty sure this is the point at which she got pregnant. It breaks my heart. This coworker is a JERK. Told the woman, "It's me or the cat!" (the kittens were having trouble using the litter box) She picked him, stupid, and he dumped the cats at work.

To make matters worse, he was complaining about the $5 bag of food he had to buy for the cat because my husband kept riding his butt to feed them. The kicker? The coworker left them for the weekend with NO FOOD!! He new momma was preggo. Her and her 3 kittens!! No food!!! Jordan found out that monday that she was pregnant, and quickly went into find home for kittens mode. He found a home for all three who will alter them. I told him momma needs to come home with us to have the babies. It's too hot, 98 plus, out there.

SO!

Now we have Momma Mia, (I call her Mia) Her name was Kit Kat before, but it just didn't fit. She is SUPER sweet. Will not leave my side. Is sleeping ON my desk next to my keyboard right now. She totally owns this place. Polly and LB are a bit perplexed with hurt feelers right now, but they are getting back to normal.

You can tell Mia is uncomfortable. If you put your hand on her belly you can feel the kittens move and kick! It's so cool!!

I have set her up her own little apt in our walk in closet. There is ventilation and a light. A box with a nest of towels, litter water and food. when we are here, she stays by our side, when we leave, I put her in her apt. I feel she is safer there. I don't want her delivering the babies and moving them all over the house to try to get them away from LB, who is super loving and even more curious. He keeps trying to be her friend, but I keep having to explain to him her experience with boy kitties up to this point has not been all that pleasant.

ANY advise you have on babies, birthing, making her comfortable etc will be well recivied...I am so nervous!! How do I know when the time is here???

Thank you for takin her in!
Are you feeding her a good quality kitten food, preferrably wet food? She needs extra calories and kitten food is high in calories in a small amount (her stomach won't hold as much right now with the kittens pushing on it). She may do better with multiple meals.

Check out the stickies at the top.

I am glad you got her. Do you know when she is due? I would get a box for a blanket for her. I hope everything foes well.

You have some great advice and there is lots of good info on this site. Also, get her some toys and handle her gently so she is well socialized. Do not feed her milk - cats are lactose intolerant but you can buy cat milk even at the grocery store. Get some kitten food - NOT the grocery store kind if you can help it. They tend no to have the best. Go to a pet store (not one that sells animals though!) and get kitten good.

Does she really have to have the babies? We do spays on young pregnant kittens and cats all the time because even one pregnancy is not good for a cat and we see so many - esp ferals who are brought in pregnant and we spay them. The cats live longer, healthier lives and it is not at all the same as what we think of in human terms.

If you have trouble with one cat, think of what you will do with more. That said, it sounds like you have her set up well. Are you reading about cat delivery and have you a vet on speed dial in the event something goes wrong since there are more complications with young moms. What will you do if she - as a young mom - rejects the kits and you have to feed them. You could end up with bottle babies. (We often take bottle babies home, even from the clinic if we do not have enough fosters. I have sen young cats who do not yet have enough milk so their hormones have not prepared them to mother(, amg other reasons). What does the vet say? Does she have any pre-existing conditions that would affect the pregnancy? Has she been vaccinated so the kittens will be immune when born - until they leave her milk and then have their own vet visits.

Here are some sites on kitten and cat care that may help:

http://www.orphankittenrescue.com/k_...a_training.php
http://www.kittenrescue.org/pages.php?pageid=15

(They tell you more than I can in a short thread)

Good luck and thank you for taking her in!

I see she is due in 1 or 2 weeks. Are you going to keep any of the kittens? I do have a cat that could not be fixed because it would have killed her and she got preg once because I had to leave her at my Das and brother lied and said Simba was fixed when he wasnt. She was 10 at the time and had almost died
6 months before that. She is now 16.5 years old. They did a Ultrasound and told me she was a bout a month and she would have around July 25. She had on moving day Aug 1 2002. I kept Stormy but I lost her at age 5 last Dec and I gave Midnight to my Sister. My Dad gave the other kitten to my cousin and I got very mad about that. i said he would just get rid of her and he did after telling my dad he would bring her back if he couldnt keep her. If you do not keep any make sure they get good homes. Make sure you feed them good kitten food. Do ot let her jump alot.

Hi!

Thanks for the good advice!

We are feeding good food. I feed a combo of natural balance grain free and EVO to my other two. Had a kitten food sample from the vet that she has been eating the last few days. Going to ween her off of that and put her on Nutro Kitten starting today.

She has had a litter before, no probs. Those kittens were still with her when her previous owner dumped her. Jordan found one home for all three kittens and I made him bring momma to us. I am not terribly worried about her birthing them, since she has been through it before with no complications. Vet gave me her cell though just in case.

I will not abort the babies. They are too far along. They will live with us and momma until they are between 10 and 12 weeks, then I will give them to the SPCA (my vet works there) to alter and adopt out. Momma will stay with us until we find her a home. Kittens go quickly at the SPCA, adults, not so much.

Where there any other questions I missed??? I can see the babies moving in her tummy.

No real questions except, but do you have any pics? I would love to see her!!

Manda

I would love to see pics also.

as soon as my hubby is in for the night, I will have him take and upload some pics!!