Pregnant cat seem to ignore

Hello,

There's this stray/alley cat we've been taking care of. She eats in our house and many times sleep on a chair at day time, but at night we let her out.

She had 3 kittens in a box in our garage 2 days ago. She seems to abandon them all. We haven't seen her with her kittens at all. yesterday (1 day after having the kittens) she was a bit aggressive. but today she is following her routine: Eating and sleeping on chair. Not at all if there are 3 kittens waiting for her.

We checked the kittens, they are in deep sleep. I thought they are dead already, but I poked with some round stick and they moved and made some noises. There are still somethings mixed with the pile of kittens, I think the umbilical cords and other stuff are still with them. (meaning she hasn't been cleaning them?)

We don't know how much time a normal cat will spend time with her kittens? maybe she is feeding them but for a shot time at night when she is out? (seems unlikely though)

It is the 3rd day and we're getting worried. How long the kittens will survive without food? Should we meddle and "try to" save them?

Should we clean them? make some formula and so?

Should we take the kittens out and try to put the mother cat with them to see if she recalls at all?

Thanks for your time.

I sounds like she is a case of being a bad mother. Probably she gives them some food, if not they would be already gone.  But if there are rests of umbilical cords etc, so... Moms do usually eat them at the delivery.

Feral cats not seldom do leave their kittens alone, and get out searching after food.  But the mom here does overdo it, if she sleeps with you.

So if you want them to have a chance, you must do something, and quickly!.

The safest is of you to give them food, stimulate their "bathroom" etc.  But it is a lot of work!   I would understand if you dont want to do all this work...

(tip: if you do have access to goat milk, it is even better than most formulas. If you dont have, try to get some kmr milk (cat mother substitute).  There are threads about helping small kittens. The site www.kitten-rescue.com is good.

Keep them warm - although not too warm.

Easier for you is to try to get the mom to help them.  One way is you move her food and water to this garage where kittens are. NOT in your home.  so she stays in there.

Another may be, you move the whole litter, with their box and all, to where the mom is at your place. Place the box in a quiet corner.

The moms instinct gets stimulated by their squeks.

Good luck!   *heart* *vibes*

Thanks for the replay.

Here's the rest of the story:

The box kittens were in was had a long height and uncomfortable. We took them out and put them in a wider and more comfortable box. Then I took the mother cat and brought her to her kittens. She smelled them and turned around and walked away. (I did it again, and same result)

So at this point, we officially decided to kick in! We cut their umbilical cords, put them in a soft towel brought them home. They were hardly moving. I read on the net that we shouldn't give cow's milk to kittens (specially that our cow milk is not really cow milk, it has been filtered hundred of times to suit us humans). but the way we saw it was to give "something" to 3-days starved kittens. So we gave each of the kittens some milk with a syringe. (actually we called a vet and gave them a mixture of milk, yoghurt and vitamins)

So the kittens got awake and started squeaking. We expected them to fall sleep after that, but one or two of them fell asleep but the squeaking of the other one woke them up.

We decided to leave the box alone to see if the mother shows any interested now that they are all 3 squeaking. Again she got close, smelled and turned away. This happened like twice.

Well to make it short, after couple of hours, the kittens squeaks got even more and more. My wife thinking they just need their mother to calm down, she takes the mother and hold her next to kittens. She turns away. My wife insists and hold her again, this goes for a while and I'm watching the whole thing. Now out of a sudden, the squeak of one of the kittens touches the mother somehow and she goes near and lick him/her for 3-4 seconds. Then again turns away and go. Now we're excited we got something out of her, again we get her and hold her next to kittens. Same thing happens. We repeat and in the third time, she picks the kitten and start walking. My wife is like "OMG she is gonna eat it" (referring to sometime before our hamster ate one of her children). She goes to her chair, and jumps on the chair trying to bring her kitten on her "spot". The kitten falls from her mouth on the floor, which we put the kitten on the chair next to her. She started licking the kitten, when we quickly mix the other 2 with this one. Now she is feeding all 3 together. Sometimes one of them fall from the chair, she goes down and pick it up to the chair. Well we're letting her stay in the house full time for a while.

Sorry if I rambled, I guess brute force made her recognize her children.

p.s. I don't have access to goat's milk but to sheep's milk. Is it a good alternative?

I dont know anything about sheeps milk. but my guess is it is in any case better than cow milk processed for humans...

Good question.

But if the mom is giving them milk you will perhaps not need giving extras.  But good you are prepared. 

Wonderful story. You get it going...   :-)    The dangers are not over yet, but now they do have a chance.

Lay down something soft around the chair where they are, so the babies wont get hurt when they fall down.

Cat moms in nature are often transporting their babies, so the nature has surely made them so they do manage some falls. But not too high and not too often...

Good luck!   *heart*  *vibes*

Well all 3 kittens died. :/

Mother cat got up from her place to eat some food and I noticed one of the kittens was kinda choked under her. But checking it, it has some blockage around its anus also. After few hours, another one stopped squeaking and went into sleep. Not looking for mother's breasts even when the mother slept next to it. The last one was so active. But same thing as second kitten happened to it too last night. Stopped squeaking and lost appetite. The mother cat probably knew they weren't gonna make it in the first place. So sad.

Im sorry to hear. They did got a chance at least, thanx to yours resolute help. Theirs immortal souls do know this.  RIP  little ones.

Next time you will be even better prepared, and with any luck, you can save them.  So their death is NOT in wain. 

Neuter this mom, making her life easier.

Tx for caring and doing what you did.   *love*

Good luck!