Another Teen Mom.....

So after a 2 month hiatus I picked up my newest foster, Adara,  today and was floored when I saw her- she's just a baby herself! She's only about 6 pounds with her monster belly, and my guess is only 6-8 months old. It makes me so sad she has to be a Momma so young but at least she's off the streets and out of a cage. It's certainly not my first rodeo but I do have a few questions specific to her:

1. Has anyone ever had a Queen this young? Is there anything in particular I should watch out for during labor? My guess is because she is so young and small her labor may be a bit more challenging. She has the full on alien belly (I can see them kicking from across the room) so she's within that 2 week mark but who knows when specifically. Not too worried about that part, just worried if complications are more common when they are this young. 

2. Her coat is medium length which I have no experience with. Again, doesn't matter but I'm just curious: does this mean she's more likely to have medium coated offspring? I had one litter of 6 (I took them in at 4 weeks) that were all short hair and except one rando that had long hair. I still swear the shelter threw him in with the bunch because he was around the same age!! Will I be able to tell coat length at birth, or does it take awhile to know? 

3. Finally, I noticed her this afternoon biting at her fur when she was grooming herself. My cat does this every once in awhile (it's very dry here) but Adara was really going at it. Is this a way longer coated cats work mats out of their fur (she still has that kitten coat and I didn't notice any obvious mats) or possibly a sign of something else? We don't really have fleas here but I did run my fingers through the fur on her belly looking for black dots and didn't see anything. Thoughts? 

Aside from these questions it has been a great transition. Adara is sweet as can be, purrs like crazy and loves attention. Because of her age she is a little more playful than other Queens I have had and was really enjoying a little wand toy time. Happy to share my pad with such a loveball for the next few months. 

You can't tell how rotund she is in this picture but you can see how young and adorable she is! Oh, and the shelter staff (who have gotten all creative on me) said her name is Muslim for "one who catches birds." I googled it and the Irish interpretation is "virgin." Based on the status of her belly, I'm guessing she's Muslim......  

Oh, goodness! Look how little she is! I'm sure she's around 5 1/2-6 months old (as the earliest I've heard of a cat going into heat is 14 weeks, so if she's close she's at least 21-22 weeks), but she looks barely 3-4 months old! Poor little thing.

The daddy cat needs to carry the longhair gene as well in order for the babies to have long hair. I have raised 2 litters with one longhair and the rest shorthairs, but I never saw the mother of either litter, so I'm not really positive how it works! But I do know that the longhair gene is recessive so both parents do need to carry it for it to show up in tthe kittens. And longhairs do "comb" their fur by biting it, so that's normal.

Ah you are genius on the Longhaired recessive thing! Obviously the Daddy is a mystery so I guess it will be a surprise! And that's comforting that her biting is a form of grooming. She was clearly someone's pet based on how socialized she is and looks very, very healthy but you never know with cats. I'm also comforted that you have had a longhaired oddball in a sea of shorthairs. It's still strange to me how different kittens from the same litter can look!

Yes, her age is mind boggling. If I wasn't certain she was pregnant I would have said not older than 4 months. I didn't get to talk to the vet so my guess is the 6-8 month range but she very well could be younger than that. Regardless, it makes me sad. She hasn't even grown into her ears yet! 

Anyone else want to take stab at her age? 

I think kittens off the street often appear younger than they are, and smaller. I'd guess she's 6-8 months though she appears 4-5. Poor girl, hope all goes ok with birthing and raising the kittens.

As with all cats, be present at the birth with your kitten kit and vets number on hand.

Poor little thing, she's so tiny! What a precious little girl. She's so lucky to have a good home to have her babies in. I can't bear to imagine how scary it would be if she had to go it alone in a cage.

Looking at her tail in the photo she might be a longhair in her summer coat - her tail looks very fluffy.

Did the shelter worm & deflea her before handing her over?  I hope so.

You check for fleas by using a fine tooth comb over white paper.  If you get black bits out, wet them and if they are flea dirt they will stain the water pink.  So long as she is happy to be handled she will probably enjoy being combed on a regular basis.

The following might help.  Remember that despite her young age everything will probably be fine.

http://www.fabcats.org/breeders/infosheets/breeding_from_your_cat/felineparturition.html

missymotus said:

I think kittens off the street often appear younger than they are, and smaller. I'd guess she's 6-8 months though she appears 4-5. Poor girl, hope all goes ok with birthing and raising the kittens.

As with all cats, be present at the birth with your kitten kit and vets number on hand.

Click to expand...

That's true. She is definitely malnourished so that may be a factor to her looking younger as well. Regardless she is still too young to be having babies! And of course I am all ready for the birth (restocked my supplies today) and plan to be present as always. I even got a brand new scale that measures in grams just for you.   Were going gram style this time! 

OrientalSlave said:

Looking at her tail in the photo she might be a longhair in her summer coat - her tail looks very fluffy.

Did the shelter worm & deflea her before handing her over?  I hope so.

You check for fleas by using a fine tooth comb over white paper.  If you get black bits out, wet them and if they are flea dirt they will stain the water pink.  So long as she is happy to be handled she will probably enjoy being combed on a regular basis.

The following might help.  Remember that despite her young age everything will probably be fine.

http://www.fabcats.org/breeders/infosheets/breeding_from_your_cat/felineparturition.html

Click to expand...

Ah yes see I did not know long haired cats had a summer coat. I suppose that would be common sense but I just didn't give it much thought. Her tail is super bushy and her fur is really long just thinned out so that would make sense. I did get a metal brush at the pet store today that said it was specifically for deshedding long haired cats and she really enjoyed getting brushed down. 

She was dewormed but because of the climate where I live we don't deflea immediately as it is so uncommon. If you go up to the mountains you see more fleas and ticks but not in the city. The two main illnesses we struggle with are upper respiratory infections (because it's so dry they are hard to clear up) and ringworm. I do have a fine tooth comb and I will try that just to be on the safe side. And that's not unusual that I didn't see the vet. They get their exam and workup at the shelter before fosters are even contacted, mainly because we work with FIV/FeLV+ cats and they have to make sure they contact the right type of foster. 

EB24 said:

 I even got a brand new scale that measures in grams just for you. 

 Were going gram style this time!  

Click to expand...

lol, that's usually OS's advice. Being an Aussie I've only ever used grams, it does make more sense to weigh in gm though.

ROFL!  I thought my usual advice would be to worm and deflea!

Doubt she needs a special deshedding comb, but you do need to use something that will get right through her coat and she will probably shed quite a bit in spring.

Some semi-longhair cats (e.g. all longhair cats except Persians!) have a noticible difference between winter & summer coats, some don't.  With the ones with a big difference sometimes the only traces in summer are a fluffy tail and maybe a bit of a ruff.

She is such a cutie! Poor girl being a mommy so young. Our older 3 kittens' mother is around a year old herself and she wasn't the best mother (she dragged them around everywhere since birth and would leave them in the open for hours so she could go off and lay in the sun and nap while the older moms in the colony hire babysitters if they want to go out. Kinda cute actually!)

Hope all goes well for you. She has such a sweet face and a fluffy tail!

My friend is fostering a cat, Myrtle, I'm helping a little.  I've never been around pregnant cats.  Myrtle was all belly when Friend got her, Myrtle was quite underweight, though super sweet and affectionate.  As Myrtle gained some weight, her belly got smaller so we thought for sure the kittens were going into the birth canal.  Turned out her belly was becoming a bit more proportionate to her overall (new) body size.  Mrytle could be anywhere from 7 months to two years, really hard to say. 

On July 15th at midnight Myrtle delivered three live kittens, the first was very underweight and died 24 hours later.  One day later, she delivered two stillborn kittens.  The original two kittens are doing well.

She is a great mother.  A week ago friend obtained three kittens orphaned at around 4 days old, when Friend got them their age was estimated to be around four weeks (and weigh less than Myrtle's two week old kittens.)  Myrtle immediately began grooming them and nursing them and gets very concerned if she hears them cry.  The three orphan kittens are doing reasonably well. 

I read somewhere that pregnant cats groom around their nipples so that when they are nursing it is less painful to the mother and the kittens can find the nipple more easily.

missymotus said:

lol, that's usually OS's advice. Being an Aussie I've only ever used grams, it does make more sense to weigh in gm though.

Click to expand...

Oh I call shenanigans you are just as bad as OS!   Regardless it clearly works as I am becoming a gram convert. Mostly out of fear of what you two will do to me if I don't! Seriously, do you two meet up in some secret location and discuss top secret TCS stuff because your advice is often so similar it's eerie! 

OrientalSlave said:

ROFL!  I thought my usual advice would be to worm and deflea!

Doubt she needs a special deshedding comb, but you do need to use something that will get right through her coat and she will probably shed quite a bit in spring.

Some semi-longhair cats (e.g. all longhair cats except Persians!) have a noticible difference between winter & summer coats, some don't.  With the ones with a big difference sometimes the only traces in summer are a fluffy tail and maybe a bit of a ruff.

Click to expand...

Well I was there buying her a kitten sized collar as she's too tiny for her cat one so I figured I would just grab it. She definitely doesnt have that Persian fluff- she looks shorthair in the front but her fur gets progressively longer as you go down her body. Are your Persians born with a longer coat than a short hair cat would be? 

ashyfulz said:

She is such a cutie! Poor girl being a mommy so young. Our older 3 kittens' mother is around a year old herself and she wasn't the best mother (she dragged them around everywhere since birth and would leave them in the open for hours so she could go off and lay in the sun and nap while the older moms in the colony hire babysitters if they want to go out. Kinda cute actually!)

Hope all goes well for you. She has such a sweet face and a fluffy tail!

Click to expand...

That's what I'm afraid of- that's she's just too immature to care for her babies. But, there's no way to know so I guess I just have to hope for the best and keep encouraging her. I'm all ready on standby with KMR and bottles in case she goes rogue on me! 

Ritz said:

My friend is fostering a cat, Myrtle, I'm helping a little.  I've never been around pregnant cats.  Myrtle was all belly when Friend got her, Myrtle was quite underweight, though super sweet and affectionate.  As Myrtle gained some weight, her belly got smaller so we thought for sure the kittens were going into the birth canal.  Turned out her belly was becoming a bit more proportionate to her overall (new) body size.  Mrytle could be anywhere from 7 months to two years, really hard to say. 

On July 15th at midnight Myrtle delivered three live kittens, the first was very underweight and died 24 hours later.  One day later, she delivered two stillborn kittens.  The original two kittens are doing well.

She is a great mother.  A week ago friend obtained three kittens orphaned at around 4 days old, when Friend got them their age was estimated to be around four weeks (and weigh less than Myrtle's two week old kittens.)  Myrtle immediately began grooming them and nursing them and gets very concerned if she hears them cry.  The three orphan kittens are doing reasonably well. 

I read somewhere that pregnant cats groom around their nipples so that when they are nursing it is less painful to the mother and the kittens can find the nipple more easily.

Click to expand...

I have seen that before where the belly appears to be shrinking just because they are finally getting some good nutrition. That's so sad about Myrtle's kittens. At least the two are thriving and that she is taking good care of them and was even able to take on some surrogates! Maybe she had to lose the three in order to care for the orphans. Sometimes things that are out of our control happen for reasons we can't see off the bat. So at first your story makes me feel sad, but then kind of happy because even though three were lost three more were saved that wouldn't have been otherwise. Good for your friend for taking her in and good for you for being so supportive and helping out. It can be a very stressful experience and I'm sure she is grateful to have you! 

EB24 said:

Oh I call shenanigans you are just as bad as OS! 

 Regardless it clearly works as I am becoming a gram convert. Mostly out of fear of what you two will do to me if I don't! Seriously, do you two meet up in some secret location and discuss top secret TCS stuff because your advice is often so similar it's eerie!

Click to expand...

Assure you we are two separate people on opposite sides of the world, perhaps we are both just correct in advice most of the time

OS often posts what I intend to, she just gets in first due to the time difference much of the time lol

missymotus said:

Assure you we are two separate people on opposite sides of the world, perhaps we are both just correct in advice most of the time

OS often posts what I intend to, she just gets in first due to the time difference much of the time lol

Click to expand...

It's true you both are right a lot of the time- can't deny the genius you two got goin on there! 

Sounds like you need to move so you can one up OS! 

missymotus said:

Assure you we are two separate people on opposite sides of the world, perhaps we are both just correct in advice most of the time

OS often posts what I intend to, she just gets in first due to the time difference much of the time lol

Click to expand...

Move to the UK? 

OrientalSlave said:

Move to the UK? 

Click to expand...