Good morning everyone!
I have been a lurker on this site for exactly a week, which is how long I have been fostering two pregnant cats. Their story is this. A week and a half ago, my sister called me. She is a manager overseeing about 20 townhomes. She was checking a recently vacated townhome and discovered two cats the owner had left behind. The cats had free rein in the empty two bedroom townhome for two days until my sister discovered them. There was no FOOD no WATER and no LITTER PANs in the unit!!!! It is horrifying to even think about if she had waited any longer to check the unit. Instead of contacted the owners, she contacted me and I immediately told her I would foster them. She did not want to contact the 'owners' because she did not want them to go back to the tenants that would just leave them without food, water, or a place to go to the bathroom.
I was not able to pick them up until Thursday of last week. So my sister took care of them at her place for two days. In that time, they ate a ton and she realized they were both pregnant. When I picked them up, they looked in pretty good health and are very obviously pregnant.
Now my sister knows the history of these tentants and she is pretty certain these cats have never had vet care or vaccinations. She is also pretty certain the two cats are mother-daughter. The father or fathers are stray or feral and unknown. The daughter is not even a year old because my sister remembers seeing a litter of kittens around Christmas.
Now for my situation. I have a 9lb whippet/beagle puppy (1 yr old) and a spayed cat (1 1/2 yrs old) at my house that are best buds. When I first brought these two mamma cats to my house, I kept them completely separate from my animals in my master bedroom. I immediately gave them baths with feline flea and tick shamoo. I combed their fur and did a thorough check for fleas or ear mites - none to be found.
I put cat food, water, and a litter box in my walk-in closet and took a trip to the local pet store. I purchased some high protein canned cat food as a supplement to the kitten food I am feeding the cats (grain-free I might add).
Over the course of this week, the cats have met my two boys and love to be carried around by them. They have met my dog and my dog and the cats completely ignore eachother. They will all lay around on my bed and ignore each other. When I am at work, my dog stays in my laundry room, so no worries there.
My cat on the other hand is making friends with the younger pregnant cat, but wants nothing to do with the older one. She tends to hang out by herself in my son's room on his bed.
Both cats are extremely friendly. They absolutely hated when I gave them a bath, but not once did they extend their claws.
Anyways, this is my story and I guess I have the following questions.
These two pregnant cats don't really like hanging around eachother. Is this because they are both pregnant and feel competition for survival? Should I be concerned when they have their kittens that they will try to hurt eachother or kittens?
What vaccinations are they able to get pregnant, if any? I will be bringing them to the vet as soon as I get back from vacation. While I am on vacation, my sister will be staying at my house to keep on eye on my animals?
I have read the checklist of items to have for when the cats go into labor and most of it is assembled. I just hope they wait until I am back form vacation.
I have read that kittens should not go to new homes until they are 12 weeks old. If this is the case, can they be spayed/neutered before going to their new homes?
Do vets offer a discount if I were to get every single cat/kitten neutered? I want to do the responsible thing for these sweet mamma cats and their young.
I think that is long enough for a first post. I think I just want to know if there is anything obvious I am forgetting to do in caring for these two cats. I've never owned a cat that wasn't spayed/neuterd, so this is a first time for me.
Thanks for reading my novel!
I have been a lurker on this site for exactly a week, which is how long I have been fostering two pregnant cats. Their story is this. A week and a half ago, my sister called me. She is a manager overseeing about 20 townhomes. She was checking a recently vacated townhome and discovered two cats the owner had left behind. The cats had free rein in the empty two bedroom townhome for two days until my sister discovered them. There was no FOOD no WATER and no LITTER PANs in the unit!!!! It is horrifying to even think about if she had waited any longer to check the unit. Instead of contacted the owners, she contacted me and I immediately told her I would foster them. She did not want to contact the 'owners' because she did not want them to go back to the tenants that would just leave them without food, water, or a place to go to the bathroom.
I was not able to pick them up until Thursday of last week. So my sister took care of them at her place for two days. In that time, they ate a ton and she realized they were both pregnant. When I picked them up, they looked in pretty good health and are very obviously pregnant.
Now my sister knows the history of these tentants and she is pretty certain these cats have never had vet care or vaccinations. She is also pretty certain the two cats are mother-daughter. The father or fathers are stray or feral and unknown. The daughter is not even a year old because my sister remembers seeing a litter of kittens around Christmas.
Now for my situation. I have a 9lb whippet/beagle puppy (1 yr old) and a spayed cat (1 1/2 yrs old) at my house that are best buds. When I first brought these two mamma cats to my house, I kept them completely separate from my animals in my master bedroom. I immediately gave them baths with feline flea and tick shamoo. I combed their fur and did a thorough check for fleas or ear mites - none to be found.
I put cat food, water, and a litter box in my walk-in closet and took a trip to the local pet store. I purchased some high protein canned cat food as a supplement to the kitten food I am feeding the cats (grain-free I might add).
Over the course of this week, the cats have met my two boys and love to be carried around by them. They have met my dog and my dog and the cats completely ignore eachother. They will all lay around on my bed and ignore each other. When I am at work, my dog stays in my laundry room, so no worries there.
My cat on the other hand is making friends with the younger pregnant cat, but wants nothing to do with the older one. She tends to hang out by herself in my son's room on his bed.
Both cats are extremely friendly. They absolutely hated when I gave them a bath, but not once did they extend their claws.
Anyways, this is my story and I guess I have the following questions.
These two pregnant cats don't really like hanging around eachother. Is this because they are both pregnant and feel competition for survival? Should I be concerned when they have their kittens that they will try to hurt eachother or kittens?
What vaccinations are they able to get pregnant, if any? I will be bringing them to the vet as soon as I get back from vacation. While I am on vacation, my sister will be staying at my house to keep on eye on my animals?
I have read the checklist of items to have for when the cats go into labor and most of it is assembled. I just hope they wait until I am back form vacation.
I have read that kittens should not go to new homes until they are 12 weeks old. If this is the case, can they be spayed/neutered before going to their new homes?
Do vets offer a discount if I were to get every single cat/kitten neutered? I want to do the responsible thing for these sweet mamma cats and their young.
I think that is long enough for a first post. I think I just want to know if there is anything obvious I am forgetting to do in caring for these two cats. I've never owned a cat that wasn't spayed/neuterd, so this is a first time for me.
Thanks for reading my novel!