I'm taking in a nursing mom and her kittens, need advice

My husband is bringing them home tomorrow, he works out of town so I am not local to be able to get them today. His coworker has an outdoor only cat they never spayed. She showed up with kittens and coworkers husband wants them taken to the shelter. So I agreed to take them in. I guess there are only 3 kittens left, there were more but they disappeared  

They don't know how old they are and I've only seen a picture. They appear to be about 4 weeks? They are still nursing, but also will eat canned food. This is my first time fostering a mom with babies. What is the best thing to feed her? I'm sure she is used to hunting at her present home but she will be inside here, I'm just hoping she isn't pregnant again already. I have raw food and grain free dry and canned in my house now.  I don't even know how old the mom is. She is friendly and good with cats and dogs, I was told. I just want to get this mama and her kittens fixed, and find them good homes, so there are no more litters. 

What a sad story! It really irks me that people would be so irresponsible and cruel! I hope they will never be allowed to get another animal. You could give their name to local shelters so they will not have animals adopted to them again!

She will need extra calories bc she is nursing. Raw food is great just make sure she eats enough for a nursing mother. Same with the dry food she will need more than a regular cat.

Thank you so much for taking in this litter & mother cat.

You could try giving the mother cat some raw food; if she is a hunter, she may recognize raw food as, well, food.  (Some of the ferals I feed don't recognize raw food and won't touch it.)

You should feed the mother cat as much as she wants, a high quality, high protein food--you can even try some kitten food (has more calories).  If the mother cat will eat raw, you can slip in some extra chicken skin.  In other words, pretty much what you have now.

The kittens should get kitten food--you can also supplement their food with raw (very tiny pieces of course, I'd hold off on the bone for now).

Do they look skinny?

PS:  I would take the mother cat to the vets to see if she is indeed pregnant--which is entirely possible if she has been outdoors all this time.  I do not know if you can spay a cat while nursing but I'm sure others will chime in.  The mother cat at least should also be dewormed; the vet can tell you which dewormer is safest for a nursing mother, and which dewormers are safe for 4 week old kittens.

I'll try some chicken hearts and cut up chunks of chicken for mom when they get here, and try out some of the other foods I already have for my other cats. 

How far along does a cat need to be in the pregnancy for the vet to tell? 

Should I thin the canned kitten food with water when starting the kittens on it? I'm not sure how much they are nursing since I don't have them yet. I'm getting all my info second hand from my husband, and since this is a coworker he is trying to be as tactful as possible in trying to secure these kitties. I think that yesterday was the first time they ate commercial pet food. 

I only saw one picture and the mom is a long haired cat ( I was told, I haven't seen her) and the kittens are fluffy. I really couldn't tell from the photo. And my husband just thought they were cute of course, no info from him regarding their apparent health. He has seen them in person and held one of them. 

I'll know more tomorrow night when he comes home with them all. 

The stuff I've read says that the kittens can defecate on their own by 4 weeks and start grooming around 5 weeks, so maybe I can use those as a guide to judging their age. I have a heated cat bed that I could let them use if you think that would be a good idea to keep them warm. The new family will have to stay in my bathroom at first since I don't have a spare room away from my other cats at the moment. 

Ritz said:

PS:  I would take the mother cat to the vets to see if she is indeed pregnant--which is entirely possible if she has been outdoors all this time.  I do not know if you can spay a cat while nursing

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They do sometimes emergency spaying, say the vomb got infected. It usually ends well so the mom can continue to take care of the babies in 24 hours afterwards, usually including nursing (=giving milk).

The surgeon tries not to cut through the tits, or even - does a flank incision.

Of course, we nor the vets recommend to do normal routine spaying this way, usually better doing this at 8+ weeks, but if must so must. Can be done.

Better spay abort in early pregnancy, which is nothing much, than advanced pregnancy which is more difficult - and ethically unpleasant.

About the raw.  If you by raw mean, pure quality muscles, observe the cat needs also a lot of fat.  So you must supply such a raw with something with lotsa of fat...  You can melt in butter perhaps?

Say minced meat with melted in butter.  Or if salomonella in eggs is no problem at your place, minced meat with raw egg yolk.  Splendid!

If you can get hold of goat milk, it works nicely. Both as it is, and if necessary, as an useful kmr.

Good luck!

Ugh, I'm so nervous about these kittens safely getting to me and taking care of them all I barely slept last night. I'm just worried about the fact that they all have to be transported so far. It's over 200 miles from where they are to me and the poor mom has to deal with a move and strangers taking her and her babies. 

If you can get hold on Feliway, spray or diffuser, it would give her an extra welcome.

Yes, it is troublesome for the mom. As long she understands they are nice and friendly with her and her children, and continuing to help, she will copy and endure.  But if they arent friendly to her, it may be a rough session...

Good luck to them and you!

I should have some around here, just have to find the bottle. I had a diffuser one too, but I think it's empty. I haven't needed to use it for about a year. 

*crying* I'm so heartbroken for this mama kitty. She is so small and thin. She has given everything to her babies. She can't possibly be more than 7-9 months old. When she got here I had the room all set up for her and the kittens. I knew since she was an outside only cat that she was probably a kitten having kittens but to see it in person is just ugh. 

I decided to free feed her grain free dry food out of the reach of the babies as they are only 4-5 weeks probably. She immediately went for the food when we opened the crate but she only ate a few bites due to the kittens meowing and her wondering where she was now. I waited about an hour and gave her a can a kitten food which she wolfed down, so I decided to give her a second can. I'm not sure if there is a risk of overfeeding her right away or not as I've never taken care of cat in this situation. 

The kittens came out of the crate ( I took the door off but left it in the room for them to use as a den) when she was eating so I got a decent look at them. I don't want to handle them too much right away. I want her to settle in a little. One is definitely a tortie, one is solid black and the other is a confusing tabby. It looks silver, it has white ear tips but but fur between the black stripes sometimes look a little warm tone like a cream? I'll try and get better pictures later but I know from seeing pictures that the kitten tends to photograph warmer than it looks in person. The mom is a brown ( black) tabby with white. She has white mitts and a white chest and white on her tail. I think the tip IIRC. The kittens and the mom all have ear tufts. She looks like a long hair that has blown her coat. 

Any suggestions on feeding amounts please share. 

It's generally recommended to feed a nursing mama as much as she wants. . .but if she's been starving she may overdo it. I'd leave the dry food out all the time, and maybe 2-3 cans a day. And some meat (raw or cooked) for the extra protein. Not too much at once or she'll probably throw up. Once the kittens are eating solids reliably, she won't need as much, but nursing older babies like that really takes it out of them. I hope the poor girl isn't pregnant again .

Ask the vet about de-worming. . .I'm sure she and the babies are just infested.

Is it safe to deworm her with her being so emaciated? She let me pick her up and I swear she can't be more than 7 pounds she is just skin and bones. 

Yeah, that's why I said it would be best to ask the vet. . .I think worming a skinny cat is OK, as long as you adjust dosage for weight, but I don't want to give bad advice. But if the worms are getting all her food she won't be able to put on weight. . .best to ask the vet.

Agree with Willowy, consultation with a good, experienced vet is really the way to go in this case.

This is true with vaccinations--make sure the cat is healthy enough to receive the vaccination, especially if they are live viruses.  The cat's immune system needs to be strong enough to handle vaccinations (I learned this the hard, fatal, way.)

Yes, I'm one to only allow vaccination if they are healthy. Thanks for posting it for those that may not know the risks though.

Mama and the babies are doing good. Mama pooped twice in the litter box and ate the rest of the dry food. I changed the carrier liner last night and added a piddle pad below the towel, had them laying around anyway leftover. She has been really quiet no frantic meows like I expected. She came over to me this morning when I was putting down fresh water and food and she purred and walked around my feet. I put a night light in the room and when I checked on them in the middle of the night the kittens were on the bath mat together sitting with their legs tucked under them like big cats do, it was so cute. Mom was in the crate a few inches away laying down. 

Got back from the vet. Mama is 6.75 pounds. The black one is a boy and the other two are girls. Mama has a slight fever so they gave me abx and broad spectrum dewormer for the mama and kittens. No suggestion to vaccinate yet, they want to see her put on some weight first. 

Mama and kittens are doing good. She is really friendly. She is eating great and taking good care of the kittens. They generally don't meow anymore when you pick them up and they come over to us on their own now. They are starting to play a little bit and are walking more upright and sure. They don't seem interested in her food at all but they are nursing quite frequently. 

Mama has gained about 1/3 of a pound since Saturday when she was weighed at the vets. She is now just over 7 pounds. I am so thrilled. She also looks like her milk is increasing as her mammaries actually look like there is milk in them now. The kittens were sleeping so I haven't weighed them again yet but they are looking great and advancing in development, playing more ect. 

6.75 pounds. That's so sad. . I'm so glad she is gaining weight and doing better.

The kittens are using the litter box I set up for them with non clumping litter. They still don't seem very interested in the canned food though, even though I've been thinning it with water. They are still nursing a lot. They are all almost 1 1/4 pounds. They are really starting to play now. They run around some, wrestle, play bite each other and have started hopping and playing with toys. I saw one of them batting the little cloth ball around. They are also sticking their paws under the door to play. They seem much more like 6 week old kittens now than when they arrived a week and a half ago. Their eyes are still dark blue though.

Melesine said:

The kittens are using the litter box I set up for them with non clumping litter. They still don't seem very interested in the canned food though, even though I've been thinning it with water. They are still nursing a lot. They are all almost 1 1/4 pounds. They are really starting to play now. They run around some, wrestle, play bite each other and have started hopping and playing with toys. I saw one of them batting the little cloth ball around. They are also sticking their paws under the door to play. They seem much more like 6 week old kittens now than when they arrived a week and a half ago. Their eyes are still dark blue though.

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So great to hear! You have done such a great thing!!