Penelope and Her Kittens

I do have a question though.. Penny doesn't drink much water at all. I know with nursing humans, water is VERY important and assume the same is true with cats. I alway add water to her canned food, would that be enough water for her?

You could try her with some goats milk if you can get some.

Goat milk is a good idea. It's good you're adding water to her canned food. You can also try adding some tuna water to her water bowl to tempt her to drink more. Of course, that means it needs to be refreshed more often if it works.

Oh, and glad to hear Mama and babies are doing well. Thanks for taking her in. I would want to keep all the kittens too! They're so adorable.

You had already got some tips on having her to drink more water. You yoursel add water to the her canned food - which is a good trick and possibly giving her enough with water.

Another tip may be using a water fountain - works often marvellously with cats who dont drink enough.

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I want to add, a little cream with water makes if often more tasty for cats.

but if you can get hold on goat milk, try with this first.  You will  have it also for emergency reserve.  If it isnt used by cats, you can use it yourself.

People who doesnt manage common cow milk do often manage goat milk.  Both those who dont manage lactose and those who dont manage cow milk proteins...

Goat milk is also nourishing by itself, so you can add it to your tea, coffe, make pancakes on it, etc...   

Is goat milk a remedicum for everything?  Nay, it doesnt help for tennis elbow.  I dont think so anyway.     

The gain will probably increase over the next few days as feeding gets really well established.

Tell immediately what the vet says

I bet it is tight money, but your are saving anothers life. It doesn't matter if she is not a huma . All living things are the same.we alk need our love anf our discipline. I hope that nothing is wrong and every thing is fine.

I'm not sure why people are commenting on this thread. Karagraff has a new thread regarding kitten weights. The mama is doing better.

Actually, money is not tight with us, we are doing quite well, thanks. Yes my husband complains here and there about spending money on animals but it's just him grumbling, you know how men can be! I've been putting some money aside for this stuff, for all of our animals. Obviously I hate to go to the vet if it's not needed, but I can and would if I had to, I don't think I made it sound as though I wasn't willing to do so..?


Anyway, as an update(I did already update on another thread) the mom has been fine, it was just that night and things were back to normal, she must have just been very exhausted, understandably so!

My dog peaked in our bedroom where the kittens are (she kept her distance, she knew she wasn't allowed In There)
Shortly after, Penny moved her kittens to the front of my closet, on a pile of clothes that must have fell off a hanger. I put the nesting box in the closet and put them kittens in the box. Now for the past 2 hours, Penny took the one kitten (the one with the lowest weight) and moved it to the very back of our closet (the closet is kind of large) and has been letting it nurse but I haven't seen her nursing the other kittens. Maybe she has, because I am not up there very often, I try to let her do her thing. The kittens have just been sleeping. Should I be concerned? Is she abandoning these kittens? Should I bring them all to her or let her figure it out?

They have all lost 1 or 2 grams since this morning . I know it's not much but still..

Edited to Add: I just put them all with her, I hope it's ok that I am intervening, hopefully I don't somehow makes things worse or make her more nervous but I don't like that they were dropping weight already.

I'm not really experienced with kittens, but from what I have learned here, I think you're doing just fine. Since she already accepts you weighing the kittens, I don't think your "intervention" will hurt anything. Are you weighing them about the same time every day? There will be fluctuations throughout the day, so consistency is key. Also, one day of not gaining or a little lost is not too worrying. If it happens again, then you're right to start worrying. As for mothers abandoning their kittens, it seems to be that she will abandon all of them or just the weakest. It doesn't seem likely that she would abandon the bigger ones, so maybe she was giving the little one extra time nursing? It's hard to know what a momma cat instinctively understands.

Thank you! I actually have been looking into getting a fountain for her because she prefers drinking running water out of the bathroom sink

And if anyone wants to see some better pictures.. You can see their coloring better..

More pictures..

Awwww u have ur only little set of adorable kitty's too my 7 still sleep at night and they are 3 weeks gorgeous pics

I"ve had mama's do this and I normally intervene. She may be trying to give the little guy some one on one but I really don't know if they think that deeply lol. Sometimes, they will ignore one if there is something wrong with it. We may not see outwards signs but they seem to know when something is wrong.

That said, I had a momma lay with dead kitten and still reach out for it when I tried to remove it.

My last mama moved 3 out of the 4 to a different place, leaving one behind. She did it 3 or 4 times. I just kept putting him back. She eventually stopped and he was thriving. Sometimes, they are just quirky.

So basically, I would intervene. At least she is laying with the singleton. I'd be more worried if it was all by itself as they cannot generate their own heat yet. I would watch weight very closely. Any loss is not good. Can you express milk? Do you see them all suckling for long periods?

Aaaw so gorgeous, you also have a ginger. Me too mine is a very noise fatty boom boom. I dunno how i am going to part with them but alas all 3 have good homes.

karagraaf said:

Thank you! I actually have been looking into getting a fountain for her because she prefers drinking running water out of the bathroom sink

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She will probably still prefer the water straight from the tap!  Do put her water bowl away from her food.  I have two out, one with the food and one in another room and mostly they drink out of the one in the other room.

Ok, I'll try that but Ihave been noticing now that she will come downstairs to drink out of the Dog's dish now.