Stray Momma and kitten questions

My family and I adopted a stray when we were on vacation in Manitoba. Only to find out when we got home that she was going to have kitten. She was residing in the milk room in the barn. But after the kittens arrived I brought them here to the house so they could be house trained before going to their new homes.

Now that you know the history here's my questions. Its actually been a while since I've been around a Momma and kittens so I can't remember how things go. They're about 7 weeks old now and she's sometimes starting to get snarly at them when they try to nurse her. Is that her starting to ween them? They are eating hard food now.

And is it okay for her to have catnip with her still nursing... and cat the kittens have it? My own cats have catnip toys and I'm wondering if I should be putting them away for now.

THANK YOU!!! :cat:

Yes, it is surely the beginning of the natural weening them off...  Good is goes on stepwise.

Btw, a good tip is you learn them also to eat wet cat food (=canned).  Which is really better than dry, on the average.

Best is if they can eat both wet and dry, so you are guarded for the new owners preferences.

About the catnip, I really dont know.  For the moment,  I dont remember any real drawbacks.  The dosage is so small.

But I dont really know / recall, so google or wait to somene else who remembers, comes around...

Tx for caring, well done to help this girl and her children!

Good luck!

Thanks... she just attached herself to us and didn't let go lol. And we would never see any harm come to her little ones.

I actually just got the little ones eating wet food a couple of days ago. So they are on both now.

Googled the catnip bit. Doesn't seem to be an issue... thankful lol

Thanks for the response!

Hope she's been kept in.  If not she may well be pregnant again...

She is! And fixed as soon as babies are gone

So the kittens are now 8 weeks plus, yet they are still nursing. Is it okay to send them to their new homes?

moggymomma said:

So the kittens are now 8 weeks plus, yet they are still nursing. Is it okay to send them to their new homes?

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I presume they are also eating for full, wet or and dry?  And thus, the nursing is almost entirely for the pleasure of it?

If so, yes, they can go to their new homes if you wish.

We recommend somewhat later, at 10-12 weeks, if there are no problems at your end.

But they will manage OK now.

Good luck!

I can keep them longer if need be. But they are on wet and dry food both. Litter trained as well. Only nursinursing two or three (AT THE MOST) times a day and never for very long. Most of the time she only let's them nurse for a minute and then gets up and walks away.

And us it normal for her to be getting so thin? She has lots to eat. Wet and dry. Just doesn't seem to be gaining any weight.

Oh she will soon start putting weight on. My Ginny let her babies nurse till they were 11 weeks old, usually only a couple of times a day and they were on 100g of wet food each, twice a day. I think it was more comfort than nourishment. Ginny was spayed when the babies were 12 weeks old ( mid August) and after then she started to put weight on. I could see and feel her hip bones upto then but now you can't see or feel them.

Okay. Awesome.