Pregnant kitty, not sure how far along she is!

You find some articles here, and also in the health section.  I shall try and copy and paste some links.

A good tip is you do weigh them every day, in a electronic scale measuring in grammes.  No absolute necessity if they are healthy and gain, but priceless the day there are any problems....   Also, a nice memory to give their adoption parents.

Yes, its normal mama takes some breaks.  She usually rush back as soon she hears them protest.  But dont let her outside the house!

Eyes opens typically aroung day 10-12, may be earlier, may be somewhat later...

Vets depends on, partly on what your vet prefer.  Phone and ask his recommendations!  This way you also establish a contact.  Probably around week 8 for first shots, spaying a little later.

Not now immediately, if there arent problems.   The first dewormings you can probably do yourselves, but ask the vet which preparate he recommends.

I will return during the day with the links.

Good luck!

Your babies are adorable!  Everything will probably be just fine and mama will do everything for them.  Make sure she has plenty of food and water.  Change her birth bedding after about 24 hours or she will move the babies, but if you do it too soon, sometimes it confuses the mamas, they seem to need the smells there for awhile, just not too long.  If she gave birth in a box, she may want one of the sides removed before too long also so she can move around better and not lie on them.  Yes, she will leave them to take breaks, no problem with that.  They do need to be somewhere dark when their eyes start to open (around 10 days of age), and don't take flash photo of them at that time (now is fine as long as their eyes are closed). 

Kittens do not need to go to vet until about 8 weeks old for first shots unless there is a problem.  No reason to expect any problems, but here is a link to our article on what to watch for so if there IS a problem, you will recognize it quickly. 

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/post-birth-complications-in-cats

Thanks for the info, super helpful! Babies are doing great and growing as we speak

I had a similar scare too. My mama wasn't feeling like hanging out with her babies and was laying near me and a baby of hers crawled out of the closet, they were all hungry I could tell. So I grabbed the kitten and placed it near the nipple. She grabbed the kitten and started to kick her. I thought she was trying to hurt her. (She used to play fight that exact with my boyfriends cat before the babies) I flipped out and took the baby away and spanked mama! Eventually she layed down and nursed her kittens with no problems, I didn't let them leave my sight until I knew she would feed them normally.
Was that my fault for trying to force a feeding? Maybe she was too excited since I had just gotten home from working all day? All is fine now and no harm to baby just really scared me. No prior issues before either. I hear they sometimes abandon babies or things of that sort so anytime she acts a bit weird or different I worry! She's been a great mama so far

Just found a flea on one of my 3 week old babies! read the previous comments about when mama had fleas. Will the same work for babies? Is there a flea med I can get at petco for them or are they still too small at 3 weeks? If I give mama flea Meds, will that harm the babies by going through her milk? What other steps should I take to get rid of these buggers!? Thx

At 3 weeks, I just flea comb them every day and flick the fleas out of the flea comb into a bowl of water with dish soap in it, and they sink and drown.  Comb the mama too, although the fleas will mostlly prefer the babies as they are more tender.  Change the bedding every couple of days and wash it, that will help.  I think you could safely use Advantage of Frontline on mama, but the fleas would just ALL move onto the abies then, so better to comb for a few weeks.

Th

Red Top Rescue said:

At 3 weeks, I just flea comb them every day and flick the fleas out of the flea comb into a bowl of water with dish soap in it, and they sink and drown.  Comb the mama too, although the fleas will mostlly prefer the babies as they are more tender.  Change the bedding every couple of days and wash it, that will help.  I think you could safely use Advantage of Frontline on mama, but the fleas would just ALL move onto the abies then, so better to comb for a few weeks.

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thanks for the advice! I know mama would hate the bath for her her babies. Should I change my bedding even though they have their own? Or just theirs?

I had a similar scare too. My mama wasn't feeling like hanging out with her babies and was laying near me and a baby of hers crawled out of the closet, they were all hungry I could tell. So I grabbed the kitten and placed it near the nipple. She grabbed the kitten and started to kick her. I thought she was trying to hurt her. (She used to play fight that exact with my boyfriends cat before the babies) I flipped out and took the baby away and spanked mama! Eventually she layed down and nursed her kittens with no problems, I didn't let them leave my sight until I knew she would feed them normally.
Was that my fault for trying to force a feeding? Maybe she was too excited since I had just gotten home from working all day? All is fine now and no harm to baby just really scared me. No prior issues before either. I hear they sometimes abandon babies or things of that sort so anytime she acts a bit weird or different I worry! She's been a great mama so far

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Any advice?? It happened again a few mins ago, same situation though. Just got home from being gone all day and she was a little riled up/excited and wanting to play. Lil baby just crawled up to her and she grabbed and kicked and tried to bite her neck. I made sure baby is fine, and she did it again as baby went back to her. She is still excitable as of now, wanting to play. I worry if she does this while I'm gone too. She seems to just want to play with them and can't control herself. I gave her a toy to play with and she went crazy for it for about 5 mins and is now laying on my balcony. (That's the only outside she goes with my supervision) I just worry its something more than playing. Anyone have the same issue? She still nurses and cleans them and is good otherwise, this is my only concern

My babies are about 4 weeks old and I just bought KMR for them to start weaning from mama. Not sure how much to give them since I haven't been weighing them..also do I heat it up or just give it to them room temp?

devanmoll said:

My babies are about 4 weeks old and I just bought KMR for them to start weaning from mama. Not sure how much to give them since I haven't been weighing them..also do I heat it up or just give it to them room temp?

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Its better to give at body temp, like you do with human babies.   4 weeks its no catastrophe if you happen to give at room temp, but body better.

If they take the bottle, you give as much as they want.  As long as they want to draw.  15 ml at a time?

Its a little more touchy when you use a syringe, as its a variation of forcefeeding.  There you must be more careful not to overdo, you dont want to risk reflux, or if they get too much and cant swallow any more...   So with syringe more often but less at a  time.

Good luck!

Oh I didn't know I had to use a bottle, I was just going to put it in a saucer for them to try to lap it up. Is that ok too? They still have mama and her milk so I'm not worried bout them not getting enough food. My vet had told me at 4 weeks to start kmr and as they get older mix in kitten food more and more until they eat solids

devanmoll said:

I flipped out and took the baby away and spanked mama!

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Hi, I'm new to cat care. I'm confused by the lack of reaction to this post (which is probably owing to my own ignorance).

What is the most effective way to deal with bad Mommy behavior? I realize that everyone should do what suits them, but I'm hoping that there might be a separation followed by a positive-reinforcement-based solution?

ktmn said:

Hi, I'm new to cat care. I'm confused by the lack of reaction to this post (which is probably owing to my own ignorance).

What is the most effective way to deal with bad Mommy behavior? I realize that everyone should do what suits them, but I'm hoping that there might be a separation followed by a positive-reinforcement-based solution?

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WELCOME TO TCS,@ktmn. Thanks for your comment on the post by devanmoll saying she took the baby away and spanked the mama cat. That post and the one following it are over a week old -- perhaps being new, you didn't realize that  there is a Page 2 to the thread, which you will now find yourself on (scroll up to the top and you will see the listing of page numbers in the bottom portion of the title bar, underneath the Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and eMail links) so nobody is responding now as that part of the thread doesn't automatically come up.  Evidently nobody noticed or had a comment back when that happened.  I would have commented myself had I seen it at the time, but last week was quite insane with two family emergencies, so I didn't get onto The Cat Site at all for a few days, and obviously no one else noticed or had a comment then either.  I think that @devanmoll should have a play session with Mama Kitty right after she gets home from work, since she is obviously happy and excited to see her human mom and that brings out her playful side.  She's young and playful and just used her kitten as a toy.  Young Mama cats do that a lot as the kittens get older but they don't really hurt them.  Still, a session with the DaBird toy or chasing a laser pointer for 10 minutes or so would probably be a good idea, fun for the mama cat, and soon the kittens too will be able to join the play.

Even the last post in this thread (before yours) is over a week old so it's pretty much a completed series unless the Original Poster comes back to it and asks other questions.

Thanks for the info, welcome, and very best wishes to your family; I hope everything is well.
I did realize the thread was a week old. I have been reading through the older ones looking for as much information as possible, since this isn't a super fast moving sub-forum. I thought that I might not be the only newbie doing this, and hoping for alternative strategies and insight.
Which you definitely provided! Great ideas!