How much time?

How much time should Rose be spending with her 5 day old kittens?

Preferably most of the total time.  Some few are there more scarcely.  If its warm enough, cozy enough, she nurses them and washes, and they dont complain, its not the whole world.

The main thing is, they dont complain.

If necessary, you can lay them on a fleece - it feels nicely to kittens.  Also a heater if necessary.

I gather you do have some problem here, as you ask?

StefanZ said:

Preferably most of the total time.  Some few are there more scarcely.  If its warm enough, cozy enough, she nurses them and washes, and they dont complain, its not the whole world.
The main thing is, they dont complain.
If necessary, you can lay them on a fleece - it feels nicely to kittens.  Also a heater if necessary.

I gather you do have some problem here, as you ask?

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She is a very sociable cat, so she has been crying a lot to get out. She nurses them for 30-40 minutes and then cleans and then immediately wants out. We have her separated from our other cat and the her best friend who is a very big dog, because I don't know how the dog would react to such small babies, but otherwise she loves cats. I just don't want to chance it. Anyways, she comes downstairs and takes long naps with the dog. The kittens complain but I have a baby monitor so she hears them downstairs and immediately heads upstairs. Also, when can the dog safely meet the kittens? We got our other cat around 9 weeks and the dog enjoyed her. When Rose went into labor she tried to stay by the dog during so I had to lock her in a guest bedroom with the nest she made. I'm just trying to be cautious and follow guidelines here, but the kittens may be staying here forever so they'll have to meet our dog at some point. Haha. I very much appreciate your advice and expertise that you've been giving me. There's only so much a vet can tell me.

fatedone said:

She is a very sociable cat, so she has been crying a lot to get out. She nurses them for 30-40 minutes and then cleans and then immediately wants out. We have her separated from our other cat and the her best friend who is a very big dog, because I don't know how the dog would react to such small babies, but otherwise she loves cats. I just don't want to chance it. Anyways, she comes downstairs and takes long naps with the dog. The kittens complain but I have a baby monitor so she hears them downstairs and immediately heads upstairs. Also, when can the dog safely meet the kittens? We got our other cat around 9 weeks and the dog enjoyed her. When Rose went into labor she tried to stay by the dog during so I had to lock her in a guest bedroom with the nest she made. I'm just trying to be cautious and follow guidelines here, but the kittens may be staying here forever so they'll have to meet our dog at some point. Haha. I very much appreciate your advice and expertise that you've been giving me. There's only so much a vet can tell me.

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It sounds as she and you manage them well, her finding a nice compromise between children and dog friends...        So its not any real problem, although perhaps not totally ideal.

But as the dog is SO cat friendly, I dont think there is any real danger.  Its of course easy for me to say, sitting in Sweden far away, and not at all included in the practical care of the kittens.  But if I would bet on it at a betting broker, I would bet heavily its OK to let the dog meet the kittens already now.  Quite a few dogs are surprisingly friendly to kittens, and cats.  Especielly here, when he already are is best friend with their mom.  He knows also the ktitens are under your protection, so they DO belongs to the pack, and thus, are also under his protection.  If you want to try let them meet, I think you can do so.  Do supervise them the first hours, to double safe guard everything.   But I want to think you can dare.

The danger may come a later on, when they become 6 weeks and wants to play lively and hard plays.  And him being so much bigger, may happen to hurt them, not because of any bad will, but because the great difference in sizes...  A moderate punch by him becomes a heavy blow to them...

Good luck!

fatedone said:

She is a very sociable cat, so she has been crying a lot to get out. She nurses them for 30-40 minutes and then cleans and then immediately wants out. We have her separated from our other cat and the her best friend who is a very big dog, because I don't know how the dog would react to such small babies, but otherwise she loves cats. I just don't want to chance it. Anyways, she comes downstairs and takes long naps with the dog. The kittens complain but I have a baby monitor so she hears them downstairs and immediately heads upstairs. Also, when can the dog safely meet the kittens? We got our other cat around 9 weeks and the dog enjoyed her. When Rose went into labor she tried to stay by the dog during so I had to lock her in a guest bedroom with the nest she made. I'm just trying to be cautious and follow guidelines here, but the kittens may be staying here forever so they'll have to meet our dog at some point. Haha. I very much appreciate your advice and expertise that you've been giving me. There's only so much a vet can tell me.

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You have nothing to worry about, she sounds like a wonderful mom. I personally have a very social cat too, who had her first litter last year. She only went to them to feed and clean them for 30 minutes and left again. She even slept away from the kittens, and when the kittens complained, she ran back again to feed them again. Some catmoms are like this and it's completely normal. Just make sure she goes back to the kittens enough to feed them, and make sure they aren't cold. 

For introducing them to your dog. I would wait for a couple of more weeks. You said you don't know how your dog will respond to the little ones, and I have heard stories of sweet dogs killing kittens because they think they are toys. I personally would start introducing maybe around 4-5 weeks? When they can walk around and start being "animals" and not sleeping little cute eatable kittens And the first few times you can make sure you are around and still split them during the times you are away just in case. Better save than sorry.

As long as your dog is not going to be rough with them then I don't see why he can't meet them at least.

He already knows about them just by smells and the momma cat.

The one thing that comes to mind in a mom spending time away from them is their warmth.

Newborns should be constantly kept at 97-99 degrees or so, so it's a VERY good idea to slide a heating pad under them on low.

When their body temps drop below about 95 or so, their organs become dormant and will not digest what they consume until they are warmer again.

Otherwise things sound nice and smooth!

I bet your dog would probably try to co-parent!
S/he obviously accepts cats as part of the family.
When we were kids we had a dog who'd been raised and trained (and bred) to become a guide dog for the blind- he failed a medical -and part of the training was to be raised with cats. When we got a tiny black kitten he thought he'd become a proud papa, carrying this 6week old baby around and showing him off to everybody he could find!

No experience with kittens here, but as far as dogs go, only you know your dog. Size of the dog doesn't matter at all. Every dog is different, so whatever advise you are getting really doesn't matter that much. You have to be able to tell. Read the dog's body language.
I have a little friendly Jack Russell that would never hurt the cat (if anything he is scared of her), he leaves all my animals alone, but I'm positive he would kill the kittens the first time he would manage to find them unattended. 
I also have a big, high drive GSD that loves to play rough, however I could completely trust her with new born kittens. If anything she would protect them from our little dog. She likes to watch chickens hatch in the incubator and licks them clean when they come out. I don't have to stay in the room with her. She knows when there is a fragile baby, her body language changes, she becomes super careful and really watches where she puts her feet; she lowers herself to the ground to make herself look smaller and less scary. 
Once you decide to introduce the kittens to your dog hold the kitten in your hand, and read your dog! If it's safe, the dog will make it very obvious and you will know immediately. If you have doubts, you need to wait until there are no doubts.
One more story; sorry, it's not a nice one. Just want to point out how fast things can go wrong. My friend's dog (very sweet and gentle, fine around older chickens was introduced to a baby chick. I warned my friend, but she swore he is gentle and would never hurt a fly. So she holds the chick in her hand and shows it to her dog. His body language - ears up, alert, happy, sniffs for about two seconds and chomps down. The guts came out while she still held the chick in her hand.
Sorry, I know gross. My friend was in tears, mad at the dog. It was her fault though. 

 

She did wonderfully, thanks everyone!