Mother Cat feeding solid foods to her kittens.

Ok I understand instinctive behavior but this is a little annoying. My very young Mommy had a litter of 5 when she was 6 months old. All kittens are healthy and most of them are growing rapidly. They are now 6 weeks old. Mommy is supper quiet. She only makes sound when my older male harasses her for his amusement.

Recently though Mommy started making a new meow. She is calling her kittens and bringing solid food from the bowl and she is trying to feed the kittens... but when they don't come (because they are already full) she just keeps on calling and calling and whaling my ears off.

I have resorted to waking up a few of the kittens and bringing them to her. Sometimes they'll eat the food she lovingly brought for them but usually they just try to bury it (mommy i'm full. I don't want this...)

I know it's instincts and she is such a good quiet mommy, I don't want to just take her food away or ignore her. Heck I might just pretend to be her kitten and eat (take and hide her gift) and tell her thank you very much!

That is just the cutest thing.  Annoying for you.

You are very lucky that your female cat has been such a good mother at her young age, and that she produced a healthy litter too.

It is not uncommon for mama cats to "talk" to their offspring. She is simply attempting to aid in their transition to solids, which at six weeks old, is the normal age to do so.

Although her sounds may annoy you, it will not last forever. It grows less as the kittens get older. They are still quite young yet. I would not take any food away. The kittens need to free-feed around the clock for quite a while.

Do you plan to spay your mother cat soon? It can be done when the kittens are 8 weeks old. The kittens can also be spayed and neutered at around 8-10 weeks or at two pounds. They will all be healthier and happier and no longer reproducing unnecessarily. Your mama cat will likely be in heat again soon otherwise, and can get pregnant again, which would put quite a strain on her system.

The Humane Society offers low cost spay and neuter services in most cities. Do you have one nearby?

Thanks. Regarding Spay, I will as soon as possible. Side question: I would like to keep one of the baby females unspayed so many years down the road, I would like some decedents. I will spay both male and 2 of the 3 female kitties. Is there any major problems with this plan?

gunblade said:

 
Thanks. Regarding Spay, I will as soon as possible. Side question: I would like to keep one of the baby females unspayed so many years down the road, I would like some decedents. I will spay both male and 2 of the 3 female kitties. Is there any major problems with this plan?

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In a word, yes. Is there a reason that you would want to preserve this particular line of cats? Are they purebred? Even if so, it is best not to bring a new litter into the world whenever possible. Even if you can find loving homes for these babies, there will be kittens in shelters that go without homes because of this. Since many cats are put to sleep each year in shelters due to a shortage of homes bringing more kittens into an already overcrowded world is not a good idea.

Yes, the female will begin heat cycles at a young age just like her mother. She will likely get out and get pregnant. If she is kept in and never mates through repeated heat cycles she is at risk of developing pyometra, which is an often fatal infection of the uterus. The female will be miserable suffering through heat cycles and this will make you miserable due to her bahavior and vocalizations.

Past a certain age it is not wise to breed females as there are risks associated with pregnancy, labor, delivery and offspring in cats who are older moms - just as with human women.

Your current mama and her daughter are less than a year apart. Cats who are kept indoors and cared for can live 15 to 20 years. They are much healthier and happier once spayed. While I appreciate your desire to continue the family line, you are better off adopting an orphan kitten from a shelter in a few years' time and starting from there. There are hundreds of homeless kittens born every year in the US during kitten season. Those that are not adopted are euthanized. Think hard about saving a life rather than bringing about more lives!

My reason is "family." I don't have any family and as much truth and logic your words make, emotionally I would like the opportunity to continue her family. 

I know hormones can cause cats to behave irradically and having so many cats in a small house, I wanted to know if 1 female not being spayed could cause problems between her and her siblings (all cats are indoors only due to living next to a busy mall/highway.)

You just created "family" by allowing the mama to breed.

You are thinking this way in order to meet your emotional needs rather than doing what is in the best health interests of the cat.

Yes. A cat in heat is a distraction to everyone. Do you currently have an adult unneutered male cat in the house who impregnated mama kitty when she was 6 months old? Since you said they don't go out, I am just wondering. If so, it will soon happen again.

You are free to do as you please, but it is unwise for many reasons to leave any of your animals unspayed and unneutered.

I hope you'll make phone calls soon to inquire about fixing your cats. I took in a pregnant stray who had 4 kittens in March - 3 males and a female. Mama and her four kittens are all fixed now, and I am keeping them all. They are my new cat family. I had several cats who grew very old over the last few years and had to put down the last one not too long ago. So this is my new family now, and I find their food, toys, litter, and vet care expensive enough without adding any more babies. But it's up to you.

Thanks for your comments, they are very much appreciated. As far as how my young one got babies? I trapped 2 twin kittens that I spotted living under an apartment building outside my window. Gun (my male cat) was spayed before I brought them in. They looked around 3 months old. Just before I was planning on moving, I found one of the twins dead outside. I never found out how she died. If I had to guess, one of the neighborhood kids killed her. I moved a week later. By now the surviving twin was already round and I had a feeling she was pregnant. A month later she gave birth to 5 shades of gray kittens. 

I am looking to do the best for these cats. If there are any health reasons or concerns, of course I'll do the right thing. If there aren't then of course I'll try to meet my emotional needs. As long as they are happy, I'm happy too.

And as I mentioned, I fully intend on spay/neuter all but 1 female when they can be (next few weeks according to the vet) including mommy.

Thanks for filling in the backstory, and thanks for saving the mama kitty.

I know you'll do the right thing, and if you see the female suffering through repeated heat cycles you may decide to change your mind.

Also note that neutered males are still considered fertile for about two weeks following surgery.

We had a recent story on here where the family thought their cat was pregnant - very pregnant - until she began vomiting and discharging pus from her vagina. It turns out she had pyometra and was filled with pus. The cat was near death. She had been enduring repeated heat cycles living inside but never being spayed. I'll try to put the link on here for you to read the thread.

We're here for support if you have any questions as you raise your family.

As Sarthur2 says there are a lot of health risks to leaving a female without being spayed. It also could cause problems with the happy family that already exists since a cat that isn't spayed may be more territorial and even threatening seeming to spayed cats. I don't believe that leaving the one female intact will be good as it could cause a great deal of harm to her and the dynamic of the home. 

As the others have mentions, leaving a single kitten unspayed will become a problem down the line:

- She will go into heat every often. This will result in howling, growling, wanting to go out and more aggressive behavior which will affect the neutered cats peace and quiet.

- If her heat "needs" are not met, she'll go into heat more often and will cause her suffering. People who have witnessed it have gone as far as to describe it that the cat acts "as if she's in great pain and dying"

- In the long run, she will very likely develop pyometra or pyometrea. Which is basically an infection in which the uterus fills with pus which will obviously make her very sick and may cause her death very quickly.

- For each kitten you bring into this world, means another one is very likely to get euthanized in a shelter because there are not enough homes and resources for all so they are killed in the shelters because it is considered "more humane" than to let them live a hard life. If you want to add more members to your cat family, please consider adopting a kitten in a shelter down the line and you would be saving a life.

- Your needs for a cat family should be fulfilled with the cat family you produced. woah! 5 kittens and momma! That's a lot of kittens if you are planning to keep them all. It will be very time, money and resources consuming to provide for them all the home and attention they deserve. Believe me, when those kittens are older, they'll become a handful! How many are you considering keeping?  I just read you're considering leaving one un-spayed.

I urge you to please spay and neuter them all. It's what's best for the kittens and you in the long run. Cats have no emotional need to produce offspring, so neutering them does not affect their personality at all but does make them gentler, nicer and more loving towards their human parents, well... congratulations! You are a grandparent to some awesome grandkittens now! Please do what's best for them, they are part of your family.  

I think you guys have thoroughly answered my question. So I'll get her spayed along with the rest of them.

I keep thinking the reasons you guys gave wouldn't apply towards humans, but because cats aren't humans then we should spay them. It essentially kills the possibility of offspring without the emotion of killing anything. The cats that do pass on their genes are the runaways, malnutrition, or the bred for money... while the cats that show us love and affection are destined to die without their genes passed on. 

This makes me feel sad for the long run while happy while they are in my life.

I think you are making a truly wise decision!

I also think you will have your hands full with your current cat family, and that you have no clue how many wonderful years of fun, memories, and adventures you are in for with them!

gunblade said:

 
I think you guys have thoroughly answered my question. So I'll get her spayed along with the rest of them.

I keep thinking the reasons you guys gave wouldn't apply towards humans, but because cats aren't humans then we should spay them. It essentially kills the possibility of offspring without the emotion of killing anything. The cats that do pass on their genes are the runaways, malnutrition, or the bred for money... while the cats that show us love and affection are destined to die without their genes passed on. 

This makes me feel sad for the long run while happy while they are in my life.

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I've thought of this as well. It's sad that their good loving genes don't get passed, but I remind myself that there are so many animals out there dying right now because they don't have a home to take care of them. Animals just as loving or even more that right now are in the streets, shelters, or god forbid, in the hands of a lunatic that may do horrible things to them.

I wanted to have offspring from my lovely kitties somewhere down the line, but it's just not practical or fair to have them suffer heat cycles until I'M  ready for them to have "kids". I still have many years to come with my 4 month olds and 2 year old momma, but if possible, I would like to save a kitty from a cruel fate rather than produce more and more and let those die.

Spaying/neutering them is what's best for them and others.

If you read some of the threads in Preg Cats and Kitten Care forum, you will see quite a few where the 'indoor cat' got out while in heat and was now pregnant.  Everyone thinks it will be easy to keep a female in heat indoors, but they are wily and they want out!  You may wind up with kittens sooner than you think.

Are you planning to keep all of her kittens? 

Handsome Kitty said:

 
Are you planning to keep all of her kittens? 

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I'm single and financially well. Basing on the last year taking care of 2 cats, I feel that taking care of 7 would probably still be cheaper than having a human baby.

If I find a good home for 1 or maybe 2 kittens then I'll part with them. I'm building them several cat structures so they all have plenty of space and elevation. I'll post a pic once its more complete.

Nice!  I'm looking forward to the pictures.