My wife and I rent an older farm house just outside of town. First of all I need to point out that our landlord won't let us have pets in the house (sad face). We've lived here for almost two years and encountered several four-legged friends, mostly stray cats. Some friendly others not so much, but the beginning of summer "Midnight" started showing up. My cat knowledge is limited, but I had guessed Midnight as being around 6 months old. She is solid black and has a calm personality although she may have been scared or abused in the past because she won't let anyone hold her. but she is warming up little by little... I haven't been forcing anything. Well, about six weeks ago I noticed her getting bigger thinking that she had just been eating more but then she kept getting bigger and it became obvious she was pregnant. In hindsight, this is the point where I should have done a bit of research on caring for pregnant cats and their kittens but sadly I didn't.
Midnight appeared one morning considerably thinner and I knew we had kittens somewhere, but where? This was on August 30th and after several days I just was afraid she had them outside somewhere and something had happened to them. Well, last weekend in a garage cleaning project we found the nest. I never imagined she would have had them there because she didn't have access to our garage all the time, but there they were. She had a litter of six, which considering her size seemed like a lot to me. Now a little more than a week old I'm learning some of the things we should have done while she was pregnant, mostly her diet. Midnight was always on the edge of being scrawny. I could imagine her being the runt of her litter so having her own kittens has visibly been a strain on her. When we found her nest I would watch her feed the kittens and you could tell she was strained. Then after a feeding she would just come out and lay on the floor appearing physically drained. The worse part is that we lost two of the kittens. After reading some of the posts here, I see its not that uncommon but still something that maybe could have been avoided had I changed her Midnight's diet a month ago. This past week I've given her kitten food both wet and dry (although she doesn't really like the dry kitten food). Huge difference! Mama cat has her energy back! Its only been a few days and her personality and energy level have been a complete turnaround.
I've left the kittens alone other than checking on them twice a day (once in the morning and once in the evening). I've been focusing on taking care of Midnight with kitten food and plenty of water. Midnight seems to feel better and the four kittens that remain seem to be doing well. I take care of mom cat and she take care of kittens are my thoughts. I'm sure there are other things I can do for her, so if anyone has any suggestions please let me know. I've found this forum very informative and look forward to exploring it further. In all I've been thrilled and look forward to this adventure with Midnight.
Midnight appeared one morning considerably thinner and I knew we had kittens somewhere, but where? This was on August 30th and after several days I just was afraid she had them outside somewhere and something had happened to them. Well, last weekend in a garage cleaning project we found the nest. I never imagined she would have had them there because she didn't have access to our garage all the time, but there they were. She had a litter of six, which considering her size seemed like a lot to me. Now a little more than a week old I'm learning some of the things we should have done while she was pregnant, mostly her diet. Midnight was always on the edge of being scrawny. I could imagine her being the runt of her litter so having her own kittens has visibly been a strain on her. When we found her nest I would watch her feed the kittens and you could tell she was strained. Then after a feeding she would just come out and lay on the floor appearing physically drained. The worse part is that we lost two of the kittens. After reading some of the posts here, I see its not that uncommon but still something that maybe could have been avoided had I changed her Midnight's diet a month ago. This past week I've given her kitten food both wet and dry (although she doesn't really like the dry kitten food). Huge difference! Mama cat has her energy back! Its only been a few days and her personality and energy level have been a complete turnaround.
I've left the kittens alone other than checking on them twice a day (once in the morning and once in the evening). I've been focusing on taking care of Midnight with kitten food and plenty of water. Midnight seems to feel better and the four kittens that remain seem to be doing well. I take care of mom cat and she take care of kittens are my thoughts. I'm sure there are other things I can do for her, so if anyone has any suggestions please let me know. I've found this forum very informative and look forward to exploring it further. In all I've been thrilled and look forward to this adventure with Midnight.
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