Newborn Kittens

Hi,

About a month ago we recently adopted a pregnant stray kitten (approximately 9-12 months), she gave birth to 4 healthy kittens 3 days ago. They are all doing fine, and on average they are increasing from 15-21 grams per day. I was wondering what the best food to give them once they start weaning. We are currently feeding Royal Canin Mother and Babycat to the queen, she is also nibbling on Orijen Cat and Kitten. Is the Orijen Dry food ok for the kittens or should we get them something specific for kitten?

Royal Canin Mother and Babycat is the canned variety, we also have been feeding her Wellness Core Chicken/Turkey formula and Natures Variety Instinct Chicken Canned as well. Recently switched to kitten canned food. I was thinking of getting maybe Royal Canin Mother and Baby Cat for dry food for them to nibble on if they do require kitten dry food.

Welcome!

The kittens will need both wet and dry food. The Royal Canin Mother and Babycat dry food is perfect for the kittens, and so is the Royal Canin kitten wet food. Excellent products! [emoji]128522[/emoji]

dogtahs said:

 
Hi,

About a month ago we recently adopted a pregnant stray kitten (approximately 9-12 months), she gave birth to 4 healthy kittens 3 days ago. They are all doing fine, and on average they are increasing from 15-21 grams per day. I was wondering what the best food to give them once they start weaning. We are currently feeding Royal Canin Mother and Babycat to the queen, she is also nibbling on Orijen Cat and Kitten. Is the Orijen Dry food ok for the kittens or should we get them something specific for kitten?

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Both these are good - RC their dry variation is prob their best dry product... The Orijen should too be good.  Wet food as base if possible.

In Sweden is minced meat often used for kittes - although not raw pork meat.  Goats milk is too always useful as extra, both for kittens and adults.

Also feeding mama cat KMR to supplement as well, we are definitely feeding them as much wet food as possible. The only thing I'm worried is the grain in the RC dry food, most of the research I've done said that grains and wheat based ingredients should be avoided.

It will be fine. Royal Canin is excellent!

Just a quick question, can mama cat be allergic to KMR, she vomited a bit yesterday morning, she was fine last night and today. Also I've noticed that the fur on the base of tail is going bald, upon research it says it could be fleas, but I highly doubt there are any fleas. She is an indoor cat and hasn't been outside since we've taken her in a month ago. She does scratch her ear every once in a while. We haven't noticed anything on the kittens or anything. Should we take her to the vet, we don't want to take her to the vet with the kittens as it may stress her out even more. She has been to the vet twice since we took her in, she was very nervous at the vet each time. She was also checked for worms before she gave birth.

Can you get a flea comb and check her for fleas? They can kill kittens quickly so it's important to know. It could possibly be the kmr.

We used that in set and dry food for kittens

D dogtahs

Were mom's ears checked for mites when she was at the vet?

You do need to check for fleas. Has she been flea treated? A tube of Advantage II will kill any fleas.

Do you see anything at her tail base? Dry, flaky skin? Fleas or flea eggs?

If not, it may be from stress. Nutrition plays a big part too. Is she eating lots of wet food? Is she in a quiet, private room with her kittens?

Since she has not vomited again I would hope it was a one-time thing.

I'm not too sure if she was checked for mites at the vet. The vomiting was a one time thing, she hasn't done it since. She does have her own room but unfortunately that is where our clothes are so we do need to go in there to get clothes. It could be from stress, she has also changed nesting boxes, she wants to change it again. I've seen her carrying a kitten out but she doesn't seem to go for the other two but a corner in the room. Would that be due to stress? Thinking of just taking her to the vet with the kitties tomorrow, what is the easiest way to transport all of them?

She eats about 2 cans of the Royal Canin Babycat formula a day, she is being fed Orijen Cat and Kitten dry and currently weaning her into the Royal Canin Mother and Babycat dry food, I haven't fed her any KMR after she vomited.

Just checked her tail, it's definitely not flaky nor is the skin dry. It doesn't look like fleas and we couldn't see any eggs. Unfortunately I'm not a 100% sure as we don't have flea comb. When we first got Sabin (mama cat) we did notice that she groomed herself a lot. So I'm wondering if she over groomed her tail area after her birth. Also I think part is due to stress too. I really don't want to take her to the vet if she doesn't need to as it may cause her to stress out more.

We are both first time cat owners, definitely a handful with extra kittens . She has plenty of toys as well, she loved playing before she gave birth, do we continue to play with her, I'm worried that she may get too tired.

I would make sure to give her affection, but I would not play with her until the kittens are weaning and they begin to play.

If she wants her kittens in the corner, can you move the nest there for her?

Is the nest open topped?

Do you feel she is eating enough? Perhaps offer her an extra serving of wet food, or some plain, boiled chicken.

I do not think she needs to go to the vet. She sounds like many new, very young cat moms who really just need to settle in. I would give her a few days.

It's fine to go in and visit while you get your clothes.

She just sounds nervous. Kittens are a lot of work for moms. Hopefully, you will see her adjust more over the next few days. I really think that's what it is.

The nest is open topped, the problem with her is that she doesn't eat a whole can of wet food in one sitting, so we bring it to her whenever we can. I definitely feel like she needs to eat more but she seems to only eat wet food when we bring it into the nesting area. Even then she eats some then grooms the kitten. Unfortunately we cant move it into the corner as there is a support pole for our clothes hanger there. She is still a kitten herself as well. Should we be showing affection near the nesting area or outside?

I had to feed my cat in her nest area too. I would leave the food and she'd nibble at her leisure.

I would pet her when she is not with her babies.

She definitely prefers eating dry food, she was a stray but she was being fed dry food by some people, whenever we saw her we gave her wet food. We decided to take her in when we found out she was pregnant. She has always preferred the dry over wet. But she still manages to eat about 1-2 can a day though.

Should I leave both the wet and dry food in the nesting area? Just worried that the little kittens might someone end up in the wet food if I leave it in there. I do leave the dry food in there. She also does drink quite regularly from a water fountain.

Can you leave it just outside the nest? That's what I did. I guess that's what I meant by nest area. That way she does not have to go far to eat it.