- Joined
- Jul 12, 2016
- Messages
- 2
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Hi! I've seen similar posts but I have a bit of a twist to mine. Our friend found a stray half dead in her chicken coop earlier this year - we took her for the weekend (already have 2 spoiled cats, didn't think we could handle another) but fell in love with her, nursed her back to health and decided we were going to be her forever family when no one came forward to claim her after a week. Well shortly after returning to health she escaped the house before we could get her spayed. She's young, I don't know how young but I'd say about a year? She's small, vet confirmed part Burmese. She had terrible labor - pushed 4 hours to get first kitten out - I was calling emergency vets at 2:45 in the morning, we finally got her to deliver the first one and then another 24 hours to see the next one. Unfortunately, that one died the same night. Then I realized she was back in labor and exhausted - I wrapped her up and took her to the vet. (I had already called the vet again the day before where they told me they can remain in labor for a few days to fully deliver all of them so they weren't concerned at that point) she seemed warm to the touch and by this point I was freaking out - the loss of the second kitten and now I was terrified I was going to lose her too. The vet said she had a non viable kitten still inside and they performed an emergency spay and removed the kitten, got her micro-chipped and brought her home the same night (fed the surviving kitten with an eyedropper - he will not accept a bottle for even a second). Things went ok for awhile, she seemed happy and content to take care of him. But we always had to remind her to take care of him, put her back in the kitten box, etc. Not a stellar job as a mom, lol. Eventually we moved their bed onto our bed because it's the only place she was happy (during labor she wouldn't let me leave her either - she's still such a baby herself). So we are currently sleeping with them and I can keep an eye on things. The kitten is 2 weeks old today and the past couple days I've noticed the mama cat aggressively biting her kitten, holding him down, even sometimes kicking him with her back feet while she bites his head!!!! Now I'm completely uncomfortable leaving them without supervision but what about while we're sleeping if I miss something? Could it be her surgery scar hurts when he kneads on it since he's bigger, or that now she's not getting enough milk because there's only one surviving kitten (vet warned this could happen)? But the kitten seems content most of the time and is gaining his 1/4 to 1/2 oz. per day and getting bigger (one day he even gained a full ounce!). He absolutely hates the KMR with a passion, I've been fairly unsuccessful with it and I'd prefer not to take the risk if he can get enough from his mother. He's 11 oz today at 2 weeks old. But now I am just at a loss - what to do. It's already been a tragic horrible situation all around (kittens were never part of the plan! We have 2 neutered males, this was a perfect storm type of situation). She cleans him, takes care of that stuff and does lay still for him to nurse off and on during the day but then other times does this biting thing. I'd love some input on what I should do at this point. We've gone from a 2 cat family to 4, as I can't imagine after all we've been through that we'd be ok finding this little guy a new home, lol. Thanks so much for any help you can give me. It's been a less than positive experience for our whole family and especially the poor mama cat 
I guess I'll just have to incorporate the KMR on a regular basis now - but even after he was done eating, he went straight back to trying to nurse her, looks like it will be a learning process for all of us. At least we have a hybrid kitten and she still takes care of his bathroom needs. Are there instances where a mother cat actually harms or kills the kitten? I'm deathly afraid she'll bite him in the eye or do some sort of damage that can't be fixed.
