4 day old kittens in air conditioned room

Hi folks,

I'm a first time cat person here so this is a foreign world to me.  A stray cat showed up in my yard a few months ago and has become very friendly.  I was going to get her spayed when I realized she was pregnant.  I've been working with Mia, the momma cat so she was very comfortable giving birth in my garage.  Fast forward to Tuesday night when she had three kittens.  I've kept them in a sheet lined cardboard box inside of an x-large dog kennel.

The babies are all healthy, eating well, and gaining weight daily.  Mia is a great mom and they are doing well.  I live in FL and they appeared to be hot and panting at one point last night for a short while.  I think the temperature in the garage is in the high 80's.

I just went into the garage and Mia had moved the kittens under the air conditioning unit.  I did read that she would start to move them around at this point but my garage is not safe for 7 ounce kittens to be hidden under things.  Unfortunately, there are many large items in the garage that I cannot move.

I have a spare room in the house that I was planning on using for the kittens when they could control their body temperature.  The air conditioning in the house is always at 77 degrees.  It is too soon to move them in?  I can shut the air conditioning vent to try to make it a bit warmer in there.  The room has minimal furnishing so they would be in less danger in the room.

Thanks for any advice.

kimfdj said:

Hi folks,

I'm a first time cat person here so this is a foreign world to me.  A stray cat showed up in my yard a few months ago and has become very friendly.  I was going to get her spayed when I realized she was pregnant.  I've been working with Mia, the momma cat so she was very comfortable giving birth in my garage.  Fast forward to Tuesday night when she had three kittens.  I've kept them in a sheet lined cardboard box inside of an x-large dog kennel.

The babies are all healthy, eating well, and gaining weight daily.  Mia is a great mom and they are doing well.  I live in FL and they appeared to be hot and panting at one point last night for a short while.  I think the temperature in the garage is in the high 80's.

I just went into the garage and Mia had moved the kittens under the air conditioning unit.  I did read that she would start to move them around at this point but my garage is not safe for 7 ounce kittens to be hidden under things.  Unfortunately, there are many large items in the garage that I cannot move.

I have a spare room in the house that I was planning on using for the kittens when they could control their body temperature.  The air conditioning in the house is always at 77 degrees.  It is too soon to move them in?  I can shut the air conditioning vent to try to make it a bit warmer in there.  The room has minimal furnishing so they would be in less danger in the room.

Thanks for any advice.

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Yes, I think you should move them in. It would be a good idea to get a heating pad and put it on low under half of their bedding. That way they can move around as needed for warmth. Shutting the vent is a good idea too.

Thank you for taking care of them! We'd love to see photos.

I agree. Moving inhouse is best if possible.  If you think its too cold inhouse (77 degrees F) isnt taht bad when they have mommy to warm them up) - you can use a heat pad as extra warming source...  

Thank you Talkingpeanut and Stefan - I really appreciate the swift replies.  I'm going to move them in now.  I will close the vent and get a heating pad to put under half their bedding.

Here are some photos - the group picture is from day 2 and the individual photos are from last night's weigh in. 

They are so cute! 

The heating pad can be on low.  It's just to provide a bit of extra stability in case mom gets up.

They are all settled in "their" room and I am heading out to buy a heating pad for back-up.  Thanks again!

Hi folks!  Here is an update and a question...

Gracie, Zoe, and Zeke are six weeks old today and so much fun!  They are non-stop little balls of energy until nap time comes.  They are into everything with two speeds (hyper and sleeping!)

They all use the liter box, eat Gerber baby food several times per day, and are still nursing from Mia (Mom) several times per day when she lets them.  They haven't liked the wet kitten food mixed with KMR so I haven't offered that again for a few days.

They like meeting new people and their favorite friend is Indi, our dog.   Their weights are good and they will be spayed at 12 weeks.  They went in a crate and car for an outing to my Mom's last weekend and did well. 

My Mom has fallen in love and is going to adopt Zoe and Zeke.  I'm thinking about keeping Gracie but have a pet dove (that thinks he is a dog) and am worried about his safety in the house if I have two cats.  Keeping the dove and the cats separate has been the hardest part of the past six weeks.  Mia was an avid hunter and the few times I've tried to introduce them (with the bird in his cage) have not gone great.  Mia was a feral cat that showed up in my horse pasture this summer, living outside doing rodent patrol until the babies were born. I will get her spayed once she stops nursing and then offer her the opportunity to be an inside/outside cat as she often sits at the sliding glass door looking outside longingly - lol!

My Mom is anxious to take Zoe and Zeke home and is hoping to do so next week, on their seven week birthday.  Is that too early?   She is hoping to use the 4 day Thanksgiving holiday weekend to be there to help them acclimate to their new environment.  As mentioned, Mia isn't nursing too much anymore but she is teaching them other useful things like scratching on the scratching post, etc.  Any feedback on an appropriate rehoming age would be greatly appreciated.

I've pasted some photos below.  Gracie is all black, Zoe has the white mittens, and Zeke is ginger.  I've also attached photos of Mia and a funny picture of Zoe sleeping under Indi's tail.  She has a pug tail and the kittens like to follow her around and bat at it.

It's great that your mom is taking the kittens, but that is much too early. As you have noted, they are still learning very important skills and lessons from mom and siblings. Kittens do much better when they leave at 10-12 weeks.

talkingpeanut said:

It's great that your mom is taking the kittens, but that is much too early. As you have noted, they are still learning very important skills and lessons from mom and siblings. Kittens do much better when they leave at 10-12 weeks.

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Thank you talkingpeanut!  I appreciate your reply.

@kimfdj   Be very careful with Mia......if she is looking very longingly at the outdoors, she may be in heat already again, or about to go into heat.  If she gets very irritated at not being let out, you will definitely know she is back in heat.  She could slip outside easily if she gets determined!

Those babies are beautiful!  I hope you find a solution with your dove.

Its quite common cats gets pals also with household mices or rabbits or birds, while happily hunting their kins  living wild outside.

But whom wants to take any risks??  Better safe than sorry.

I agree the kittens are too young. Wait until your mom has time at Christmas to take them. 12 weeks is ideal. Mom can be spayed in another week. She will very likely go into heat soon. Most mama cats continue nursing after spaying - mine did. [emoji]128522[/emoji]

Thank you all!

I have let Mom know that the kitties stay here for another month and she understands (although I have a feeling she will be spending more time at my house than her's for the next month - lol!)

I picked up the neuter certificates for all four of them yesterday and will get that done over the next few weeks.

I'm still keeping Mia and Lovey in separate rooms but did manage a nice one hour visit with both yesterday.  Lovey was in his cage on a table and I was next to him with the spray bottle.  Mia knew that he was there but eventually laid down and took a nap.  I will be very cautious and never leave them unattended together but it gives me a touch of hope.

Happy weekend everybody!

Sounds good! [emoji]128522[/emoji]

Hi, all!

Mia's kittens will be 8 weeks old in two days.  They are doing great!  My next series of questions is in regard to neutering.

I have an appointment to get Mia spayed on December 7th (first opening with my long-time family vet).  She has become extremely vocal the past few days and I think she might be coming into heat.  I have no experience with cats prior to this but some of the indicators I've read online seem to indicate that.  Prior to that, she was only nursing the kittens two-three times per day and only for a few moments at a time during day hours (I work at home so am able to see what is going on most of the time.)  She has been nursing them every hour for the past few days for longer periods of time.  The kittens eat on their own, are offered wet foods several times per day, and have access to dry kitten food at all times.  Mia seems to be calling them over to nurse and she gets upset if she cannot see one which is a new behavior.  Is this a common behavior for mama cats that are still nursing when they come into heat?  I think I read that if she is in heat, I may have to postpone the spay until after she is done.

Do you folks recommend a certain age/weight for the kittens to be spayed?  My family vet won't do it until they are 4 months old, another vet said 4 pounds, and a third said over 2 pounds.  I'm using low cost spay vouchers so do have a choice of where to go but want to make sure that I am doing right by the kittens.

As always, appreciate any insight that you lovely folks have!  Thanks in advance!