Worried about my cat who just had kittens

Your cat needs to see a vet NOW. It sounds like she is very ill and may have Pyometria, an infection of the uterus. If you don't do anything, there is a real possibility that you could lose her and the kittens.

Geez- I would agree with Tania, get your cat to the vet's office now! Do not pass go, do not collect $200.00 do it now!

Oh, yes, please get Unie to the Vet immediately!

The lethargy bothers me - a vet visit is in order pronto. You will also need to find out from your vet ~if~ she can be wormed right now - I am not familiar with the newest medications for this in relation to a nursing queen. In answer to your question about worms being transferred from cat to human, yes, some of them most certainly can be transferred.

But once your vet has examined her and she is again home with a clean bill of health, you should know that nursing queens do lose weight and resources while nursing. Being responsible for the total nutritional needs of five growing babies takes a lot out of a girl! It isn't uncommon. You will need to up her food intake dramatically and of course, you will need to have her eating a good quality canned and dry kitten food right now. Give her as much as she wants along with all the fresh water she wants to take. It doesn't hurt if you supplement her with some foods heavy in calcium such as cottage cheese or plain yogurt right now either. My girl won't eat people food (other than chicken or turkey) so I gave her a calcium tablet once a day - my vet instructed me on the proper amount and daily dosage based on her weight, so if you go this route, ask your vet to weigh her and tell you how much to give as well as when.

You might also want to consider trying to introduce the babies to a high-quality canned pate-style kitten food a little earlier than is normal (normal is between 4 and 6 weeks) in order to give your girl a bit of a break. See if they won't take food as early as 2 to 2 and a half weeks - in other words - NOW. They will walk through it, track it everywhere and do anything else besides eat it at first but if you confine them in a small space for a day or so (I use an extra large dog crate for this) with their new food bowls (I like the wide-mouthed saucer-type bowls with a heavier bottom so they can't push it around) and a small litter box (don't use clumping) they will get the general idea pretty quickly.

Please let us know what the vet says and how she is progressing.

Yours,

Gaye

Originally Posted by hissy

Geez- I would agree with Tania, get your cat to the vet's office now! Do not pass go, do not collect $200.00 do it now!

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And if your cat survives this.PLEASE get her spayed so she doesn't go through this again.

I appreciate all the concern you guys have shown for my baby girl. My husband scheduled to have her checked by the vet for tuesday. He did ask a bunch of questions though to make sure she'd be alright until then. The vet said she was just tuckered out from taking care of the babies. Now that they are bigger she doesn't work as much as she did and is full of spunk again and playing like she used to. But to be on the safe side we are giving her some soft food that she adores! She also gets a lot of help from my other kitten who is practically her own. She cleans the babies (under close supervision of course) and they all, mom included, sleep in one big bundle together!

Well, that IS good news. My girl had a litter of 5 in early October, so I just went down this road myself. I can't tell you how much it helped to be giving my mommy cat all the food she wanted and those little bits of calcium tablets. She's gained back to her pre-kitten weight (and then some!!) now, there is no flabby milk tummy left and she is spunky and playful again.

Lexus is now back on adult formula food and I am not leaving as much of the dry down as I did before. She went to the vet today for her annual checkup and is now 7 pounds!! For a dainty, little, petite girl, she is getting to be quite the little porker! Of course, it doesn't help that my husband lets her eat off of his plate. *sigh*

Let us know how it goes?

My best to you,

Gaye

That is wonderful news! My alarm bell went off when you said you had to shake her to find out if she was alive. But then, I deal with kittens that have no moms and need humans to provide the food and stimulation. After hand feeding a litter of 4-5 you would have to shake me as well to see if I was alive!

Good luck with your new family. And keep mom cat inside so she won't get pregnant again. I would also suggest once the kittens are weaned, to spay your mom cat-

You would be very unlikely to get worms from your cat just by touching her. But it is always good practice to wash your hands before eating or touching you mouth anyway, the least of the problems being worms from your cat. The mom cat and the kittens will need to be wormed, so you will need to take them all in to the vet so that they can be weighed accurately for the correct amount of medicine. And they will need follow-up wormings, too, as your vet directs. When you take them to the vet, keep them in their carrier until they are in the exam room and keep them in the carrier as much as possible anyway, so they don't pick up any germs. Don't let any of the clients at the vet touch them, no matter how cute the babies are. I would even ask the tech to wash hands before handling them as well as the vet. I am a little phobic about picking up viruses in kittens not yet immunized. Becky