Mother trying to kill kitten!! HELP!!

trixen

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Sep 20, 2005
Messages
6
Purraise
0
Location
Lubbock, TX
I just adopted a (formerly) stray cat who just had four kittens in the bushes in front of my apartment. Of course, I brought all of the kittens in too. However, the mother cat has singled out one of the kittens, and has separated him from the litter twice now. When I tried to put him back, she layed on him, like she was trying to crush him. I assume something is wrong with that kitten, and I hate to let him die slowly, but if he is sick I also don't want it to infect the other kittens. I don't know what to do!!! Help!
 

emb_78

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Aug 12, 2005
Messages
3,095
Purraise
1
Location
Wisconsin
Originally Posted by trixen

I just adopted a (formerly) stray cat who just had four kittens in the bushes in front of my apartment. Of course, I brought all of the kittens in too. However, the mother cat has singled out one of the kittens, and has separated him from the litter twice now. When I tried to put him back, she layed on him, like she was trying to crush him. I assume something is wrong with that kitten, and I hate to let him die slowly, but if he is sick I also don't want it to infect the other kittens. I don't know what to do!!! Help!
Well I would separate them and bottle feed him. Some cats just do these sort of things! How old do you think they are?
 

squirtle

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Nov 29, 2003
Messages
5,544
Purraise
1
Location
Sunny Florida
If the mom keeps rejecting the kitten you will have to bottle feed it in order for it to have a chance. You are correct, Moms can sense when something is wrong with the kittens. Can you get it to a vet? Here's a site with good info on kittens:

http://www.kitten-rescue.com/
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #4

trixen

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Sep 20, 2005
Messages
6
Purraise
0
Location
Lubbock, TX
Ok... This time I put the fourth kitten back with his litter, and the mother cat (Arlene) didn't reject him, which I think is good news. I have another problem, though... Every time I try to put them all in a box, she moves them all back behind the couch. I pulled the couch away from the wall a few feet so that I could check on them, but I would really rather put them in a box! Any suggestions? I am new at this!!
 

beckiboo

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 7, 2005
Messages
7,382
Purraise
4
Location
Illinois, USA
Pull the couch out a few feet farther and put the box behind the couch. She is an outside cat, who has had to be wary to survive. To her, the kittens aren't safe where you want them. I would humor her and let them stay behind the couch!

What a sweetheart you are to save her and these babies!
 

tnr1

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Oct 5, 2003
Messages
7,980
Purraise
13
Location
Northern Virginia
Also...please keep mom cat indoors only until her kittens are weaned and she has been spayed. If you need a low cost clinic, just click this link and scroll down until you come to your state:

http://www.lovethatcat.com/spayneuter.html

I would also take the kitten she keeps abandoning to the vet. I fostered a mom and her 3 kittens...she kept abandoning one of them and as it turned out..this kitten had pneumonia and didn't survive. Oftentimes, mom is simply trying to protect her healthy kittens so that they do not become sick and die. So please take the one to the vet and definately bottlefeed it.

Katie
 

hissy

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Feb 19, 2001
Messages
34,872
Purraise
76
Originally Posted by emb_78

Well I would separate them and bottle feed him. Some cats just do these sort of things! How old do you think they are?
They generally do not just do these things without a reason, and usually the reason is that the kitten is ill or dying and it smells off to the mom. She would be taking it, if she was outside and putting it in the middle of a field far from her nest to give to the predators and save her family. This is instinctive, and if she is abandoning the same kitten please get the kitten to the vet immediately so the vet can have a look. Also start bottle feeding- add some pet vitamin drops in the formula and some GSE *grapefruit seed extract* to help bump up the weakened immune system.

www.kitten-rescue.com will give you bottle feeding tips-

Also, let her move her nest. Mmcats will move their kittens when the nest becomes soiled, or if there is to much traffic (visits) to see her babies. She needs a dark, quiet place where she feels secure and the babies need to be out of the air.
 

pepsi

TCS Member
Adult Cat
Joined
Jun 11, 2005
Messages
108
Purraise
0
My cat done that,she was trying to bite her kittys head off,so I seperated them for 2 hours then kept putting the kitten back,it worked and she took to it,sadly that kitty died two days later
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #9

trixen

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Sep 20, 2005
Messages
6
Purraise
0
Location
Lubbock, TX
Well, as soon as I am able to tell which one was separated, I'll separate him/her out again and take him/her to the vet. The problem is that now, she has accepted him/her back, and seeing as how they are only a few days old and he/she looks exactly like his/her brothers and sisters (the black cats are all identical!), I can't tell which is which! This weekend I will take all of them to the vet to be looked at. Like I said, I don't know which is which, but if something is wrong with one of them, I'm sure the vet will be able to tell.
 

tnr1

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Oct 5, 2003
Messages
7,980
Purraise
13
Location
Northern Virginia
Originally Posted by trixen

Well, as soon as I am able to tell which one was separated, I'll separate him/her out again and take him/her to the vet. The problem is that now, she has accepted him/her back, and seeing as how they are only a few days old and he/she looks exactly like his/her brothers and sisters (the black cats are all identical!), I can't tell which is which! This weekend I will take all of them to the vet to be looked at. Like I said, I don't know which is which, but if something is wrong with one of them, I'm sure the vet will be able to tell.
Trixen...good luck...keep us informed. You may want to look to see if one is smaller than the other...if it hasn't been fed as well by mom, it would be thinner than it's siblings.

Katie
 

ginava

TCS Member
Adult Cat
Joined
Jun 22, 2005
Messages
286
Purraise
1
Location
ohio
This was the strangest thing, the day after my foster Cher had her kits, I woke up and went in there,and one kit was gone. I thought she had moved it because it died, and then I heard sounds coming from a sweatshirt I had left on the floor the night before. A kitten was wrapped up in it! It was wiggling and crying, how did it get there? I put it back and everything was fine. That was soooo wierd.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #12

trixen

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Sep 20, 2005
Messages
6
Purraise
0
Location
Lubbock, TX
Well, one of the kittens didn't even make it a week. The white one has died, and unfortunately, I had no warning whatsoever. It was not the one that the mother cat had singled out.
 

tnr1

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Oct 5, 2003
Messages
7,980
Purraise
13
Location
Northern Virginia
Originally Posted by trixen

Well, one of the kittens didn't even make it a week. The white one has died, and unfortunately, I had no warning whatsoever. It was not the one that the mother cat had singled out.
Unfortunately that does happen...you may want to take the other ones to a vet to be checked out.

Katie
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #14

trixen

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Sep 20, 2005
Messages
6
Purraise
0
Location
Lubbock, TX
My last post was edited because I included too much white space. However, I meant to add that I do have some good news--I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to Geico.
No, seriously, the good news is that I had the other kittens checked out by a vet and they are all doing just fine. When they are all weaned, I am going to have Arlene spayed.
 

tnr1

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Oct 5, 2003
Messages
7,980
Purraise
13
Location
Northern Virginia
Originally Posted by trixen

My last post was edited because I included too much white space. However, I meant to add that I do have some good news--I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to Geico.
No, seriously, the good news is that I had the other kittens checked out by a vet and they are all doing just fine. When they are all weaned, I am going to have Arlene spayed.
That's great news!!! Do you need the low cost clinic information for Texas or are you ok with the vet you have?

Katie
 
Top