Upadate on Jada and her litter

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momof3cats&kids

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Hello everyone! I wanted to give everyone an update on Jada and her 4 babies. Everyone is doing well and the babies are now a little over 48 hours old. Jada has been a very good mommy. She's still in the nesting box in our bathroom and she seems to be just fine with that. I had to move the babies today in order to flip the blanket they were all laying on (it was dirty from Jada's discharge). So I pulled them out and Jada followed looking nervous. I was flipping it around and Jada got very nervous and was trying to pick the kittens up by thier necks. She seemed to be afraid of hurting them so she just started meowing at me to put them back.
I know she was nervous but it was so cute to see her being so loving and protective of them. I put them right back after I flipped the blanket and she crawled in and went right back to nursing and cuddling.

I've still been reading a lot of things here on the forum which has been very comforting and helpful. It's a little scarey though when I read about little kittens dying for no apparent reason though. Can anyone point me to webpages about what I could do to help assure that they all survive? They are 48 hours right now and really seem to be just fine but I guess I'm still nervous. They are all nursing (they're little pigs in fact) and moving about a lot. I have a couple of pictures to share and even a funny "cat fight" movie. Looks like we have some sibling rivalry already! That little black one is gonna be a trouble maker. She seems to like to hiss already too! I didn't that on the movie but she's done it several times! So cute!





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One thing is not to take flash pictures of the kittens until they open their eyes, or at least make sure their faces are deeply buried in Mom.

Kittens eyes are not fully developed when they are born, which is why they are born wih their eyes closed.

The flash from the camera can hurt their sensitive developing eyes through the thin membrane of the lids.

Also, I would recommend you take the the kittens out of the box as little as possible, because handling them too much can stress the queen, which is one of hte reasons queens will stop caring for their kittens as well as they should. Especially since you've seen her already get nervous.

Any why put the dirty blanket back in with the bacteria that can set in? I'd suggest removing and washing it, and instead use a large folded-up towel, with a couple of layers of paper towels on top. That's what I've always used with success and its easy to take the kittens right outside the box and replace the paper towels and put them back before Mom is even finished using the litterbox or eating (when I would suggest waiting until before removing them).

You can always interact with them while they're in the box with Mom. Lay down and pet her, pet them, talk to them, roll them over to make sure their bellies are firm and they're eating, let them grab your finger with their little claws, but leave them in there unless absolutely necessary and then try to do it when Mom is otherwise occupied.

Once they're 2 weeks old, or their eyes are open then you can mess with them to your heart's content, in and out of the box, as long as Mom and the kittens aren't upset by it. And you can start taking your pictures then too because their eyes will be completely developed.
 
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charmed654321

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Originally Posted by Momof3Cats&Kids

I had the flash turned off.
Click to expand...
Then I apologize.
Those first two looked fairly bright as if there was a flash.

BTW, they are adorable
 
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momof3cats&kids

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No, it's no problem. We just have them in a small bathroom and I had the overhead light on. Plus I turned up my exposure and ISO settings on my camera in order to take clearer brighter pictures with no flash. (I'm a photography freak
) Can't set those same settings with the video which is why it's darker.

BTW, they are adorable
Click to expand...
Thanks!
 
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momof3cats&kids

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Originally Posted by Charmed654321

One thing is not to take flash pictures of the kittens until they open their eyes, or at least make sure their faces are deeply buried in Mom.

Kittens eyes are not fully developed when they are born, which is why they are born wih their eyes closed.

The flash from the camera can hurt their sensitive developing eyes through the thin membrane of the lids.

Also, I would recommend you take the the kittens out of the box as little as possible, because handling them too much can stress the queen, which is one of hte reasons queens will stop caring for their kittens as well as they should. Especially since you've seen her already get nervous.

Any why put the dirty blanket back in with the bacteria that can set in? I'd suggest removing and washing it, and instead use a large folded-up towel, with a couple of layers of paper towels on top. That's what I've always used with success and its easy to take the kittens right outside the box and replace the paper towels and put them back before Mom is even finished using the litterbox or eating (when I would suggest waiting until before removing them).

You can always interact with them while they're in the box with Mom. Lay down and pet her, pet them, talk to them, roll them over to make sure their bellies are firm and they're eating, let them grab your finger with their little claws, but leave them in there unless absolutely necessary and then try to do it when Mom is otherwise occupied.

Once they're 2 weeks old, or their eyes are open then you can mess with them to your heart's content, in and out of the box, as long as Mom and the kittens aren't upset by it. And you can start taking your pictures then too because their eyes will be completely developed.
Click to expand...
This was the first time I've taken them out of the box. I even carried the entire box to the vet's office yesterday morning for fear of upsetting Jada!
We've had Jada since she was 8 weeks old and she's completely trusting of me. Sometimes she'll scratch at the door of the bathroom wanting to come out for a while and I'll sit with her babies till she gets back. She's completely ok with that. So when I say nervous I don't mean that she was overly aggitated or acting out in anyway. It was just that I was making a change, the kittens were getting sort of loud and you could tell that she was nervous about it.

As far as removing the blanket goes...... I was actually going to remove it and put a compltely different one in but Jada was seeming nervous and I was really afraid of changing out the scent by putting a freshly washed blanket in there. I didn't want to go into the entire ordeal about all of that before. When I sensed that she was nervous, I get nervous and I started doubting if I should really change out the blanket or not and so I just flipped it to assure that the babies weren't crawling in old discharge.

I've read somewhere that a change in smells can disturb the entire nest. She really loves the nesting area so I'm still not sure if I should put a new smell in by changing out the blanket. What do you think?
 
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kittenuk

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we got our kittens on same day lol well i think mine were born saturday afternoon
 
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etcrame

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That video was just tooooooooo cute!!!
My kitties were doing the same thing on one teet.
They are adorable!
 
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momof3cats&kids

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Originally Posted by kittenuk

we got our kittens on same day lol well i think mine were born saturday afternoon
Click to expand...
Ours were born on Thursday 4/27 -- This was also my daughter's birthday! She was thrilled!
 
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momof3cats&kids

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Originally Posted by etcrame

That video was just tooooooooo cute!!!
My kitties were doing the same thing on one teet.
They are adorable!
Click to expand...
Thanks!
Those two seem to fight over the same one all the time! There are only 4 kittens so they really all have 2 teets each but still want to fight over the same ones!
 
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