8 new babies born yesterday

[missymotus]

Originally Posted by Gizzysgrandma

Thanks much to all for the advice!

Missymotus, when you say use sharpie markers, I heard something once about painting one claw on each kitten a different color. Is this okay to do?

They all just had a good nap but woke up a few minutes ago and sure enough, that little runt one was just laying around off to the side, not even trying to get in there. I put it up near the top area of the mom and boy did he howl at me! But he looks like he's searching for a nipple now.

Yes that is what I meant, sorry for leaving that out.

 

[missymotus]

If you are not already, you should leave dry food out for her at all times. She will need a lot of energy nursing all those kittens

 

[gizzysgrandma]

She has dry food at all times, so I'm just supplementing with some meats now and then. She ate a huge amount of dry food during the night last night and drank a lot of water, but when I gave her the turkey this morning she went wild on it. She jumped right up and ran to the dish and chowed down like she hadn't eaten in days or something. So I know she needs more than just dry right now. I don't have the resources for KMR and special formula from the pet stores, but I give my pets a lot of home food to supplement their dry pet food anyway. Do you know of any cupboard stuff that is especially good for nursing cats?

 

[gizzysgrandma]

Gizzy just left her nest to come out and see us! She went right to our dog, Siku. Siku is a large-breed samoyed, a gentle giant that just loves other pack-mates and he has been all over Gizzy the past few weeks taking care of her and keeping her "back end" cleaned (she never once had to lick her own butt!...lol)

I just went in the room to check on her and she was waiting at the door, babies were sleeping. My dog sat right next to me through the entire birth and he's had a chance to lick and sniff a few of the babies in the past 24 hrs. He is totally enthralled with them. Just now, Gizzy went right to him and laid down on her back so he could clean her and then she returned to her nest and allowed him to put his front paws into her nest and sniff all her babies and lick some of their butts! It's so cute!! He is so gentle and careful with them and she trusts him even more than she trusts people it seems.

It's so cool, I can't wait til the kittens are a little older to take some pictures of Siku (my big baby) with all the new little babies

 

[jane_vernon]

Awww Thats beautiful!!

He's the babies Uncle!!

I'm so glad your Mummy cat and dog get on well together! That will be helpful for the mother as she doesn't have to worry about the dog hurting the babies!

 

[poohandwendy]

Congrats on the big litter! My Shenzi had a litter of 8 last august and they are now healthy 8 month old kittens. I did weigh them every day and it really helped. I also supplemented a little bit, depending on who lagged behind.

I had 7 last week, my cousin who breeds told me to tie different colored yarn or ribbons around their neaks, loose enough not to bother them, but tight enough not to loose them. I never could get it tied right, but it did work They ended up with yarn strings around their bellys

Definitely NOT a good idea and potentially very dangerous. Anything that can be wrapped around them can be easily tangled and cause strangulation.

You can use non-toxic food coloring or markers to mark each kitten (on the inside of the ear, if they are so dark that you can't find a spot to mark them)

I also handled our kittens from day one and took many, many pictures too. Never caused any problems for our litter, or the mama cat.

 

[kluchetta]

Aw, I just saw the pictures! I didn't know she was black. Lookie at my momma and babies from a year ago.