Incoming Kittens!

[tnr1]

Originally Posted by sapling

I am not sure how shelters are other places, but ours are not that great. When you get a cat, you pay the cost of the spay/neuter and they give you a certificate that you have 30 days to take to a vet for a 'free' spay/neuter.

Also, most of the shelters are not 'no-kill'. If they had known she was pregnant, they would have euthanized her, and the best I expect from them if I notified them of the kittens is an offer to take some of them and put them up for adoption (but if they weren't picked up quickly enough, they would be euthanized). Needless to say, I'm not too thrilled with that idea. I will probably keep the little guys for a while and adopt them out to friends/family/neighbors. And if I can't adopt them all out, so be it.. we have a good-sized piece of land with a 'cat proof' fence and a pet door so our current cats can come in to part of the house, but also safely go outside, and it's large enough so it wouldn't be crowded. And I have to admit, I'm getting attached to the little guys.

We tend to take in stray cats, get them fixed up, and then adopt them out if possible, or keep them if not.. our record was 18 cats a few years back so this will be interesting with so many new arrivals at once, but we'll make sure they're taken care of.

I admit I tend to be slightly paranoid about who I give a cat to - it's always either someone I know pretty well, or the friend of someone I know pretty well. And we always send them with a '100% guarantee' ie if for whatever reason the person gets sick of the cat/can't afford the cat/finds out they're allergic to cats/cat gets sick and they don't want to deal with it, they will bring them back to us and NOT take them to the shelter.

It's unfortunate that the shelter does not pre-adopt spay/neuter. I still think you should inform the shelter that she was pregnant...if anything...they need to know that they have placed a cat in that condition. Someone else may not have been as understanding of caring for a pregnant cat. Are their any rescues that are pulling cats from those shelters???

I would highly recommend that you spay/neuter the kittens prior to placing them into homes if possible.

Katie

 

[sapling]

As far as I know there are no rescues that take cats from those shelters - they accept cats themselves, but are always overcrowded (last time we checked, you had to get on a 3 month waiting list to leave a cat with them). We will definitely be getting everybody spayed/fixed. Other than it being the right thing to do, since we know everyone we give them to, I'm almost 99% sure we'd end up with any kittens one way or another.

As for the current bunch!

New weights for tonight, in the same order as last night, and the number in parentheses is the amount gained:
6.45(+.85), 4.9(+.3), 5.7(+.4), 6.4(+.6), 4.3(+.3), 5.9(+.2), 4.95(+.35)

So it looks like everyone is gaining, even the runt. One of the larger ones only gained .2 ounces, which seems on the low side, but maybe he just had an 'off' day and will gain a bit more tomorrow (reading other people's posts here, it sounds like it can fluctuate quite a bit from day to day).

 

[sapling]

Oh, and I noticed this morning that one of the black and white's eyes has opened a tiny crack!

 

[sapling]

Hmm, I may have a problem.

I noticed this morning there were a few ants near their food, so I sprinkled some cinnamon right around the bowls, and around the very edges of the room to keep them away from the kittens. However I just noticed a couple of the kittens were sneezing! Upon closer inspection it appears Mom went and laid down in the cinnamon.. and now the babies are getting cinnamon on their faces when they nurse! I have wiped off everybody's face with a damp paper towel and done a rub down of mom's tummy (let me tell you how much she did not love that), but I'm not sure how to keep it from happening again. I am very afraid of the ants being near the babies, but I don't want them to have some horrible reaction to the cinnamon (I have no idea if it's dangerous or not? but still probably not fun to have on your face). And I really don't dare use any kind of pesticide to get rid of the ants. Does anyone have any suggestions? I don't have a better place to move the babies too - if they're in a larger room Mom still seems to just wander off and ignore them.

 

[sapling]

Ok, so I have momentarily moved Mom and kittens in a big carrier to another room, everyone is wiped off, and bedding is changed. I was really worried the kittens would be put off of nursing after that experience but they are going at it full blast now so it seems to be ok. I do however still hear a sneeze every now and then.

I keep picking them up and inspecting for cinnamon but I dont see any, and Mom's tummy got a complete wash, so I'm not sure what else to do.

Im going to go sponge up the cinnamon and try and figure out some other way to deal with the ants.

There weren't that many, but I was afraid they would find the kittens!

 

[sapling]

Well I just went and watched everyone for 5 minutes and I didn't hear a sneeze, so maybe they were just getting the rest out of their system. I feel really terrible about this. If only I could apologize to kittens.

Also I know I'm going to feel personally responsible if anybody starts losing weight tomorrow...

 

[sapling]

Tonight's weighing - whew!

Everyone gained at least .4 oz., the whopper who gained .85 yesterday gained another .85 today! If she gets much fatter she'll be wider than she is long.

I was even concerned maybe Mom wasn't stimulating her to go pee, but her legs were damp with it, so I think she must be ok.