Introducing new mommy for fosters

[zoethor2]

Hey all --

Ms Friskers has come into 2 additional little kittens, also rescued from her parking lot, as we know mommy is no longer with us

. I wish I could save all of the parking lot kitties, but at least we've got these 2 little ones inside.

Here's my question: how do I go about introducing them to Ms Friskers and her to them in the way to best assure she'll accept them? They look to be around 5 weeks and are both eating solid kitten food, so they don't *need* to nurse, I guess, technically, and I can feed them KMR if needed, but it would obviously be easier if Ms Friskers would take over mommy duties.

Help?

 

[save_adopt]

If they are weened and eating real food, then i suggest keeping them to that and supplimenting with KMR if needed. Does ms friskers have kittens of her own? if so i wouldnt risk the fosters taking nutrition away from the babies that need it when they are already eating food.

 

[zoethor2]

Yeah, Ms Friskers has her own kittens -- they're coming up on getting weaned themselves pretty soon, so I'm not as worried about the nutrition aspect. Honestly, it's not really nursing so much that I'm worried about, but more just her accepting them as part of her brood and "bringing them up" for the next few weeks -- washing them and accepting them as sharing her living space and so on. They're definitely too young to have no mommy kitty at all, in my opinion.

 

[save_adopt]

then i suppose, from my completely non professional view, that you could deffinently try to introduce them, i just say dont let them try to nurse. but as far as companion/mom aspect i think thats ok, supervise though

 

[addiebee]

I think if those orphans nurse on Ms Friskers for comfort and a little milk, I think it will be fine. When we had an orphan come in, he was just shown to the mama cat... she sniffed him and then snatched him up by the scruff, dropped him into the nest and cleaned him from tip to tail... and let him nurse.

I am not an expert in this area, but I don't see why you shouldn't intro them to the mom cat. Maternal instincts take over, more often than not.

 

[zoethor2]

Well, gave intros a chance. No go. Ms Friskers got totally cranky about the new kittens, hissed and growled at them, and then refused to let ANY kittens, even her own, near her for the next few hours.

She has now let her kittens back to nurse, thankfully.

The other kittens are just going to have to stay safe and sound in the living room, with KMR and kitten chow out for them, it looks. Once our resident boy kitty, Imriel, decides that he likes them (24-48 hours if the first kittens are any indication), he may start washing them and such, hopefully. He's done it a bit with Ms Friskers' kittens.

In the meantime, there'll be lots of playtime with all of the kittens, so they can all socialize together. And I'll be wiping two little kitten bottoms many times each day. *sigh*

 

[lindsey88]

Introduce the two new little ones to a litter box. If they are 5 weeks old they should use one. When mine were 5 weeks old they were perfect on the litter box. Good luck with them i'm sorry she didn't accept them.

 

[zoethor2]

Yeah, this morning I found two little kitten poops on the towel in the living room. So it seems they are in control of their bodily functions, but just don't get that the litter box is the spot for them, though I did stick the two of them in there and made them pee with a washcloth. I moved the poop into the litter box, so hopefully they will get the hint in a day or so. They were living outside, in the great big litterbox that that is, so I can't really blame them for screwing it up.

In good news, Ms Friskers is still displeased by them, but has gotten quite a lot more tolerant, so maybe in a few days she'll be willing to mother them a little bit. She licked both of them a little and then seemed to "realize" they weren't her kittens and hissed them away. Progress from yesterday! I mostly just don't want them to end up suckling inappropriately and being sort of socially maladjusted the way cats can be when they're separated from mom too young. So they're all in here, hanging out in the bedroom, romping and playing together.

 

[zoethor2]

One of the new kittens has figured out how it can have a little snack without being hissed at: it just scoots into the milk bar underneath Ms Friskers' actual kittens so she doesn't notice the addition. Smart kitten!

Also, Ms Friskers is now still hissing, but also grooming the new kittens, when they come over to her wanting love/food. Is this a sign she's starting to accept them?