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- Nov 18, 2015
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They are so adorable! Looks like a wonderful litter. Hope they are doing well!
Mom cat has food, water, and litter in the room but she goes to the door and prefers to leave to eat, drink, and use the bathroom for some reason. She always goes back, though. The door is shut, so I have to let her out and back in.
She may settle down after a couple of days. Some considerations: The kittens need low light, their eyes will not open for days; mom may not want other cats nearby for the first few weeks. Food, water and a litter box should be in the same room with mom and kittens so she doesn't need to go far from the kittens. I've see @sarthur2 suggest closing the door so the mom has to stay with her kittens the first couple of days.
She came out to use the bathroom, eat, and drink right now so I switched the kittens back and filled in the spot she had taken them. For some reason she won't use the litter box that's in the room and she won't eat the food or drink the water in there either. For now I just put them all back in the large box. It's 32 inches side to side and about 20 inches front to back, so it's pretty big. All of the kittens flock to her when she's in there with them, though, so I can't really get them separated within that box. Especially the ones who are really aggressive about feeding, they seem to be on her constantly when she's in there. If i move one of those away, they are back quickly scratching and pushing another kitten off of their nipple. I put them in together for now, so she doesn't get so upset about me moving them back. But I will move 4 to a different box soon.Yes, definitely switch out four and four. You also really need to be weighing them and supplementing the ones who aren't gaining enough. You are right to help potty them. You can hold them near mom's head when you're handling each kitten so she can see you. And yes, they should be in a box with mom, with edges high enough that they can't wiggle out. Can you make the box large enough that you can rotate all the kittens within the same box? One group nursing and one by her head?
I can't confine them to the bathroom because we only have one bathroom, and the litter box is in there for the other cats. We also only have two other spare rooms and they are both a child's bedroom that have even more hazards in them to the kittens. But rotating in room and out room is a good idea, I think I will probably bring the box of the kittens that aren't nursing out into the living room with me. I have other cats, but I can keep them near me and supervised.Someone else might have a different suggestion; however, I think I would confine mom and kittens to a bathroom or another room that doesn't have all the nooks and crannies. Put mom's food, water, litter box and a separate bed for her in there.
In keeping mom confined, you can divide the kittens and rotate them in and out of the room with mom.
Weighing the kittens daily is going to be super important for you as you will know which kittens need more formula and how mom is handling nursing them in shifts.
A blizzard hit us hard where I am. Trash hasn't even been collected this week. I'm in a small town and our vet is local, and the office is closed due to the weather. Their automated message has a number for the nearest emergency vet clinic, in the case of emergencies, but I don't think I'd be able to get to them as they are about an hour away. Today is warmer and some of the snow is melting off the roads, so I'm thinking my vet will probably be open tomorrow. What can I do in the meantime? And what are your thoughts on the eye situation, as far as if you had to guess what is going on. I know you're not a vet, but any suggestions or ideas would be very helpful right now. As I said, he is still eating and walking around and going to the bathroom when stimulated like all of the others.
Do you have access to a vet, to phone and take advice from? I suspect strongly that kitten must have help of some sort, its not just home remedies.
If you havent access to vet, I could try and gather up some home remedies, but please begin with the vet!
Thank you. I will definitely speak with the vet tomorrow. I am sure they will be open tomorrow. The schools are opening back up tomorrow and trash pickup is supposed to resume tomorrow too. For now, I have been using warm damp cloths on his eye. I am thinking of using tea water like you suggested tonight, but would like suggestions on what kind of tea would be okay. Is green tea okay to use? That's what I happen to have on hand in the house. Also, I see that the terramycin eye cream is sold online....but would that be similar to what the vet would give? I could get some with same day shipping from amazon. Or would it be better to just wait and get it from the vet, do you think?
I have been learned (by our mods once upon the time, btw!) not to fool around with difficult or unclear eye issues, unless Im pretty sure what it is, and what is possible to do with it. So Im following this advice rather scrupulously!
Here, as said, I have an impression this is something which may be serious. A vet should look at it, or at very least, give advices on telephone after your description (you may perhaps even send a couple of photos, or send a link to this your post).
Of antibiotics, terramycine paste is often used for minor eye problems. In many places its possible to get it without receipt.
Of washing off the eye, saline water is easy to get, and fairly effective - used even i hospitals. A teaspoon salt boiled up in one litre water, cooled down to body temp.
The same receipt for minor wounds on humans...
You can after wash with common water, or saline water with just a tiny trifle salt, if you think its necessary. But tears are salty, so not too strong saline water is natural.
Using tea water may work, rather weak tea. Body temp.
Camomille tea water is also useful.
There may be others, but these are what I know of.
As its mostly one eye, be sure you dont contagion the other eye...
I will try to get them to the vet tomorrow if it is opened back up. I have been using warm damp cloths to soak the eye. It actually doesn't appear to have any "crud" and it also isn't leaking yellow or green discharge. It is leaking clear fluid... But the right eye is very squinty and opened much less than the other eye.The main thing is not to let the eye get sealed shut. You can hold a warm damp cloth on it until the crud loosens, and then wipe, as often as you need. This will clear up quickly with ointment from the vet. You should try to get them in ASAP.
I have never heard of colloidal silver. Can something like that be used in a kitten so young? They are only 2 weeks old.
do you have any colloidal silver? i've heard of using that but i haven't used it for eye problems myself.
Green tea is surely OK too, its not only the usual black tea. You can use is as the damping agent of that warm damp cloth, for example.
Thank you. I will definitely speak with the vet tomorrow. I am sure they will be open tomorrow. The schools are opening back up tomorrow and trash pickup is supposed to resume tomorrow too. For now, I have been using warm damp cloths on his eye. I am thinking of using tea water like you suggested tonight, but would like suggestions on what kind of tea would be okay. Is green tea okay to use? That's what I happen to have on hand in the house. Also, I see that the terramycin eye cream is sold online....but would that be similar to what the vet would give? I could get some with same day shipping from amazon. Or would it be better to just wait and get it from the vet, do you think?
I will try to get them to the vet tomorrow if it is opened back up. I have been using warm damp cloths to soak the eye. It actually doesn't appear to have any "crud" and it also isn't leaking yellow or green discharge. It is leaking clear fluid... But the right eye is very squinty and opened much less than the other eye.
I have never heard of colloidal silver. Can something like that be used in a kitten so young? They are only 2 weeks old.