- Joined
- Jun 22, 2015
- Messages
- 9
- Purraise
- 11
So as a little backstory, I started taking care of a feral cat this past winter. She showed up at my doorstep crying and freezing on New Years day which happened to be below zero temperature here in Ohio. I, of course, brought her in (as I have a habit doing with all strays). I figured I would let her back out when the weather warmed up.. we happened to have had a particularly harsh and long winter so that ended up being about 2 months later after days and days of her screaming to get back out I let her go. My neighborhood is safe enough distance away from main roads and she was part of a litter that was born in my backyard the previous summer so I knew she'd be safe. She, of course, stuck around close by because she knew where the food was. I gave her a big plastic tub with blankets on my front porch for shelter and she had a daily supply of food and water. I would have just let her in to eat but I have a 4 year old cat already and although he was friendly and wanted to make friends with her, she felt differently (being feral) and just hissed and growled and fought him.. so needless to say I had to keep them separate.
So fast forward a month or two, I noticed she was pregnant. I kept a close eye on her, still giving her food and water, and make sure she was warm and comfortable. On June 6th or 7th I made the decision to bring her in and keep her in my bedroom. My mama intuition told me she was going to have the kittens soon and I wanted to make sure they were safe and warm. Sure enough, on June 9th as soon as it turned midnight the first one was born. At first, mama cat was real freaked out and running in circles as the baby was coming out. I talked to her calmly and kept a close watch for safety. Thankfully, as soon as the first one was out, her mama instincts kicked in and she took the first baby under the bed (her safety cave as I call it) and laid down in the back corner to have the rest. Within about a hour we had 4 healthy kittens. I let her nurse and rest for the first day and then when she finally felt safe enough to leave them to go eat, drink and use the litter box I took the opportunity to check out the kittens. All four were healthy, no runts, no defects. The whole thing was such a beautiful experience to witness.
So now the kittens are 14 days old. Mama has been doing wonderful with nursing them. She's comfortable with me being around them. The kittens spend their day on my bed, out of their cave. Mama nurses them and then she comes to me for some cuddles. When she goes to eat, drink, use the litter box or just get some mama stretching time, she leaves the kittens with me to cuddle. So we've built up a nice rapport. Now I've noticed that 3 out of the 4 kittens have opened their eyes and their ears have started to perk up. The 4th one, which was the first born and the chubbiest of the litter, his eyes are still completely shut and ears are completely flat. He's also way more wobbly than the others. What concerns me is that he was the kitten she had first and was freaking out with. When she was pushing him out she was running in circles and at one point rubbed her butt on the carpet (like dogs do with poop stuck or gland problems) when just the kittens head was out. So I'm wondering if maybe some kind of damage was done. Other than its eyes shut, ears flat and being really wobbly, its otherwise healthy. He eats good, responds good, lifts his head up, walks around (just very wobbly), responds to mom, responds to siblings. He does sleep way more than the other ones and isnt as responsive as the other ones. For example, when they're sleeping and mom jumps up and lays next to them for a feeding they all immediately wake up crying and jump up, eyes wide open, running over to mom to nurse. Whereas, this one just stays sleeping and quiet, eventually wobbles over to nurse then goes back to sleep. The others just seem more alert. If that makes sense. Do you think there is anything to worry about? Or are there just some "late bloomers" so to speak?
Also just a couple hours ago I noticed with 2 of them, one has 1 eye crusted shut (clear, not brown or any color, just feels crusty) and the other had clear/somewhat white discharge coming out. I clean the eye of the one with discharge and she seems fine now. I couldn't get the others crusty eye fixed but mama was just washing it for him a little bit ago so I'm going to check later. Is this something I should be worried about? I know green and yellow generally mean infection, but are there any worries with just white/clear discharge? Any and all help is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!
So fast forward a month or two, I noticed she was pregnant. I kept a close eye on her, still giving her food and water, and make sure she was warm and comfortable. On June 6th or 7th I made the decision to bring her in and keep her in my bedroom. My mama intuition told me she was going to have the kittens soon and I wanted to make sure they were safe and warm. Sure enough, on June 9th as soon as it turned midnight the first one was born. At first, mama cat was real freaked out and running in circles as the baby was coming out. I talked to her calmly and kept a close watch for safety. Thankfully, as soon as the first one was out, her mama instincts kicked in and she took the first baby under the bed (her safety cave as I call it) and laid down in the back corner to have the rest. Within about a hour we had 4 healthy kittens. I let her nurse and rest for the first day and then when she finally felt safe enough to leave them to go eat, drink and use the litter box I took the opportunity to check out the kittens. All four were healthy, no runts, no defects. The whole thing was such a beautiful experience to witness.
So now the kittens are 14 days old. Mama has been doing wonderful with nursing them. She's comfortable with me being around them. The kittens spend their day on my bed, out of their cave. Mama nurses them and then she comes to me for some cuddles. When she goes to eat, drink, use the litter box or just get some mama stretching time, she leaves the kittens with me to cuddle. So we've built up a nice rapport. Now I've noticed that 3 out of the 4 kittens have opened their eyes and their ears have started to perk up. The 4th one, which was the first born and the chubbiest of the litter, his eyes are still completely shut and ears are completely flat. He's also way more wobbly than the others. What concerns me is that he was the kitten she had first and was freaking out with. When she was pushing him out she was running in circles and at one point rubbed her butt on the carpet (like dogs do with poop stuck or gland problems) when just the kittens head was out. So I'm wondering if maybe some kind of damage was done. Other than its eyes shut, ears flat and being really wobbly, its otherwise healthy. He eats good, responds good, lifts his head up, walks around (just very wobbly), responds to mom, responds to siblings. He does sleep way more than the other ones and isnt as responsive as the other ones. For example, when they're sleeping and mom jumps up and lays next to them for a feeding they all immediately wake up crying and jump up, eyes wide open, running over to mom to nurse. Whereas, this one just stays sleeping and quiet, eventually wobbles over to nurse then goes back to sleep. The others just seem more alert. If that makes sense. Do you think there is anything to worry about? Or are there just some "late bloomers" so to speak?
Also just a couple hours ago I noticed with 2 of them, one has 1 eye crusted shut (clear, not brown or any color, just feels crusty) and the other had clear/somewhat white discharge coming out. I clean the eye of the one with discharge and she seems fine now. I couldn't get the others crusty eye fixed but mama was just washing it for him a little bit ago so I'm going to check later. Is this something I should be worried about? I know green and yellow generally mean infection, but are there any worries with just white/clear discharge? Any and all help is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!