A feral cat that we have been taking care of gave birth yesterday. I moved them to the garage with heat pads and a radiator-style heater to keep the five kittens and the mother warm. Since birth, the momma has had a stuffy nose. She sneezed a couple of times and has been breathing heavily due to her blocked sinuses. Her eyes now seem to be getting a bit watery. Should I be worried?
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Nursing mother breathing heavily with watery eyes
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Hi FrankS
Yes you should be concerned. On the medical issue, momma cat has a cold, an upper respiratory infection and the kittens may come down with it too. She needs to be treated if at all possible. If the kittens get it, this is going to be very serious given their age, but you obviously can't separate the kittens from the mom for 6-8 weeks, although the kittens will be able to be socialized (and treated if they become sick) if mom will let you get near them later.
Is the mom genuinely feral? If she will tolerate your presence she may be only semi feral, but the distinction doesn't make much difference because the issue is, can you treat her or not, and treating her requires handling her. Does she hiss at you every time you approach her? It is possible, that she is just fearful, and with time, if you go slow, she may come to trust you if she is a fearful but domesticated cat.
As to her moving the kittens, she just may not be comfortable where you put her blankets and you may have to settle for giving her a blanket and a box without the heaters, although with an extention cord this too may be possible. Make sure you use a heavy duty cord and be careful since its a fire hazard. I'd suggest you make a cardboard box with some towels inside it, and put it near where she is now, and give her a litter box, food and water. Mom uses a lot of energy to produce mild, so she will need all the wet and dry food she can eat, available at all times.
I would urge you to start a thread here, in the pregnant cat forum. http://www.thecatsite.com/f/36/pregnant-cats-and-kitten-care
Please report back.
Stephen
Yes you should be concerned. On the medical issue, momma cat has a cold, an upper respiratory infection and the kittens may come down with it too. She needs to be treated if at all possible. If the kittens get it, this is going to be very serious given their age, but you obviously can't separate the kittens from the mom for 6-8 weeks, although the kittens will be able to be socialized (and treated if they become sick) if mom will let you get near them later.
Is the mom genuinely feral? If she will tolerate your presence she may be only semi feral, but the distinction doesn't make much difference because the issue is, can you treat her or not, and treating her requires handling her. Does she hiss at you every time you approach her? It is possible, that she is just fearful, and with time, if you go slow, she may come to trust you if she is a fearful but domesticated cat.
As to her moving the kittens, she just may not be comfortable where you put her blankets and you may have to settle for giving her a blanket and a box without the heaters, although with an extention cord this too may be possible. Make sure you use a heavy duty cord and be careful since its a fire hazard. I'd suggest you make a cardboard box with some towels inside it, and put it near where she is now, and give her a litter box, food and water. Mom uses a lot of energy to produce mild, so she will need all the wet and dry food she can eat, available at all times.
I would urge you to start a thread here, in the pregnant cat forum. http://www.thecatsite.com/f/36/pregnant-cats-and-kitten-care
Please report back.
Stephen
Quite simply, mom is moving the kittens to where she thinks they will be safe. In her mind, safe unfortunately probably means 'away from you'.
How was she toward you before the birth? Is she a true feral or is she just semiferal?
Honestly this is a difficult and touchy situation. As @StephenQ very correctly notes, if the kittens catch mom's infection at their age, it is very serious.
I hope others will come by soon with more advice.
How was she toward you before the birth? Is she a true feral or is she just semiferal?
Honestly this is a difficult and touchy situation. As @StephenQ very correctly notes, if the kittens catch mom's infection at their age, it is very serious.
I hope others will come by soon with more advice.
Normally a cat needs to be seen by a vet before treatment begins, but if this cat is feral that is not practical, and the thing to do then if possible, is convince a vet, or possibly your local humane society to dispense a liquid and flavored antibiotic like doxycycline as an example, and mix it with the cats food. This would be a reasonable start to treatment. The eyes aren't as easy to deal with, but should hopefully clear up as the cold goes away. It is routine and desirable for cats to get an antibiotic when the have this type of illness.
Stephen
Stephen
If possible, get her a very large wire dog crate and put her and the babies in it. That way she won't keep moving them and you can be sure she stays warm and fed. However, she really does need to be seen by the vet. The process of birth plus being in a new environment and stressed out because she doesn't know what's going on yet has probably triggered some kind of upper respiratory flare up.
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Are you planning on socializing the kittens and finding them homes?
In terms of medicine, if your vet will give you some, CLAVAMOX is what we routinely use for moms with upper respiratory or other problems. It is basically amoxicillin with an additive, clavulen, that makes it stronger. The human version of it is called Augmentin. It's a broad spectrum antibiotic and is well tolerated by cats with little or no side effects, but the BEST thing is that if you get the pills (not the liquid) you can drop a pill into her bowl and put a little milk or water on it, give it a few minutes and then it is soft enough to crush with a spoon. Then you mix in a little strong flavored cat food like tuna, and let her eat it. We also add L-lysine and lactoferrin to the feral medication food bowl, but just the Clavamox is fine if you dont have the other two things. (Lysine is also pretty much tasteless in small amounts, maybe just a little salty, so it's an easy mix.) They get one 62.5 mg. tablet twice a day and require absolutely no handling. Tell your vet what's going on and chances are he will sell you some of those tablets. Since they are so easy to mix with food and the cats don't seem to taste them, I often wonder why vets dispense the liquid Clavamox, which tastes terrible! BTW I don't think you should cage her, it will just upset her and she needs to be calm now and care for her kittens. You said she has accepted the new nest you made so all is well. Changing the bedding every couple of days will probably keep her in the same place. Otherwise she may move them again when she feeels their space is not clean enough for her. When I have a pregnant mama, I offer a HUGE closet and often she moves her babies out of the birth nest to another area of the closet after a few days. I just keep changing bedding and the moms tend to like the fresh bedding. Touch the kittens every day and get them used to human smells. Sometimes they will even hiss at you with teeny little hisses the first time they smell you. It's so cute!
