Hello there, I have begun helping out in a shelter in the last year, and have been fostering cats with feline leukemia. Recently the shelter took in seven feral cats from an endangered colony. Three of them were pregnant and it became apparent that we had no fosters willing to take in wild feral mommas. So I took the three pregnant cats, my first ever pregnant girls, intending to let them give birth in my greenhouse.
It took longer than expected to secure the greenhouse so I kept the girls in kennels in my bedroom. At last the greenhouse was ready and I was going to move them in the morning. At 3:30 in the morning the first cat went into labor. I watched it on a remote camera and everything went well. At that time of night Norachan was online and gave me a choice of wonderful Japanese name possibilities so her name is Aiko.
While Aiko was in labor I realized that I couldn’t move her or let the others give birth out in the greenhouse with no heat or lighting, so they now have my bedroom.
Like I said these are my first pregnant/ birthing Mommas and I am pretty intimidated. The mothers being feral I don’t have the access one would have with a tame mother, but I am trying to do the best I can. Today Aiko’s kittens are three days old and seem to be doing well. They appear to all be the same size and to be nursing without problems. I happened to catch Aiko out of the nest this afternoon and just had time to quickly shift the babies to a clean blanket before she rushed back.
I am creating this thread to be in contact with so many of you whose great advice I have read on these forums. Tonight Aiko seems to be breathing very quickly, immediately I am afraid of something going wrong. I am watching her with a video baby monitor but can’t really tell what’s going on and I can’t handle her. I don’t want to stress her, but may find it necessary to be in the room or even catch her if she seems to be in distress. Any thoughts?
It took longer than expected to secure the greenhouse so I kept the girls in kennels in my bedroom. At last the greenhouse was ready and I was going to move them in the morning. At 3:30 in the morning the first cat went into labor. I watched it on a remote camera and everything went well. At that time of night Norachan was online and gave me a choice of wonderful Japanese name possibilities so her name is Aiko.
While Aiko was in labor I realized that I couldn’t move her or let the others give birth out in the greenhouse with no heat or lighting, so they now have my bedroom.
Like I said these are my first pregnant/ birthing Mommas and I am pretty intimidated. The mothers being feral I don’t have the access one would have with a tame mother, but I am trying to do the best I can. Today Aiko’s kittens are three days old and seem to be doing well. They appear to all be the same size and to be nursing without problems. I happened to catch Aiko out of the nest this afternoon and just had time to quickly shift the babies to a clean blanket before she rushed back.
I am creating this thread to be in contact with so many of you whose great advice I have read on these forums. Tonight Aiko seems to be breathing very quickly, immediately I am afraid of something going wrong. I am watching her with a video baby monitor but can’t really tell what’s going on and I can’t handle her. I don’t want to stress her, but may find it necessary to be in the room or even catch her if she seems to be in distress. Any thoughts?