mom cat

Question
QUESTION: Hi,

My persian cat gave birth yesterday to 6 kitten..one was still born,, She's a first time mom, and she seems she is not interested very much in her babies.. At first she did not want to even let them nurse,, now she does,, but its kind of weird! I have to lay her down so that the kittens are able to nurse, but the good thing is that she atleast stays put and let her babies nurse.. and thats all!! she does not lick them, does not clean them, does not help make them eliminate, and does not respond to their cries.. they have been crying all day and she just looks at them confused.. I go and lay her down for them to nurse hoping she might have more feelings towards her babies, but no improvement until now.. she has no problem stepping on them and laying over them.. Today I helped them eliminate,, poop burst out immediately.. it had black color (solid) at first then brownish color diarrhea... Does this mean that they  were able to nurse? I noticed that her nipples are not very erect, so I am not sure if they are able to nurse enough.. I see them first locating the nipples but they cannot hold grip of it..
is this normal for a first time mom? Do you think she will overcome this in future with her next litter? if not, then I will not be breeding her again...

Thanks

ANSWER: Hi Blaze


Cats can be like humans, not all are meant for motherhood, however, cats usually are very good mums.  

Are you sure she has any milk?  You need to squeeze them gently and see if any liquid comes out.  It may be that she is not producing any or not much, in which case you would be best to supplement the kittens with replacement kitten milk.  I think this may be the case as you say they are crying all the time.

The brownish color faeces is normal for the first time and is probably their first poop which she should have stimulated.  You need to start weighing the kittens to monitor whether they are gaining weight or not in which case they will need more feeding.  Kitchen scales set in grams are the best and a kitten should gain between 5-10 grams per day, hopefully nearer the 10 grams.

I have to say that for the moment you may have to be their surrogate Mum and help to feed them and attend to their rear ends too.  Her mother instinct may click in over the next few days.  Is she restless when she is not with the kittens as it is always possible that she has not finished kittening.  Quite often cats do not settle when they are more to come and its not unusual for their to be a day or two between kittening.  If she is restless it may be a good idea to get the vet to scan her to check if there are any more to come.

You need to find out what sort of Mum her mother was as often good mothering (or bad) can run in lines.  See how things go this time as sometimes a first litter can be daunting for them.  Give her plenty of reassurance and a nice dark box for her and the kittens to feel secure in. If she is the same on a second breeding then I would say no more.

Regards

Marcia

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for your response..

Actually all maintained their weight of 2 ounces which is considered low for new born kittens.. they should be atleast 3 ounces.. some of them are even 1.5 ounces!! One already lost half an ounce and is fading I guess..
Should I remove them completely from their mom? I'm worried that if I leave them with their mom and then when I tube feed them they get overfed.. this happened to me a while ago and led to the milk rising to the lungs which caused pneumonia ..
and no she does not appear restless at all.. she just ignores them when they cry! No feelings at all !!
although I was pretty sure that I felt one more kitten in her tummy yesterday..  

Answer
Hi Blaze

Sometimes you can be caught out by 'feel' as what you feel is the uterus contracting down.  The best way to tell if there is another one is a scan.  Even my vet was caught out by just feeling.

I think I would certainly take the smaller ones away and feed them but perhaps leave the larger one or two with her but monitor them closely to see if they are getting fed.  You could always give them half the required amount of feed if you are worried about overfeeding them, until you can be sure of whether she is feeding them or not.

I would always err on the side of caution and step in as they can fade away very quickly.  You may still save the smaller ones if yu can get milk into them.

Marcia.