Hardend nippels

Question
Hey
I have 2 cats and a doggy. Lancia is about a year old she just came out of the blue and lived with us. She had 5 baby kittens om the 2nd of january. 1 died. The remaining 4 lived with us until 23nd of feb. We moved and the babys stayed with my parents and we will give them away this weekend. Now Lancias nippels is hard and swolen. My fiance tried to milk her but its in spasm! It feels like a whole sheet is hardend under her tummy. We think she is uncomfortable but she doesnt moun. Very strong cat. Is this normal? What can we do to help? My other cat is very affectionate. Joey likes my nose and ears alot. But he bites my engagement ring and earings. Is it shiny stuff that intrest him or what is this behavior. He also misses the potty. He stands inside but poos outside. But tries to cover the missed poo with the sand. What can we do to help him. Joey is 6 months old. Best cat ever. Both is normal house cats. Thank you!!

Answer
Hi Liz.  Lancia's breasts are engorged because the kittens weren't entirely done nursing.  When the kittens are allowed to stay with mom, they will taper off nursing over a few weeks' time, between the ages of 8 to 12 weeks.  Because the process is so slow, mom starts producing less and less milk, so when the kittens finally stop nursing completely, there is no back up of milk that causes this painful engorgement.  But if the kittens were still nursing a reasonable amount when they were taken away from mom, as most 8-week-old kittens are, there is going to be a lot of milk production that leads to engorgement and sometimes an infection called mastitis.

There is not so much you can do for engorgement except to let it run its course, unless you can get one kitten back from your mom.  Then this baby may nurse and help relieve the engorgement, and you can place this kitten in its new home in a couple of weeks.  If this isn't an option, the body will begin to absorb the milk once it realizes it's no longer needed.  It typically takes 10 to 14 days for milk production to stop and for the stored milk to start dissipated.  During this time, warm, wet compresses can help provide some relief, if the cat will let you.  Using parsley may help to encourage the fluid to drain.  Fold some dried parsley up in a cloth, then steep it in hot water for 20 minutes.  Allow the cloth to cool until it is comfortably warm.  Then unfold it so that the parsley is exposed, and apply it to the cat's mammary area with the parsley touching her skin.  No need to try to clean off any parsley that clings to her fur - parsley is a tasty treat for cats.

As for Joey and his litter habits, you may want to try a hooded litter box.  These are completely covered and have only a hole for an entrance.  This way, once he's in it, it's very difficult for him to miss it while defecating.

Shiny objects are attractive to some cats, but it sounds like he is trying to groom things off of you that he feels don't belong there.  I actually had to take my belly ring out because one of my Siamese was so obsessed with trying to pull it off when he was grooming me.  He would yank on it while I slept and nearly tore my skin!  Although he's trying to take care of you, try to discourage this behavior so that he doesn't hurt you by tugging on your ears, or hurt his teeth by chewing on your ring.

Best wishes!

Jessica