8-9 month old cat with one kitten

Question
Dear Teresa,
I have a cat that I adopted off the streets about 6 months ago. Last month my cat had just one kitten. I knew she was pregnant because she is a house cat and doesnt go out and i also have another male cat at home who mated with her. The kitten is healthy so far. It opened its eyes wen it was about 6 days old however its eyes are not coloured like my other cats sometimes i feel that it is blind but i cant say for sure. there is no irregular discharge from its eyes or anything. I have not interefered in the way the mom takes care of her kitten, i have provided them a warm blanketed place to sleep. What else can i do to ensure the kitten grows normally? I live in India and we have very few cat products here infact we dont get any milk suppliments or anything. We get whiskers kitten food that i've been feeding the mother since about a week before the kitten was born. The mother also drinks normal milk how is this harmful for her? She hasnt shown any signs diahorrea so far. When do kittens start to see? Also I know I should neuter my cats but i am scared because the facilities here are not so good i dont want to end up harming my cats in anyway. Another thing is that I had consulted the vet before and after birth, he confirmed that there are no more kittens he also said tht i shud milk my cat because one kitten will not be able to consume a lot of milk. I milked her for a week after that i noticed that she had milk only in the nipple that the baby was feeding from and not the others so i stopped milking her. Is that normal? What can i do for my cat and her kitten?
Thank you.
Regards,
Khushbu Contractor
Mumbai - India.

Answer
Hi Khushbu, thank you for your letter. I get letters from cat owners all over the world that do not have access to proper veterinary care and food so it does make it more of a challenge. First off I have never heard of milking the mother cat when she has one kitten. We have one kitten litters all the time and both mom and kitten are fine. So, don't worry about that ! Secondly you won't have to do too much for this kitten as you can see that mom takes care of it's cleaning and nutritional needs. If your mom cat does not have diarrhea from the milk you are giving her then it is fine to continue with it. The whiskas kitten food is a balanced diet so she should do well with that, some milk, and any other meat(not spicy) that you have available for a treat. Re the eyes on your kitten. What do they look like? Young kittens normally have cloudy grey eyes which develop into a bright blue colour when they are about 6-8 weeks old and then when they are between 5-8 months they get their final adult colour of amber, hazel,brown, blue or ??
If you kitten is a month old it should be able to follow the movement of your hand.. slowly... when you wave it in front of her. Try playing with a feather toy and she if she follows the movement. Chances are she is fine.. but if you send me more info I can probably give you a better guess about her vision.
Re spaying the mom and neutering the dad. If you are nervous of the facilities in your area then I would get the dad neutered and just leave the mom for now. A neutering is a much simpler procedure and in the "old days" the farmers used to do it themselves by putting the male cat in a boot !!! So, 'probably' your boy would be fine. Are you going to be moving eventually to an area with better services? you don't want to leave your mom cat unspayed for too long as they can get pyometra from cycling too often. They can also be prone to cancers of the uterus. I would try to get her spayed within the next year if possible for the sake of her health.
Good Luck Teresa