Just had Kittens

Question
My cat had three kittens 5 days ago.  Everything has been fine but today she suddenly become very lethargic - not eating which is VERY unlike her and taking no notice at all of her crying babies. I do not know what to do - is it normal?  How long can babies survive if she does not take care of them.

Answer
Gillian,

This is not normal.  Did she have an oxytocin shot to clean out her uterus and shrink it?  Did she have a long acting Penicillin G shot?  Are her mammaries normal or warm to the touch or hard?

You need to get her to a vet post haste!!!!!

The babies need warmth and sustenance.  You can have your vet show you how to tube feed the kittens, but you need to make sure they stay warm.  They may survive without food for a couple of days, but the cold would kill them long before then.  Young kittens cannot yet regulate their body temperatures, and, so, they rely on mama's warmth to stay warm.  If you use something like a heating pad, make sure it is not too warm, as it is just as easy to burn them up as it is to leave them die of the cold!!!!!

For tube feeding or bottle feeding, I like Just Born at half the strength.  In fact we take liquid Just Born and dilute it with equal amounts of unflavored Pedialyte.  Not only will you have to feed them and keep them warm, but you will have to burp them after feeding and potty them.  Burping is done similarly to how you would do a human baby.  Very, very gentle tapping on the back until you hear them burp.  Pottying can be done with a soft cloth or tissue.  Just rub the genital area until the kitten does its thing.  They usually potty very quickly after feeding.

There is an excellent book:  "Caring for the Orphaned Kitten" by a Dr. Pappum.  It is an excellent guideline for such things.

If the vet can find what the mama's problem is, she can recover and be back taking care of kittens pretty quickly.

Best regards... Norm.