Quote:
Originally Posted by clare7577
Ive intervened a couple of times,i find it worrying when mums more interested in the noisy kitts that have been born and ignoring the one squirming about in its bag!  ive sat there and thought,gotta open bag,no give mum a chance,its a worrying time.Ive never severed cord,but had a couple chewed a bit over enthusiastically by mum. |
Excellent point Clare - extremely worrying.
The first time I saw this, I was torn between which comes first - let mum cat do it or shall I - but obviously, as you can guess, its most important to let the kitten breathe so free the struggling one first, then offer it to mum cat for licks.
For this reason, I tend to separate the mother from her babies after numbers one and two are born (and of course, after the maternal bonding of first licks and cleaning has been done) so that she can concentrate on giving birth to the others. The newborns who are now clean and dry are kept in a separate bed with a hot water bottle or heat pad and a soft flannel to gently lay over them so they are warm, dark and can move about and breathe.
Meanwhile, back at the birthing pool, mum is busy with her labours .... when all babies are present, new clean bedding is given and babies latched on. Sometimes though, the birth can go on for many hours and baby number one may be many hours older than the last baby.
Sometimes my queen takes a break halfway through and I give those who are nice and clean and dry a chance to suckle from mum cat before she continues to give birth to the siblings still inside her. (More clean bedding of course
)