Hello all,

This is my first post, so I hope that you will be able to give me your advice.

We got our first pedigree BSH cat Tilly, last year. She is an absolute stunner and we adore her. We had planned on getting her speyed (she is a housecat with occasional supervised garden fun) but didn't want to put her through the operation while we were having building work done to our house as we thought this would be stressful for her.

You guessed it...one of the builders let her out of the house.

She was missing for an hour, after which she bounded back home as if nothing had happened. 62 days later she gives birth to 5 amazing kittens who are now 2 weeks old and the most gorgeous little fluffballs you can imagine.

She will be getting speyed as soon as the kittens have left for their new homes. Am I right in thinking this is the best time to do this?

I have bought books and read as much as possible online through the whole process to make sure that she and the kittens have and will continue to have the best care possible.

I have not contacted her breeder about the pregnancy as to be honest, I am a bit scared of her reaction. I am not an irresponsible owner by any stretch of the imagination and adore my animals who are part of my family.

Tilly is currently eating Natures Best Dry Kitten food along with other extras and some wet food. What wet/dry foods would you recommend for her and what foods should I wean the kittens onto? I want them to have the best start in life.

I have quite a few other questions, but I will leave those for another post.

Thankyou in advance to anyone who can help

Please be aware that your girl could come back into call before the kittens have left - it isn't unheard of for a cat to be calling again when the kittens are as young as 2 or 3 weeks - so please be very careful that she does not get out again. Ask your vet when they would recommend but I think by the time the kittens are around 8 weeks old would be optimum.
The kittens should remain with you and mum until they are 12 - 13 weeks old and should have their vaccinations before they leave.
I wouldn't recommend a dry diet of any kind really and find that young kittens can gobble dry food very quickly, making it swell in the stomachs and then making them sick Look for a good quality high meat content wet food - there isn't any need really to use a specific kitten food though I start mine off on one.
Good luck with them

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How we behave toward cats here below determines our status in heaven. - Robert A. Heinlein
http://www.lambchopsiamese.webs.com

Pics of kitties please!! They sound gorgeous

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RIP Charcoal my shy girl 1987-2000, Patch the wanderer 1987-?, Tabby my darling fluffball 1988-2002 & Panda the rascal 1988-2008

I rescued a cat and her kittens from my shed. I raised the kittens until 8 weeks, rehomed kittens and then had Mika (my cat) spayed the day after the kittens left. As others have said, please be aware that your cat can get pregnant again at anytime before the spay.

HTH

We need pics!! I'm not surprised she got preggers. The local Tom probably thought all his Christmases had come early when he saw the local beauty queen!

Accidents happen. Don't sweat it and you seem a very responsible cat owner too!!

Look accidents happen and builders do have a habit of ignoring what you say - having chased my breeding queen Birman (luckily NOT in call at the tie) half way across the neighbourhood a couple of years ago when a workman thought I was joking I know it can happen.

Try feeding mum good quality wet food or raw and you will see a vast difference she will come back into condition really quickly. ANd like Lymorelynn says - dry isn't really too good for little ones tummies - it swells to about 4 times the original size once in the tummy so they often vomit it back up. I wean kittens straight onto raw and/ or scrambled egg made with cimicat. I keep them on the raw until I know what their new owners are going to feed and then introduce that a little. I like to know that they have got the very best start in life.

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please look at my website - www.finesthourcats.webs.com - for gorgeous GCCF registered RagaMuffins and Selkirk Rex

Thankyou all so much for your replies and apologies for not being able to get back online for so long.

Tilly and the kittens are doing brilliantly and they are all growing really well. I will upload some piccies shortly when I have taken some updated ones.

The kittens seem VERY interested in Tillys food (they are 3 weeks, 5 days old) can I pop some mushed up food in with them now for them to try?

Tilly is looking very slim despite eating TONNES of food. Is there anything that you can recommend that I could give her to help build her up? She is eating dry and wet food, but seems to mainly lick off the jelly/gravy from the wet food rather than eating the pieces.

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I love how people say accidents happen, if she was neutered at 3-6months of age, how old is she now? so lal that time to neuter And after she was 'let out by builders' you then had 5 weeks to neuter her... so its not a 'accident' is it?

glad they are doing well, but please neuter them before they leave you, or they could end up in the same circle of accidents

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Max - 6 year old rescue moggie
Ben - 4 year old rescue doggie mix bred
Layton - 21 month old baby human lol!

The OP said she got the cat last year. Even if this was at the end of the year, then the cat must have been born no later than early October 2010. If this cat just had kittens in early November 2011 then I would think she could have been no younger than 11 months when she got accidentally pregnant in or around the beginning of September 2011. Accidents DO happen, as has been said earlier, but they DO happen far more often when neutering is put off month after month. It would never happen, but IF an intact female of mine escaped it would be neutered within a week of coming home. Many people like having "accidental" litters though.