Hi,

As I have been posting on another thread, I have a very young first time mum called Roxy, and unfortunatly for her, this is my first time too. She gave birth to 5 beautiful kittens 3 days ago.

I have a few question, just to help put my mind at rest as I am a bit of a worry boots!

Firstly, does milk just dry up? and how could I tell? The kittens appear to be feeding, but i'm sure I can't hear the suckling noise I could before.

How long should she be out of the nest for at anyone time? When they are asleep she has a tendancy to wonder off, I usually have the door shut, and I will often go in to find her sitting on the other side of the room resting. This evening, I left the door open, and she left the room completely and came and sat with me on the sofa. She does go straight back if they start to cry though.

How much should she be eating, as she is only a Kitten herself, she is still on kitten food, but doesn't seem to be eating that much of it. I have opened about 4 pouches today for her, but her brother has polished off the second half of two of them, and the second half of the last one is still in the bowl. So she has only eaten 2 and a half pouches. She ate some dry food too, but not a huge amount.

Would labour have left her bowels a bit...um...loose?
She has been going for wees fine, but half the time, when she goes to the tray for a poo, she gets it over the side and poos have been a bit on the soft side.

Thanks very much!

The leaving the nest is normal my cat does that - just like we mums have a sneaky break when are children are sleeping.

I am sure it is possible that her milk could dry up if she's not eating and more importantly drinking esp as she is so young - it shouldn't and you don't always here them suckling - or I don't with mine.
The best way to check is to weigh them daily - I check mine on the kitchen scales and they should be gaining approx 10g a day but I don't think there's real cause to worry unless she's loosing.

You may already but feed her as separately from you other cats as poss - I feel they need their own safe supply. They are prob feeling rather delicate - I was after birth!!

Don't know about the poo issue - my cats isn't runny.

Emily

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SELKCAH NORWEGIAN FOREST CATS
www.selkcahcats.co.uk

Okay thanks. I will start wieghing them.
I was gonna try her with some tuna tonight, see if that encourages her to eat.

I do try and keep the boys away, we just let them in for the odd 5 mins to get to know the kittens and to keep in contact with their sister, they have all been very close up till now, and I'm worried that if they don't see each other at all, they wont be so close.

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SELKCAH NORWEGIAN FOREST CATS
www.selkcahcats.co.uk

Oopps too late, only read this post this morning, although she only ate a tiny amount of it anyway.
What about boiled chicken? or Sardines (i guess would be like tuna)?

I have kitty milk, but it says on the bottle to only give a small amount per day, is this the rule regardles of the situation, or can I give her a bit more to help feed her up?

I don't think she is loosing weight, its just she was a very small cat before she got pregnant.

Thanks for all your advice, I really appreciate it!

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SELKCAH NORWEGIAN FOREST CATS
www.selkcahcats.co.uk

Tuna for your gal is fine-she would have to eat a truckload of nothing but Tuna,keep an eye on her poo's-with our gals they may have a loose poo with the first afterbirth poo they have (due to ant afterbirths they may have eaten) but after 5 days i'd be concerned.It is normal for her to take time out,feel her sacks and give a gentle squeeze,you should see milk come out,and as Wendy said feel babies tums they should feel full and have some weight to themStay away from the kitty milk as this will make her loose-give her water with a tiny amount of sugar and salt-help give her some energy as she may be feeling tiredAlso to feed her try some raw beef(great for nursing queens) also an egg yolk with a little carnation milk to 2 prts water and a touch of honey,mix together and see if she'll have it-this is great for nursing mums-puts a bit of weight on them and encourages them to eat and also gives them a boost of energySardines is fine tooDefinitely keep her and babies seperated from other cats until babies are older too-and her blankets/food/water bowls and toilet trays

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Dogs have owners, Cats have slaves

Burnthwaites Siamese

Okay, thanks for the advice, I have started weighing the babies, and they are deffinatly putting weight on, so I'm less concerned about that, they also have nice round tums!
Roxys appetite is getting better, she loved the chicken yesterday! I went out this morning and got her some (adult cat) delux type meals, one chicken one liver, she is eating the chicken one at the moment much better than she was eating her kitten pouches, so I think she is just getting a little fussy.

I was going to do her some chicken again tonight, but I wasn't sure if it was a good idea, when I looked on the ingredients of tin/pouch cat food, they all seem to contain other stuf (ie carbs) aswell as meat.
Should I maybe try and mix some rice or something in with her chicken to try and give her a complete meal. Or as she eats her dry food, will that cover that aspect?

As for her poos, they seem to be getting a bit better, so I will stear clear of the milk, wouldn't want to make it worse.

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SELKCAH NORWEGIAN FOREST CATS
www.selkcahcats.co.uk