I have a barn cat (Lily), and she was supposed to have kittens about a month ago (her 4th litter). one day we knew she had her kittens but we couldnt find them so we thought they didn't survive. A week ago, I saw a kitten following her around (Smurfette), so I thought, "Only one must've survived and Lily was hiding her to protect her." a couple days later, my neighbor found 4 more of Lily's kittens, hungry n starving, in their shed. So i took them home and brought them to Lily but she didn't nurse them properly! She sat in the box for about a minute then she came out and sat in her fave spot to sit. I brought the kittens to her, she walked away. I brought just one kitten to her, and she nursed him for a few minutes then walked away again, but she nurses Smurfette properly. Later, she began nursing all the kittens but whenever she got distracted she walked away, and still does that. the 4 kittens are underweight compared to Smurfette. Could it be that Lily doesn't have enough milk for all of them? is it due to her age (4 yrs)? Is there anything that I can do to restore the kittens' health?
One more question: one of the kittens walked straight into the wall. he wasn't running, he was walking and he just bumped into the wall. He was really hungry at that time, so is it because of his hunger that he wasn't able to concentrate, or does he have a chance of eyesight problems?
Any information possible is appreciated!

Get them to a vet and be prepared to take over and hand rear them. They definately sound like they need to see a vet ASAP though ... your vet will also give you advice on and show you how to hand feed hopefully.


And please get your female spayed ... too many moggies in rescue for anyone to justify breeding more.

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I agree with Aurelia, they need to see a vet now, and be prepared to hand rear, also book her in to be spayed, as 4 litter's is alot by getting her spayed, you won't have this problem again and can stop your girl having very painful calling's constantly, and stop her being ravaged by the local tom cat's. Good luck with the kitten's.

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Made by smudge2009
Gloworm - Run free little man. 23.05.2011-06.09.2011

Please don't simply decide to hand-rear because she doesn't nurse them. She nursed her previous litters, didn't she? AND she is taking proper care of Smurfette!
AND - very important, one of the rejected kittens is not behaving normally.

You may well be trying to interfere with nature.
Cats will not spend their milk and energy on kittens with no chance of a healthy future, so they will reject diseased, malformed or degenerated offspring.

My guess is that the mother has rejected the kittens because she senses that they are severely flawed in one way or another, and she is concentrating on the one healthy kitten she has produced in this litter.

Take the kittens to a vet, by all means, but let him check for birth defects, malformations and mental retardation.
If any of these are found, have them put to sleep, let them die like the mother intended.

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Jiskefet & the mognificent Dutch bunch

My little angels at the rainbow bridge

I hope you're not suggesting she leave them be?

OP Please please get them to a vet TODAY.

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She should take them to a vet, alright, but if they are indeeed deformed or retarded, it would be better to put them to sleep.

I have seen a number of kittens from various rejected litters being hand-raised by rescue volunteer friends of mine, and invariably, more than half of them died anyway, and the rest would never be quite right.

I have seen down cats, cats with underdeveloped intestines, who slowly starved to death in spite of intensive hand-feeding, epileptic cats, blind and retarded cats......

You don't always do the kittens a favour by hand-rearing them after the mother rejects them, mother cats usually know what they are doing, especially experienced mother cats like this one.

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Jiskefet & the mognificent Dutch bunch

My little angels at the rainbow bridge

Thank god for that I was worried for a moment there!

I agree with you ... which is why I said they need to go to the vets ... TODAY

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I wouldn't tell anyone to hand rear them without seeing a vet first, just wanted her to be prepared incase she has too

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Made by smudge2009
Gloworm - Run free little man. 23.05.2011-06.09.2011

Is it possible the kittens have been shut in the shed for some time? If they have, then maybe she thought they'd died. If that is the case, then maybe she's only supplying enough milk for the kitten she thought she had left.

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Cara,
Owned by Fern, Heidi, Asteroid, Bubbles & Fizz
Missing Snippet, Frost, Willow & Nix


Opinions are like armpits. Everyone has them, and some stink.

sounds to me they have been locked in a shed for awhile and mother thought they were dead but it would not surprise me if they are retarded in some way please see PDSA or VET ASAP and its nice to let a cat have a litter- but to be fair now on her health and future litter have your cat spayed either by PDSA OR VET COFFEEX