Kitten care

Kitten care

When all the kittens are born, you can lift them out of their box on the pad of newspapers. Prepare a clean bed in the box, and return the kittens one at a time. The queen may object to this but will soon realize that what you are doing is sensible, and curl up with her kittens purring her satisfaction.

Now she can safely be left for some hours to enjoy her babies, although she may also appreciate some warm milk, a commercial whole-food diet usually mixed with milk or other warm drink (bat see the chapter on feeding. as some breeds are allergic to milk).

Put the drink in a deep bowl and hold it so she can drink while in the kitten box: some cats refuse to leave their box for hours, but will drink or eat anything offered while they remain there suckling their kittens.

Eventually the mother will leave her box to visit the litter tray, which should always be nearby From now on such visits offer you the best times for changing bedding.

If possible shut the queen out of the room for the few minutes this takes. or she will rush back to the nest at the first vocal sign that her young are being disturbed. Once they are all settled down in new, clean bedding, you can let her back into the room, and she will curl up with them in the clean bed.

The bedding will have to be changed once or twice daily for the first week as the queen will probably still be losing a certain amount of blood.

Changing bedding is the best time for sexing kittens, although they often screech when suddenly picked up. Sexing is done by holding the kitten in one hand, all four feet on the hand, and lifting the tail with your other hand

After a few days the queen will get hungrier and hungrier. and some people say it is impossible to overfeed a nursing queen She should have as much nourishing food (with added vitamins and minerals) as she can eat She will appreciate regular grooming during this time and if the kittens have any infection around the eyes her whole underside should be washed with baby or other cat-safe shampoo and the kittens' eyes cleaned with damp cotton wool a fresh piece for each kitten - before they are placed back together again.

Should the queen call before the kittens are fully weaned, she must be carefully confined with them. But if she loses her milk, has no milk, has been allowed out and fails to return to attend to her maternal duties, or has died giving birth (a rare occurrence), the kittens will have to be reared without her Sometimes it is possible for another queen who has milk to take over the kittens, and this is the best way as she will also wash the kittens and keep them warm. If you cannot find a foster mother you are faced with hand-rearing.

A very time-consuming but most rewarding process.

You will need a foster-feeding bottle and a substitute milk formula.

The kittens will require feeding every two hours, night and day, for the first week, so no one should attempt this without the patience to see it through And feeding is only part of the task the human foster mother must also massage the kittens' bellies to stimulate urination:wipe their rear ends clean with damp cotton wool: change the bedding twice a day, and keep the kittens warm.

There are various electrically heated beds or panels on the market for this purpose.

A hot water bottle is not recommended as you would have to replace it every four hours. There is a non-electric pet bed warmer on the market but this lasts only eight to ten hours before needing attention.

A bed heated at one end only is a good idea as the kittens can move to a hotter or colder section as required. When hand rearing, you can drop some of the night feeds in the second week, then feed only every four hours for the third week.