PFA rescued a sweet mama cat, Duchess, and her 6 babies on Monday, July 19th and whisked them off to a safe, sound and loving foster home with Jackie and her family.
Jackie graciously agreed to keep us on to date on the little families progress as well as to share the rewards of fostering a little cat family. Her thoughts on week 1 are below. Note the busyness involved in caring for a healthy litter of babies!
We got the Email on Sunday that the feral team would be delivering a mama and her kittens for us to foster. Being as this is our first time fostering a litter and a mama we needed to do some research. We knew the mama would care for the kittens, but who was going to care for the mama? The answer was me! We pulled the extra large dog kennel out from storage and searched for a basket that we could convert to a nest for the babies and mama. The information we found online about nesting was to use a cardboard, but how big of a cardboard box? It didn't say anywhere the dimensions it should be. Worrying already about the size of box we would put the mama and her babies in. Luckily I found a small laundry basket. Take foster cat Oliver and test it to see if he can lay down inside it. Great! Nest found. Line it with a change pad cover and old towels. One thing off our list of many things to do to get ready.
Next on our list, bathroom details. The mama is not going to want to be far from her new kittens to use the bathroom so we stationed her litter pan in the close vicinity of her nest. Check out the size of the kennel and place the last items inside, the food and water dishes. Now I was told that mommas can eat as much as our 4 cats combined in one day so we needed to be prepared with good quality food for the mama. Veterinarians suggest feeding the momma a kitten chow for the higher calorie content and protein value. We stocked up on our favorite canned food from Metro Pet Market and waited to see the kind of food the momma would arrive with and then we would better know what we would need. Nothing like trying to change a cats food in the middle of her arrival at a new place. Talk about stress none of us need least of all a momma cat nursing.
Monday night arrives and so does the momma and her 6 kittens. Or oldest daughter who is five wants to name the momma kitty after her favorite Disney cartoon Aristicats and soon we are referring to momma kitty as Duchess and it suits her too. We watch and snap pictures as Feral Team Member Leanne unpacks her precious cargo. One kitten soon becomes six little babies curled up in our basket and in jumps Duchess to settle down with her brood. They made it safe and sound.
So what happens next? Duchess cares for her kittens and we take care of the needs of the nursing momma. With the arrival of the family we had set up a bowl of kibble, a bowl of soft cat food and a water bowl. We soon see for ourselves how much a momma cat can pack back. As she eats Duchess growls low to let us know we are not going to get near her food. This will probably stop sometime along the way as it did with our other foster cats as she quickly learns that she is going to have a regular meal and fresh water at all times. We plan to keep her kibble full and serve soft cat food three times a day.
The morning after the little family's arrival we soon find that the water dish we supplied Duchess with is not going to do the job and quickly change it to a much larger bowl for her water. As a mom myself I guess I forgot home much we eat and drink nursing our own babies. Duchess will not have to worry about water again. As Duchess happily gobbled down her soft cat food I take a glance into the nest to see how the kittens are doing. Because we don't know their sexes we referred to them as kittens 1 through 6. Everyone looks healthy and seems to be doing fine. Duchess is eating still so I take advantage of her preoccupation with food and check out each kitten so we may know their sex. How do you check for the sex of a kitten you ask? The things you can find out on the Internet these days. Online we read that the primary way to tell a female kitten from a male kitten is by comparing the distance between the anal opening and the genital opening. The shape of the vaginal opening is a vertical slit, unlike the small circular opening of the penis. Gently lifting the tail of each kitten I find we have three boys and three girls. Now the job is ours to name six kittens.
With kittens as young as ten days old we want to keep their handling to a bare minimum as to not upset Duchess. I decide that we will handle them daily to see they are healthy and check for any signs of colds as kittens can catch a cold and become ill very quickly. Another thing we will keep an eye on is the temperature of the room they are in as we do not want the babies to get a chill. A chill can mean illness and death for a newborn kitten. Duchess is doing a great job of caring for her brood so we will try to be as observant as possible.
Some interesting kitten facts: "A newborn kitten is born blind. Its eyes do not open until it is 10 to 12 days old. All of the kittens except two have their eyes open already. Kittens' ear canals, also, are not fully developed at birth but they still have some ability to hear sounds. Mother Nature has provided them all with a "rooting reflex," which enables them to find the source of their food. Finding the "milk source" is accomplished with help from mom, who encourages her young kittens to feed a few minutes after birth by licking and nuzzling them and guiding them toward her nipples." (info found at www.petplace.com) .
Another item on the daily list of care for Duchess is to make sure her nest towels are clean. We decide that we will change them daily and launder them as necessary. Duchess, I read online, will keep the area clean. Mother cats also take care of the elimination needs of their babies by frequently cleaning and licking their genital areas. Kittens do not know how to use a litter-box at birth and are as defenseless as a newborn baby. They will learn by mimicking their mom all about the litter box later down the road so in the meantime it is Duchess' job to groom them and she takes care of each kitten as they finish nursing. She is a super mom our Duchess!
Who can resist a litter of kittens. I find myself checking in on the momma and her litter frequently. Duchess comes to the gate of her kennel to be stroked and petted so we allow her this time outside her cage for some good old fashioned loving. Duchess is an all black cat with patches of missing fur. Most likely old wounds healed. For a cat from the streets of Regina Duchess is friendly and very affectionate as shown by her head butts and rubbing up against us to get petted.
Tonight we had a scare. Duchess was being friendly and hanging out in her safe room. When I decided to exit the room I did not return her to the kennel and she caught a glimpse of Oliver our other resident Foster cat, who happens to be male, and she bolted out the door after him. Running past three female cats, she was down the hall, through the kitchen and into the living room so fast she had Oliver cornered on the couch by the time I could grab a blanket and throw it over her. I had read that mama cats are protective of their kittens but this was lightning paws of fury directed at Ollie. Back in her room and into the cage Duchess went. She crawled right into her basket with her kittens and settled in with them making sure they were all okay. This is our first experience as a foster family with a mama and a litter of kittens so we didn't know what to expect with the interactions with our other house cats. Oliver is a little rattled by the experience and is leery of going near her bedroom door.
More to follow in the lives of Duchess.... will we find cute names for all six kittens.... stay tuned.
-Alanna
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