Context: I've 3 cats, 5yo, 1.5yo, 5 months, all female. 1.5yo just gave birth an hour ago and then left the kid under the inverter box with the umbilical cord connected. And went ahead to beat my other 2 kids like dirt. Now my other babies are safe in the other room and this girl is growling at her own kid instead of nursing him. I somehow managed to clean the kid & cut the umbilical cord safely. Now what do I do?! Please someone help me out š
UPDATE: SHE TRIED TO EAT HER NEWBORN. SHE WAS TRYING TO CHOMP IT but i stopped her, got biten by her, put the kid in a basket with blankets as of now. Then i gave her food as well. Also She's still in labor. She was about to give birth to another kid, it was almost out but somehow it went back. I'll take her to the vet the moment the clinic is open (after one hour). She's coming to me and crying. I feel like she doesn't understand what's happening with her š
UPDATE 2: Vet visited. Suggested to give her some warm water and keep her in check for now. Suggested to give her some injection I forgot the name if she doesn't give birth again within next 2-3 hours. I'll keep updating here if I have any news
UPDATE 3 (maybe the last update): She finally calmed down and trying to nurse the kid. She's still confused & struggling but she's doing well. She also gave birth to another kid just a while ago which might not survive as it's not breathing properly. I'd probably contact my vet if anything happens. Thank you everyone for all the kind responses. It really helped me out (mentally as well)
One more thing I'd like to clear as some people seem to misunderstand me and my intentions. I live in a place where basic veterinary care is a privilege, to be able to access it, I've to travel more than an hour to a different city, which also opens from 9:30am to 2:30pm with a handful of available vets. We don't have any ER or 24 hours facility anywhere in my state either. One of my vet is a retired medicine specialist who's been practicing for last 40+ years and the other one is the govt hospital vet who's barely ever available. Because of lack of access & availability I've been struggling with basic veterinary care for the last 5 years. I'm still trying my best as a cat parent. But istg I'm not some evil person who'd make their pets suffer. I would absolutely get my cats spayed as soon as possible and try my best to give them the best life they deserve :))
Young cats/ first time cats sometimes do eat their newborns. I know cause I saw it happened. She was 8 months rescued and was at foster house. She was very good mom for couple of days nursing them cleaning them and everything and then one night she ate two of her babies who were about a week old at that point. We separated the others. But it was brutal. I saw keep an eye out and separate the other babies as soon as she give birth to them. And yes take her to the vet as soon as you can
Parents also have a 3 legged cat from the mom trying to eat him. It was just the foot but they ended up amputating the leg because the stub was getting infected from him running on the nub with his other legs. Orange tabby my little sister named Tigger because he hops with his back foot when he runs. He keeps up with the other cats my parents have perfectly fine at least
I didn't know that cats might eat their babies as well. I had my dwarf hamster do that, she gave birth to three babies, but when I came back home later that day there were only two left. I knew that hamsters could do that, if they were too stressed, if you didn't leave them be or if you had touched the babies with your bare hands, which I knew not to do. It was shocking and sad, but I was still happy that two of them got to live. It's horrific how animals might eat their own kids like that.
We got a boy hamster for a Christmas present. My parents were sold a boy. Little me had previously learned that hamsters eat their babies heads off. Donāt ask how or who told me such a fact. My parents still tell the story of how I ran into their room early one morning screaming at the top of my lungs in a panic, āZibbidie had babies, and sheās gonna eat their heads off!!!!ā Two lived. Iām not sure if she ate any, probably due to trauma. But then Mr. Zibbidy (zippity doo da) had become Miss. Zibbidy and Casper and Free Willy.
Only other memory of them was when Casper was ādeadā for two weeks but showed up in the drain of the sink alive but brown instead of his normal bright white. He earned his name
We found my cousin's hamster trying to escape, but he couldn't move very fast, because he found a bag of dog kibble and stuffed his checks so full it was slowing him down.
I didnāt realize being a hamster owner had so much shenanigans to it. Had a robo hamster awhile ago.
One morning I woke up around 4:30 and went downstairs. I turned the kitchen light on and was half awake walking through the kitchen when I saw an animal scurrying along the cabinet boards. I was a bit in shock, thought it was a mouse, but also thought it was going awfully slow for a mouse who should know a human is near them. Turns out it was the robo. I managed to catch it quickly before it got somewhere I couldnāt catch it.
I had cleaned one of the external tubes in its enclosure the previous day and I didnāt put it back well. It managed to get out that gap.
I thought I was awfully lucky to find it like that because Iāve heard the horror stories of hamsters getting out, getting lost, and when you smell it you know you were too late.
My one and only time owning hamsters was when I was maybe 7 and I got 2 males for my birthday. Needless to say i came back from the store with my parents one day to one and a half hamsters. I've been a dog person ever since
This isn't quite relevant to your story, but I love your hamster names! My sister and I only had one set of hamsters. Mine was Hercules. I had just seen the Disney film, I wanted a girl, to name her Megera, but Dad said the girls weren't lively enough. Thus, we got 2 boys. My sister named her's Tomato, because he was red
Nothing quite as exciting, but Tomato did live under the bath for a couple of weeks. Why do they like bathrooms so much?
All mammals have long histories of mothers killing their babies before a predator kills them first. It's a natural thing that happens that we super don't understand. I really wish it was studied more because it would help our human mothers who suffer similar issues and rarely get sufficient help.
Cats eat their young if the mother is severely stressed or ill, if the babies are ill or stillborn, needs to regain nutrients, or doesnāt recognize that the kitten is theirs (for first time moms)
Yeah my immediate response after reading it was like "is that like cat PPD"
Pretty much. Cats (and other mammals) tend to eat their young in a couple of specific circumstances - when the baby is ill, instinct can compel them to do so (likely because it prevents anything being passed to the rest of the litter and to not waste nutrients); and when the mum is incredibly stressed, which basically triggers the 'eat them and start again' urge, since stress in the wild means 'there's no food and a predator outside the den who might eat me and the babies, I have to get rid of them and try again when it's safe.'
Human postpartum depression has been linked to mums who feel unsupported and incapable, and is often accompanied by an urge to harm or abandon the baby. It's almost certainly that same leftover instinct of 'I'm never going to be able to raise this one, I have to get rid of them and start again when I feel safe and can take care of a baby'.
this is what they told us fostering cats. If the mother is too stressed she may kill the kittens, because she doesn't feel she can safely raise them so it's better for her to regain the calories and try again next time
My cat had 2 sets of twins (tuxedo and Siamese) and smothered one twins from the Siamese set bc he had a clubbed foot. He was the one I planned on keeping :( I found him before she ate him.
I work at a shelter, have seen it several times over the past few years. The cats that did it were so sweet otherwise.
The older folks I work with theorize they can sense something wrong with the eaten babies and as in nature, they don't want to waste the "resources" or have the "resources" start to rot and contaminate the healthy babies/ attract predators.
It also can be a personality thing. Some cats just don't have the motherly instinct and don't want to be mothers and react this way to perfectly healthy kittens.Ā
I do wonder about this. We found my current kitten(11 months) outside our door soaking wet, freezing and screaming while the mom just sat nearby staring at her(they were feral apartment cats) We took her in and dried and warmed her. Fast forward to around six months of age she starts having terrible symptoms. She was diagnosed with an inoperable tumor in her intestines right at the junction with her stomach. Sheās on steroids and weāre just keeping her happy as long as we can. But I often wonder if Mama Bug knew something.
They do often know. They can smell it. Look at all the dogs who can diagnose cancer. I had an ovarian tumor, and one of my cats kept jumping on the exact spot on my abdomen.
It's not just this, cats also eat kittens they think won't be able to live long - whether that's because of deformity or sickness - if they think it's going to come at a cost to the rest of the litter.
Another particularly brutal one is a cat who is nursing who has no other source of nutrition might turn to eating a kitten. But usually if the kitten lives a few days, they'll raise them whole ime.
This. When I was growing up my parents were breeding some dogs. We had a first time Pomeranian dog do that to a litter. I remember it as me and my brother were the first ones to discover it... we under 10 years old.
(Un)fun fact, herbivores do it as well. I can't say all herbivores do, but I will say most.
I've bred rats, who are technically omnivores, and seen many mothers eat their ftt (failure to thrive) babies and other rats that have passed. It's brutal and horrifying, but nature is unforgiving and their instincts tell them what to do for a reason.
Ā I have read some experiment on it. I think it was mother monkey (who grew up alone) seeing her children for the first time and tried to kill. Eventually, people had to separate them.
Yeah, there's unfortunately a lot of overlap in the risk factors that cause teen mums (ones who almost exclusively had hidden or unknown pregnancies) to commit infanticide after giving birth alone. Mammals just don't respond well to that sort of extreme stress.
And tbh human births are a lot more traumatic than most other mammal births - or at least a whole different kind of trauma with the nurses, doctors, drugs, and the fact that our bodies arenāt built very well for birthing compared to most other mammals.
* definitely not including hyenas because they have the most traumatic and horrific births Iāve ever heard of.
Yeah, literally also among some of us unfortunately. Mothers that can't handle being pregnant and then giving birth, then immediately dump the new born in the bin.
ALL mammals do this. It needs to be studied more to help the human mothers who go through similar things. We are still only guessing as to what's going on physically and mentally.
Yeah, I just commented saying that there's a lot of overlap between the conditions that cause cats to eat their newborn offspring and the conditions that cause human mothers to commit infanticide very shortly after birth.
We like to think of ourselves as very rational beings, but this is one of those extremely stressful situations (especially for first time mums, who were often unaware or trying to hide their pregnancies and give birth alone) where reason isn't really on the same planet.
We do, don't we? Our disconnection from knowing we are mammals and share so much is really hurting our society right now. Think about what we could learn. There's a bunch of people out there who know it, though, we just keep talking about it.
I don't know why, but I'd love to offer an Internet hug.
I went to the morality sub (big mistake) and someone asked if using glue traps for mice was moral. 80-90% of commenters said that it was moral because theyāre pests. I think itās awful how they think weāre above every single animal and that they donāt suffer pain or emotions.
A pregnant cats hormones change like us in pregnancy. I wouldnāt be surprised if the neurotransmitters arenāt adequate enough or are overwhelming enough to change its behavior. Iām not sure if we can equate the same things with a cat because it doesnāt experience every spectrum of emotion like we do. Itās interesting to think about!
Oh yeah, I'm not saying it's a 1:1 comparison but I think the similarities should spark more introspection about our behaviour and how we respond to stressors.
Like your other comment, I think a lot of people think we're above animals and so it's not worth thinking about, but that strikes me a self-fulfilling prophecy (e.g. why compare ourselves to animals? oh, now there's no evidence of how our behaviour might resemble other species!).
Yes OP please watch those babies! Our cat had kittens and my mom went to check on them after a day or so and only found a bunch of cat heads. The mom had eaten the bodies. My mom was so traumatized.
I heard that some animals also do that if the baby is especially weak or sick, they will kill and sometimes eat the unfit ones for the benefit of the rest of the babies
I had a pretty traumatic kitten getting eaten moment. Momma had a litter and they all seemed healthy and fine, woke up next day to pet the kitten that was seemingly under the blanket but its head, only its head rolled over. It fucked me up bad, I had heard that they do that if the baby probably wonāt survive or is in the process of dying but I had never seen it.
Thatās awful. I picked up a 10 month old pregnant stray a few years back and she was a terrible mom and would basically only nurse them, but at least she didnāt eat them! Luckily kittens had my partner and I and a boy cat that loved them to pieces to pick up her slack. I still have momma and her 2 babies and their stepdad still cleans them and loves on them even though theyāre like 5 years old atp.
1 week old!? I knew they ate the babies that were sick or not thriving to protect the other babies. My cat ate parts of her 2 day old kitten who kept crying and couldn't feed (I think). I found the baby dead on the side with an arm missing š¤¢ but 1 week old and then!? God, that's horrifying. Did the others survive? How did you manage to feed them?
Filial cannibalism isn't a black and white phenomenon (as in, there are multiple theories why animals may do this) but in cases where offspring are born with lower likelihoods of survival it may be a method of removing non-viable offspring so the mother or parents aren't investing resources into it they could be using for themselves (or their other offspring) and they can recoup some of the energy expended in reproduction. It is indeed animal logic
With domestic animals we can obviously intervene though
It also technically gives momma the nutrients needed to feed her other babies and keep them alive. Itās honestly a very efficient practice survival-wise, just a bitā¦ gruesome.
Makes sense from a resource perspective. The kitten would be unlikely to survive and when digested by mother cat it provides sustenance to pop out a couple replacement kitties.
Itās suprisingly more humane than the alternative.
Bred cats for years. Cleft palate babies and other deformities areā¦. Devastating. We always were glad when the mommas didnāt let those babies suffer so we didnāt have to make sure they didnāt suffer ourselves.
Or find a kitten tossed out in the cold dying slowly.
the baby looks healthy -- it's sized correctly, not premature. mom is growling/stressed because she has like three more babies to go.
usually mom cats will "nest" kick the unhealthy ones by not tending to them -- eating them is really extreme. in 30 years of this i've never seen a kitten eaten before. just heard of it every so often by traumatized people like poor op had to see. It's a thing. but it's not as common as this thread is making it sound. reading this discussion is a lot of selection bias. ordinary version of fading kitten/neglect. kill the young: hamsters? all day. rats? yes. cats? rarely. dogs? rarely. connecticut moms? yes. spiders? tortoises? no. they inadvertently step on them while in route to abandon them. guppy fish? yes. elephants? no. elephants are dope parents. but infanticide is complicated. babies are tough.
I've seen fading kitten syndrome a whole lot though, that's the common natural "nest kick" where you have one little guy in the corner alone and subsequently dies a couple of days later no matter what the vet does. moms do have a sixth sense for congenital deformities. feed her something unusually good to her, know shes going to eat the placenta organy tissue off of the kittens so dont get scared unless she goes nuclear again. turn off the lights and leave her alone as much as you possibly can. they do not want to be seen doing this. leave the umbilical cords for sure. she eats all of that stuff off the kittens. which i think people are missing in here -- the placenta, after birth is all stuff she is going to eat on the kittens. mom cleaning it the first time is important for digestive system too so try to be hands off. don't get attacked by psycho mom during labor she does not want anyone in her way.
she's attacking the other two cats because she's going to require absolute nesting privacy, not just during labor. she will lose her shit over the next couple of weeks too over it. she is not going to want to look at their faces. op you're doing great. very kind of you to care for animals. no judgment on vets.
Itās such a common thing for fish to do itās insane. They have dozens of fish, just because many of them wonāt make it in the wild, and really for them itās āoh, something moved that can fit in my mouth, nom.ā and thatās that.
UPDATE: SHE TRIED TO EAT HER NEWBORN. SHE WAS TRYING TO CHOMP IT but i stopped her, got biten by her, put the kid in a basket with blankets as of now. Then i gave her food as well. Also She's still in labor. She was about to give birth to another kid, it was almost out but somehow it went back. I'll take her to the vet the moment the clinic is open (after one hour). She's coming to me and crying. I feel like she doesn't understand what's happening with her š
UPDATE 2: Vet visited. Suggested to give her some warm water and keep her in check for now. Suggested to give her some injection I forgot the name if she doesn't give birth again within next 2-3 hours. I'll keep updating here if I have any news
UPDATE 3 (maybe the last update): She finally calmed down and trying to nurse the kid. She's still confused & struggling but she's doing well. She also gave birth to another kid just a while ago which might not survive as it's not breathing properly. I'd probably contact my vet if anything happens. Thank you everyone for all the kind responses. It really helped me out (mentally as well)
One more thing I'd like to clear as some people seem to misunderstand me and my intentions. I live in a place where basic veterinary care is a privilege, to be able to access it, I've to travel more than an hour to a different city, which also opens from 9:30am to 2:30pm with a handful of available vets. We don't have any ER or 24 hours facility anywhere in my state either. One of my vet is a retired medicine specialist who's been practicing for last 40+ years and the other one is the govt hospital vet who's barely ever available. Because of lack of access & availability I've been struggling with basic veterinary care for the last 5 years. I'm still trying my best as a cat parent. But istg I'm not some evil person who'd make their pets suffer. I would absolutely get my cats spayed as soon as possible and try my best to give them the best life they deserve :))
Actually vets here in my state actually visit houses. Mostly for big animals like cows & dogs but luckily enough my vets (I've 2) & assistants do visit home when needed š„ŗ
Kinda lucky in that case but still we lack advanced care like other countries.
People on Reddit can be bastards. You are doing your best and doing well. Your kitty is lucky to have you. Keep monitoring her and following the vets advice (and pls keep updating...I am very much hoping that the whole family does well and I am invested, now...)
EDIT: Thank you very much to the people who gave my comment an award. I did not expect that but I very much appreciate it.
I cannot see how old your post is but if you get to the kitten that isnāt breathing well make sure it Airways are clear of mucus. Put it into a towel and rub gently that gets its circulation going. If the airways are not clear put its head down and swing it GENTLY back and forth. This will help dislodge the mucus that might be causing an issue. Good luck with your babies
Your cat shown some restraint for you despite being under super stress :'( hope all is well for everyone involved, you have dealt with this great. Please however fix your cats ASAP.
I was wondering if she was acting like that because of some birth complication you canāt see from the outside. This kind of sounds like that? I saw a video where someone helped mamma cat by kind of hindering feet and letting her press feet against hands. It could also be she felt threatened by something? Has she had alone time with no other noise or distractions (maybe she didnāt finish giving birth due to over stimulating environment, that could be a life treatening issue)?
One more thing I'd like to clear as some people seem to misunderstand me and my intentions. I live in a place where basic veterinary care is a privilege
There are some extremely judgmental people in here who think poor people or people without easy access to a vet shouldn't own pets. They wouldn't put it that way, but its what they mean.
The cat distribution system comes knocking no matter how far into the woods you live. Should they not take those cats in? Just ignore them and not feel any guilt about it, right? Totally unrealistic expectations.
My parents have a female cat. Her first litter went well, but with her second litter, she abandoned the kittens after a couple of weeks. She didn't try to eat them, she just growled at them and refused to nurse them, despite having plenty of milk.
My mom raised the kittens with a bottle, and after that litter, the cat was spayed.
So I don't think it's just a first-time-mom thing. I think it may be hormonal, though I'm no expert.
But she's a first time mom. Got pregnant unexpectedly just a few days before her spay appointment. She's a lil weird but she's healthy according to the vet. Now she's doing well. After her first baby latched onto her, her maternal instincts kicked in I believe. But I had to cut all the umbilical cords on my own as she wasn't doing it. She didn't eat the placentas either
You are in a tough situation. Your momma cat sounds like a first time mother and the āmaternal instincts/hormonesā have not kicked in. This happens sometimes. She may calm down and nurse the kitten, she may not. Your question, āWhat do I do?ā. Watch and monitor closely. Protect the kitten from her if need be. Be prepared to raise the kitten yourself with kitten formula. Good luck and best wished to you. You can do this!
Just watch closely. The aggression towards the other cats could be signs of pain or stress from the labor, and the growling could just be because she needs a break. Any physical aggression towards the kitten shouldn't be tolerated though, if that happens then consider it an escalation of severity.
Keep an eye on em for a few hours and take them to the vet if nothing changes. Odds are she's just moody as hell rn.
Baby needs to be warmed if the momma isnāt snuggling her. They cannot control their own temperature at that age and often can die of cold. If you can create an external heat source and put it near the baby that would help - heating pad on low placed under the bed (watch this carefully because overheating is possible too), or even a ārice sockā made by filling a clean sock with uncooked dry rice and warming it in the microwave.
Instructions unclear. Put kitten in shirt pocket. Creating kitten bandolier to place under shirt as a new line in kitten-wearing paraphernalia.
I don't actually have any kittens, but I wish I did. It only works until they open their eyes and you have to be okay with sharp claws everywhere since they can't retract. Still would. The only acceptable way to walk around is covered in warm sleeping kittens.
Please get the baby checked out ASAP. Most of the time when a mama cat tries to eat her young, it's because something is wrong with it. The fact that she gave birth to a second kitten that is not breathing properly is concerning. The mama could also be having some complications with birth that are causing her pain which is making her lash out. Definitely keep in contact with the vet and keep them updated on anything that happens. Wishing you and your kitties luck š¤
Our cat did this. She wasn't far out of kittenhood herself at the time, and it was her first litter. We were so worried. As it turned out, she was growling and acting weird to her new kittens because she was retaining a larger kitten, and was in terrible pain and exhausted to the point of desperation. She did end up passing the kitten eventually, which was stillborn.
She was fine after that, for the most part. Her aggression disappeared, but she did have trouble adjusting to wrangling kittens that were already crawling off every which way. We had to help her keep them close for the first week.
Anyway a retained kitten may be what is happening to your cat.
Can you take off her collar, it will help her to relax a bit. She shouldn't go outdoors for a while so there's no need for the collar. Keep a new mum indoors. Reassure her and feed her more food than usual.
I did eventually remove the collar. I got her collars cause she tends to sprint outside when the doors are open (also my family members tend to let my cats go outside even when I tell them not to do that).
Are u able to have her spayed? I know u said get care is limited but having her spayed would prevent anything like this from happening in the future. Sheāll also be less likely to want to go outside. Otherwise this will continue to happen until she dies.Ā
Yes yes I can. It does take some time to get an appointment. So I'd try to get the appointment earlier this time instead of waiting for her to be ready for it. Now I know how things work better than before :)
Animals have a natural instinct regarding their kids, for cats specifically they will abandon or eat any offspring they don't seem worth raising...basically it means the kitten would not survive in the wild...however human intervention can save the lives of these animals, which is something animals don't understand. So don't act too shocked when animals behave on instinct. These animals do tend to have certain diseases down the line too...liver issues, kidney troubles...again human intervention can fix that, but the animals themselves don't understand that.
Best option, give the kitten up for adoption, since it's very hard to get a mother cat to accept a kitten again once it's deemed it unworthy.
If momma cat doesnāt start taking care of them, or wonāt stop trying to eat them, here is a lady Iāve seen recommended many times when tiny cat babies are abandoned by mom and needs extra help, with tips on how to care for newborns.
Wishing you strength and calm while managing the stress. Itās a lot happening all at once. Itās best if your other cats stay in another area while sheās giving birth. I know you need to stop the fighting between them. Fingers crossed š¤ all settles down and birth goes normal.
Google says it is most likely stress or pain she's experiencing. Is she still in labor? I hope she's just feeling the usual complaints of labor and there are no issues or complications.
From what I understand, quite a few animals that give birth to litters will identify "weak" or broken or flawed in some way babies and try to get rid of them so that their other babies will have a higher likelihood of surviving? I think especially if they nurse, they get rid of the "weak" one(s) so there's less competition for the teats/milk.
Yes you're right. My cat beat up my other cats but they're my babies so that's how i mentioned it š
She beat them up so badly that the 5months old kitty peed & pooped everywhere in the house. She got so scared that she's hiding & not coming out at all.
The whole situation sounds so stressful. You did good by separating the adult cats, the 5 month old will come out eventually. It's probably for the best it stays hidden for now. I hope the vet arrives soon... Good luck, friend.
I'm so sorry you're going through this. How stressful! Some new moms are just confused and it takesĀ a while for the maternal instinct to kick in. That would scare the hell out of me though. Good luck to you. I hope everything works out ok.
I was in the same situation. I massaged her tits, she got melted and began purring. In that moment attached kittens to her belly. They begin to do movements like regular kittens do - touching her by paws and seeking for tits. And it worked. She began to lick them and gave her tits for milking
I had brooding cockateils when I was 8 year old and witnessed the hen eat one of her freshly hatched chicks. It was brutal watching. Happy you were able to watch over your new kitties. I had no idea cats ate their young too.Ā
Have you contacted a vet for advice. Cat may be stressed or shocked at giving birth. If you separate them then you need advice on how to feed such a tiny kitten.
I scrolled a bit and didn't see anyone comment the right answer.
Animals (like cats) will kill their young if their young is not fit to survive. If the offspring is deformed, unhealthy, etc.
Your cat is having weird births, with long delays between kittens, and the second one having trouble breathing, because she's had a bad pregnancy and she's following nature.
I don't have an answer for you, but if you stop the mother from doing what she believes is best, you may well have to do it yourself in the near future.
It happened to me. My cat had 3 babies, and mom tried to kill the third one. The third one had to be put down in her first couple years because she had an untreatable illness or allergy or something that resulted in her only having explosive diarrhea all the time, no matter what she ate. She only suffered until I had to make the extremely hard decision. And I knew then that her mother had known since birth.
I did some research and found out that this is very normal for cat moms (and other animal mothers). It's putting the young out of their misery, knowing that the kitten will have it much, much worse if it grows up and then has to be killed.
So my cat gave birth in my mom's closet once. She was old and had given birth many times. No signs of aggression and somehow ended eating up one of the kittens.
Mom hated that cat and the entire thing from birthing to killing one of her baby's on my mom's shirts didn't help the situation.
We were shocked and appalled but we figured that kitten must've been sick. The cat wasn't angry with it.
If the kitten is weak the mother can reject it and refuse to nurse. Get a bottle and formula and feed the kitten every few hours to make sure it does not starve to death.
Also, when you feed it, soak a washcloth or paper towels in warm water and rub its groin area to help it to urinate; mother cats usually do this for their kittens by licking them.
We foster many litters a year and unfortunately its a common issue with young/firstime mother's. They dont understand whats happening and the hormones are rampant. If she doesnt calm down and accept her babies you may be bittle feeding every 2 hrs and need an incubator. And if she only have 2 kittens, mama may need to go in and be checked to make sure she doesnt have any more in her womb. If she does they will end up killing her
Honey your cat is a little confused right now or that baby is sick and you need to keep them separated till you get that baby to a vet and see if it can get better. My momma cat was also like this to her babies and she didnāt grow out of it, we had to get rid of her for attacking all the animals simply bc after she gave birth she turned reactive so we had to rehome. This may not be the case with this situation (I pray itās not.) but get the kitty and mommy to the vet asap. The momma cat should already be going seeing as she just gave birth and you wanna go make sure nothing tore inside.
You handled this situation so well! Poor girl is too young to have kittens, still a kitten herself. Hope theyāre all well. Proud of you internet cat mom
Sometimes the kittens could have a birth defect,such as a illness or disease and the mother unfortunately kills them. I had a cat when I was younger that gave birth to a litter that had defects. They looked like notmal kittens but they weren't,she killed them. Come to find out at the vet they were born with only 1 half of their brain.
How is everything now? Itās possible her babies are sick. Sometimes thatās why the mom rejects them. Get ready to stock up on kitten formula and bottles if she refuses to feed them.
It's not all the uncommon.
Rub a shirt or towel all over yourself (if your the primary owner) and/or the mama. Get as much scent as you can on it and rub that all over the kitten and leave the kitten on/in it. That should help mama recognize that it is her baby rather then food.
They may also be weak. The mother may try to off them herself if she thinks they will die. If that's the case, full seperation and bottle feeding might be neccesary.
Thatās because India doesnāt have the greatest veterinary access. I think the good people of reddit sometimes forget others arenāt American. Or British.
Yeah I do because we don't have proper vet care here and my cats are females. After trying for 4 years I got my eldest cat fixed very recently. I really wish I was living in some developed country or even more developed city in my own country but it's unfortunate that I'm not. It's not even about money, it's about the access that we lack here :)
don't let anybody tell u that you're not doing well by your cats - those of us in the global north love to look down our noses at anybody who doesn't get a pet fixed, and we just assume that somebody doesn't care enough/can't be bothered
some places (like your area) just don't have eady access to spaying/neutering. people will tell you you're a bad pet owner for not spaying your cat/letting your cat get pregnant
they're full of shit. if you had monthly posts saying "my cat is giving birth and I don't know what to do", then criticism would be justified. you don't, and you clearly care about your cat. keep on taking care of her, do your best to get her spayed, but focus on giving her the best life you can, considering your circumstances.
also, try to make sure she doesn't eat the kittens, but that goes without saying. and even if she isn't actively trying to eat a kitten, it's not unheard of for a mama cat to accidentally kill a kitten when she's trying to cut the umbilical cord with her teeth
regardless of what happens. she's an animal. we all love to say that our cats are our babies, they're so sweet, they're so cute, and they are - but they're also animals, and carnivorous ones at that. sometimes, you can't stop nature from taking its course, and you need to remember that a) her instincts aren't your fault, and b) her instincts are instincts, not maliciousness
we believe in you, and you can get through this! ignore the haters, they don't know your life/situation/the situation of your geographical location. you'll get through this, and mama kitty will get through this, and kittens will get through this. you got this!
Thank you so much for this. Really thank you so much for understanding my situation. I really needed this. I always try my best to give my cats the best life they deserve but sometimes, certain things are not in my control. Things so bad here that my vet literally taught me how to give injections for emergency situations. I literally come to reddit hoping people who have gone through similar situations might help me out until I can have vet access. But yeah, some people do tend to assume that I'm either here for clout or trying to make my cats suffer, which is the last thing I'd ever even attempt in my worst nightmares.
Hey OP, just wanted to say that Iām so sorry youāre getting unkind criticism. Ā Youāre clearly doing your best given your resources, and deeply care about your kitties. Ā Thank you for caring and investing your heart into them, and I commend you on your strength and resilience in such a stressful situation. Ā Good luck ā and know that there are lots of good people here rooting for you!Ā
Thank you so much for this. My notifications are filled with so much criticism & hatred that I was having hard time. I never wanted my post to get so much attention. I only asked a genuine question when I was panicking but people do tend to make others feel worse just with their words. I really needed to see some kind words. Thank you very much again <3
Genuine question and please excuse my ignorance. As a veterinary professional I am curious to understand what human healthcare is like there. Do the developed cities in your country provide good healthcare? Is it hard to find adequate care when you live more rurally?
Talking about my state Odisha because I don't wanna generalize this for the entire country. Govt hospitals are almost free but conditions are not that good, specially in rural areas it's even worse. You may find good doctors sometimes but if i talk about the overral condition, it's not that good, there are even places where the docs don't get paid. Mostly it offers affordable healthcare for the poor & middle class people. Pvt hospitals, mostly in cities, got good services but they loot you like you're a billionaire. There are clinics who provide mid range services too but you've to do your own research about the doctors before visiting them. Overally it's kinda better in tier-1, tier-2 cities than small towns or rural areas. Rural- Semi-Rural, Urban, Semi-urban, depends on where you're visiting the hospital. It is kinda compromised still there are a lot of things to appreciate.
Meanwhile condition is worse for veterinary hospitals. Also there's no midrange apparently. Either govt or pvt. Govt hospitals in rural, semi-urban areas have a strict opening hour schedule (morning 7-11am, afternoon 3-5am) but you've to call them before visiting to ask if the docs are available or not, chances are there mostly no one would be available. Also they don't even have any facilities other than giving IV drips. No strecher, no beds. Oxygen? What's that?. Docs don't have have stethoscopes on them. Condition is that bad. It's much better in urban areas though. They do have better facilities than the rural semi-urban areas.
Pvt clinics are there, but again you've to research about the docs before visiting them. They're 4x-5x more expensive than govt veterinaries. It works on exploitation.
Fortunately there are 2 institutions who have veterinary units, the animal husbandry. SOA & OUAT, both of them are in the city.
My town, falls under a semi-urban are, doesn't even have any private clinic with appropriate facilities. The vet I talked about, has a medical store + clinic. But maximum facility he provides is IV drips. To get basics tests done for my babies, I'd have to visit either the animal husbandry (that also opens for 5-6 hours only) or private clinics that are in the city. The privilege people were saying is, I'd say that I live a lot nearer to the city than any other districts in my state.
Also, No ER or 24 hours open vet facility. Even if you find a 24 hours open clinic in the city, chances are there docs won't be available.
I can say all these because I've experienced everything on my own. Not others' stories involved. There's a lot to it but this is just an overall info that might give you an idea about how accessible health care is here.
I donāt know how well or poorly this will be received, but here it is anyway.
When I was a kid and we had a bunch of cats. I think at one point around 30. (It was a very wooded area and we fed the feral and friendly alike) Anywho, one of the more feral cats was pregnant and started to give birth. It was cold out so my dad gave her catnip and got her into a box with a blanket. Itās the only time anyone ever touched her. She chilled out and we had new kittens.
Look it before had if you try, but tiny bit of catnip is all it took.
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