How do I know if my cat has rejected her kittens?

geminilady

merlin68 wrote: »

4 all black kitties.

Wonder why she keeps putting one out of the nest not too many to feed and all the same colour she will proberly stop if you keep putting it back though.My cat had kittens last year two black and white a ginger and a tortoishell and white think she must have mated with half the estate lol.Luckily i found home for three and kept the tortoishell they have both been sprayed now.I really enjoyed watching the kittens grow and develop they all had their own personalities.

paddypaws101

When my cat had kittens, she had 2 whoppers, and one normal sized one which she kept on trying to dump! I think it is natural selection...she is a tiny cat and I guess if push came to shove the big kittens were more likely to survive and thrive. I hade several frantic episodes of trying to find this poor little kitten when she moved him and abandoned him....once in a dis-used coal cupboard and once out in the garden!
She did get over it after a few weeks and actually he became her favourite.

Little_Chicken

merlin68 wrote: »

She's feeding them all now, but one of them she keeps tipping out the nest so we put him back. Just got to keep an eye on him now. His quiet fiesty though he had a good old wander round the cage.

aaaw! Am so glad:j:j:j I was seriously worried the other day - and I'm not sure I was actually any help. Don't forget we need piccies at some point LCxxx

FelinePrincess

Sounds like you have done a great job with the kittens! I have seen mothers completely uninterested in their kittens before - usually with first time mothers (particularly torties!) - I suppose they are like humans - not everyone makes good mothers! It sounds like she knows she can't handle them all so she is trying to get rid of one to make sure the others surive. Hope all 4 kittens and mother continues to do well

kiraroo

hiya

I foster pregnant cats and kittens. And it could be a number of things why she was initially ignoring them. One is hunger, kittens are extremely draining on a mother cat and they can get ridiculously hungry, especially after giving birth (all the effort). Food kinda consumes their minds, so when they see you they leap up ignoring the kittens and focus on getting food. It could also be that she's just feeling worried and insecure and you could sit with her whilst she's with them and feeding so she's not alone.

If you're worried one kitten is being rejected or not getting the food it needs I recommend weighing them on a daily basis. I just use my kitchen scales and a little bowl when they're small and can't stand. I understand it might be hard to tell the kittens apart as they're all black but if you sex them quickly (between 2-6 weeks sexing becomes more difficult) and spend some time looking at them trying to find anything that will help you tell one apart from another (a longer tail, a squarer face). Then just record all their weights on a daily basis, you're looking for about a 10g weight gain a day but as long their weight isn't decreasing don't worry if they don't gain exactly 10g a day or don't gain anything some days. If you're worried about touching them, then rub you hands through the bedding or the mum cat's coat beforehand to pick up the smell. I think that weighing them is the only way to work out how they are progressing and to notice if a kitten isn't doing so well.

I hope this helps