Kittens for Dummies?!?! (1 Viewer)

[David Williams]

My aunt just called to tell me that my cousin had taken in a stray cat about a week ago. He thought the cat was just overweight, but it was pregnant and delivered about 5-6 days ago. Unfortunately, today the Mother Cat died under suspicious circumstances. :frowning: My cousin was letting the stray go in and out and apparently it was poisoned while it was outside. The prevailing thought is that perhaps one of the neighbors recently sprayed their lawns for spring and the cat ate some of the grass. Anyways, my cousin has a full time job and can't feed the kittens the faux mother's milk every 3 hours so I was asked to take the 5 kittens because I don't work.

The kittens' eyes have yet to open and as the famous movie quote goes: "I don't know nothin' about birthin' no babies"... Can someone please point me towards good internet resources? I should mention that I have 2 adult cats (5 yo female Brit/Aby mix, 3yo Siamese) who I would trust around kittens, but I am planning to keep the kittens until they are able to be totally weaned (which my understanding is something like 6 weeks) and then they can be placed in a no kill shelter or found homes by my cousin. Tips & tricks are very much appreciated.

 

[Thomas Newton]

Here's a random Google-search-located link that might be useful:

Keeping Kittens.pdf (Humane Society of Silicon Valley)

Good luck!

 

[David Williams]

Thanks very much, Thomas!

That answered about half the questions I have but it didn't seem to have much in the way of real world experience (but it was great in listing supplies, formulas for how much to feed and temps to keep the kits at!!). I've done a few more searches and answered some other questions, but I'm hoping that someone in the forum has done this before and wouldn't mind sharing their experience.

I've found out a bit more. The kittens are 9 days old today and the biggest one has its eyes open. I'll be receiving them this evening.