How to get a cat to take care of her kittens?

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Ashley

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First let me say, this area really frusterates me as they will not fix a cat or a dog before they are 6 months old.

So one of our barn cats had kittens the other day. They were scattered all over, including hanging from the rafters. So much to my sons peeved off mood cause he missed his baseball game we were going around collecting cats. Mom wanted nothing to do with them so we moved the kittens and her inside the house, which is where she is staying until she gets fixed! This kitten business is to much. So anyway, right now she is confined to a large dog kennel with her kittens and litter box. I feel bad as she has room to move but she is used to being a barn cat that gets free run. We do try letting her out of the kennel but then she again ignores her kittens and doenst want anything to do with them.

I really want her to take care of them, but also feel bad keeping her confined. IS there anything else I can do?

We have managed to get all of the male cats here fixed(at least the ones that live here). I have two kittens that are getting ready to go in and get fixed if they one doesnt get a new home. So now all I need to fix are the last to girls. One who is nursing the other who is due to give birth anyday. I will be so much more releived when they are done, as there are always stray males even tho those that live here are no longer intact.

Suggestions on what I can do? I know its most likely cause she is way to young for kittens, but I cant fix that problem right now. I also have been watching incase I need to bottle feed them as she doesnt have much milk, but they do seem to be content and there bellies full.
 
We learned from having a kitten rescue here for years that as long as you handle the kittens when they are little bitty, the mother will not like that and could abandon them. The mother does not want your scent on her babies. And also if you keep messing with the babies, she will also take them and hide them from you. So we always left our kittens alone even when mama's would hide them; we knew where they were and pretended we didn't know where she had taken them. If you move them to a very dark and private area away from people and everything, she would probably prefer that. They do like privacy.
 
She is in an area that is away from most everything. We dont really handle them at this point other then to change the bedding.

She wasnt going to take care of them. She had one dangleing from the rafters of the barn, and then 3 others spred all over in the ceiling above the garage. I couldnt leave them there and let them die. She didnt want anything to do with them until we held her down so they could nurse.
 
I wish I could give you good news on this, but with my past experience with mother cats (especially moms to young) they never bond with the babies and just leave them to die. It is like that with any animal. Some mothers are not born with the mothering instinct. Did your mother cat clean the kittens? If not then I would say she is abandoning them. I also have had other moms take the abandon kittens and raise them as their own. But these mother have to have kittens already so that they are still producing milk.

Your only option might be to bottle feed them until they are up and moving and then train them to drink out of a bowl.

I found one 4 week old kitten that I think mom had dropped during a move and never came back for him. He was old enough to train to drink out of a bowl. I did have to give him a bath after every feeding because he wore more than he ate, but he did eventually learn and is now a big healthy, spoiled house cat.

Your vets might have suggestions or even know of somebody who would take them and raise them up and find homes for them if you don't have time.

Good luck and I hope things work out for well for your mom and babies.

One other thought is you could keep her confined if she is letting the babies nurse until they are old enough to train to drink out of a dish. If it was me that is probably what I would do. If you had a stall that is all inclosed that you could lock her and the kittens ups in that would even be better. Just give them a box with bedding material in it and then they can use the stall as a litter box.
 

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