How Do I Get My Cat To Nurse Her Kittens??

Question

We got our cat Mia when she was 11months old. She is now 15months old and about 7 weeks pregnant with her 2nd litter. She had her first litter at 7-8 months old in her former home.

Mia was a bottle fed kitten herself. She did not want to feed her first litter. They ended up all passing away due to lack of her nursing.

My question is, how do I get her to nurse? Do we have a better chance now that she is older? Or should we just bottle feed them and not attempt to get them to nurse?

If we have to nurse, how do we do that? What is the best method?

Answer 1

If the mother will not nurse her kittens then you definitely need to bottle feed them. KMR kitten replacement formula is what is most commonly used and recommended by veterinarians and shelters. Watch momma cat very carefully and if she is just not interested then you need to take action. Purchase KMR from Petco, your local shelter, or a vet and feed it to the kittens with a small bottle. They should be eating every 3 hours (I know, a lot of work and no sleep! Sorry!) After meal times you need to take a wet cloth and stimulate their bottoms so that they can go potty. The mother usually does this with her tongue to make sure the kittens don't have blockages. Make sure the kittens and mother are flea free or they could die from anemia. Fleas suck a lot of blood! Good luck!

Answer 2

hi

it is evry common for a young mother cat to have problems, and 8 months is very young. Now she is having her second litter AND is older there is a better chance all will go well.

If she does not feed them, please feed them youself, you will be able to do that with a kitten formula, syringes & bottles- it is hard work but i think if you love your cat & kittens you will do what is necessary.

To encourage her to nurse them, form a close relationship with her now, and when the kittens are born spend a lot of time fussing her in her 'nesting box'- where she chooses to give birth- and put the babies to the teats & such things. there is a,ots of hand rearing kitten advice on the internet, so make the most of it and get an idea of what you will need to do now, but be assured she will probably do an okay job.

Answer 3

agreed to the above about getting the replacement milk.

Now sorry to do this but you NEED to be told since you couldn't figure this out the first time. After these kittens are weened if momma does  her job. FIX YOUR CAT!!! take her to a shelter they will do it for cheap some times free.  

Answer 4

Hopefully now that she is a little more mature she will have the mothering instinct kick in straight away.

If not you have a big job on your hands.  There is cat mothers milk formulas you can pick up from your vets, otherwise a cheaper option recommended to me by a vet was a mixture of milk, egg yolk and glucose.  Get a small syringe and feed them every two hours.