Last week we had one very pretty, very pregnant momma cat who decided to deliver her kittens right there in the trap upon her arrival at our clinic!

First bit of good news, all five of the kittens came out healthy and strong. We then determined that momma cat was a friendly stray, which was the second bit of good news. She was very tame as can be and easy to handle, so the first-time trapper who had brought momma cat in decided to foster the new happy family until the kittens are big enough to wean and adopt out.

As a caregiver, if you ever find yourself in this situation, here are seven important things you need to remember when caring for a momma cat and her nursing newborns.

1) GIVE A GIRL SOME PRIVACY.

Momma cat and her babies should be set up in a room or area that is quiet and private, away from the hustle and bustle of the household. A spare bedroom or a bathroom works well, if you have the space. Taming cages also work, as do closets (if they are open and well ventilated). To make a bed for them, you can use a big basket bed, a medium-height cardboard box, or even an extra-large dog carrier. You’ll want enough room that mom can stretch out to nurse and edges high enough so that the babies don’t fall out. If the mom is feral or really skittish, you’ll probably want to keep her in a taming cage. The key is to make sure the area is private and clean. Keep the other animals in the household away from them. Also keep the area warm, as kittens can get chilled easily. If you put mom and her babies open in a spare bedroom, she may move her kittens around the room repeatedly. In the wild, this is how they protect them. Don’t worry too much about it; she will gather them all up to nurse.

2) FEED THE BEST QUALITY WET FOOD YOU CAN, AND LOTS OF FRESH WATER.

Momma cat will be doing most of the work, so you need to take good care of mom. She in turn will take care of the babies. Feed momma the best quality wet food you can; if you also feed dry, then leave some dry available for her. Mom needs lots of good quality wet food so that the babies get the best nourishment possible from her while they are in their growth phase. Kittens will nurse every 1-3 hours for the first three weeks. Only when they hit four or five weeks old will they be ready to start weaning off mom and onto wet food.

3) CLEANLINESS IS NEXT TO GODLINESS.

You’ll want to use bedding material that is soft yet washable; towels and fleece blankets work great. Change linens daily, especially in the first few weeks. One trick is to layer several layers of towels on the bed, so that you can take the dirty layer off the top and have a fresh set underneath. Make sure to keep the bedding area dry and warm.

4) FLEA CONTROL IS NOT A LITTLE THING.

Kittens can quickly get flea anemia, so it’s really important to keep momma, kittens and the bedding area flea-free.Use a flea product such as Revolution, Advantage or Frontline on mom only. Do not use flea products on newborn kittens; it’s not safe as they are too young. Instead, if you see fleas on the kittens, you can bathe them using Dawn dishwashing liquid and use a small flea comb as needed to get the fleas off. Avoid antibacterial soaps. If you have to bathe kittens, make sure you dry them well and keep them warm as they can get chilled easily.

5) USE A NON-CLUMPING CLAY LITTER (LIKE JOHNNY CAT).

Initially, mom will be the only one using the litter box. Kittens won’t start using a litter box until about four weeks old. Until them, mom will just lick them to stimulate them to go to the bathroom and then she’ll lick them clean. It’s best to use a non-clumping litter such as Johnny Cat while the kittens are nursing. Clumping litter works by clumping as soon as it gets wet — this can be dangerous to kittens because if they ingest any, it can clump in their intestines. Johnny Cat is a safe, cheap option until the kittens are old enough to know not to eat the litter. Also, keep the litter box away from the food bowls as much as possible (although we know sometime’s it’s tight in a taming cage).

6) CLOSELY MONITOR EVERYONE’S PROGRESS.

If you don’t have a lot of experience with nursing moms and kittens, it’s a good idea to bring momma cat and babies in to see a vet at around 1-2 weeks to make sure everyone is doing well. It’s very important that kittens are gaining weight steadily, so you’ll need to monitor their progress week over week. You’ll also want to FeLV/FIV test momma cat, because that will give you an indication of whether the babies will have FeLV or FIV. Everyone should also be dewormed for hookworms, roundworms and tapeworms, and also vaccinated. Check with your vet about the deworming and vaccination schedules.

7) HANDLE THE KITTENS EARLY TO SOCIALIZE THEM.

You can safely handle the kittens at any age. Momma cat might get a little panicky, so be considerate of her, but she isn’t going to reject the babies just because you touched them. Handling the kittens will ensure they grow up very tame and social, which will make it easier for you to find great homes for them. Just make sure you wash your hands before and after handling the kittens.

Momma cats can be fixed once their babies are 5 weeks old. At that age, kittens are eating on their own and going to the bathroom on their own, so they can be away from mom for a day while she gets fixed. If mom is feral, when the kittens are 5 weeks old, that is the point when you can get mom spayed and release her right where you trapped her. Kittens can be safely fixed as soon a they hit 2-3 lbs., which is generally between 8-12 weeks.

For more information on caring for newborn kittens and what to expect during each week of their growth, see Kitten Rescue’s web post “Kitten Care Handbook: The Basics.”

January 18, 2011
By Carl Verheyen

Soon after we lost our very old cat Elvin to diabetes, my wife suggested we get another cat to ease the grief we all felt. I said, “No, it’s way too soon.” But she insisted on checking out an abandoned stray kitten who had showed up at FixNation, the spay and neuter clinic for homeless stray and feral cats in Los Angeles founded by our friends and neighbors Karn Myers and Mark Dodge. The kitten had been discovered one night in FixNation’s parking lot hiding under an old truck, and she was obviously very tame as she had been crying and ran right up to the tech who found her. Within 15 minutes of my wife bringing Greta home, she was adopted and moved in, and now a little more than a year later she’s a treasured member of our family.

As a full time professional musician, I do a lot of traveling. This past year was no exception. The Carl Verheyen Band toured Europe for five weeks in the spring. Shortly after arriving home, I flew to New York to begin vocal rehearsals for the rock band Supertramp, another band I play with. From there I flew to Vienna, Austria to play as a special guest in two nights of concerts sponsored by the city’s jazz festival. More rehearsing in New York followed, and then in mid July, I spent a week teaching at the Jackson Hole Music Experience in Wyoming. In August I flew to Paris, France to begin Supertramp’s 11-week European tour.  Last and final stop was to Amsterdam in the Netherlands to participate in a Jimi Hendrix Festival and play one more solo acoustic show before returning home for the holidays.

That kind of touring year is rough on family life. My family and I were video chatting every day to stay in close touch. And that video chatting included Greta! Whenever Greta would hear my voice over the speakers, she would jump up on the office desk and head straight for the sound. She’d check out my face on the computer screen, nuzzle up to it and sniff around with a puzzled look about her. I would talk to her and call her name a few times until she finally walked off screen, kitty call over.

The family says she would wait curled up nearby whenever I was on the chat screen and she wouldn’t leave the room until I said goodbye.  It’s nice to know that from 6,000 miles away I can still communicate with my Greta!

Apart from being a FixNation kitty fan, Carl is a renown presence on the guitar. Check out Carl’s music and info at http://www.carlverheyen.com.

Early one morning, Charlie was transported to FixNation, along with ten other feral cats from our colony. We knew he was in bad shape just by looking at him. By mid-morning, we received a phone call from the FixNation staff. We were expecting to hear that Charlie may need to be humanely euthanized. Instead, much to our surprise and absolute delight, the amazing medical team at FixNation had called to say that the abnormality on Charlie’s head was not due to a tumor or growth as we had suspected, but instead was due to an extremely large, infected abscess that could be drained. They also informed us that his FeLV/FIV test had come back negative.

So while FixNation cautioned us that there could be no guarantees, as Charlie was extremely weak and thin, they said they would try to drain the abscess, remove the maggot eggs and suture his head. With that done, along with the usual neutering, vaccinating, flea treatment, and administering of fluids, pain meds and antibiotics, Charlie was on his way to a foster home for follow-up care and monitoring. We could not believe that this cat would have a second chance for life – all thanks to FixNation!

The following few weeks were quite challenging for all involved. Charlie repeatedly tore open both the cone around his neck and the sutures on his head. Each time, FixNation graciously took him in for repeat surgery and stitched and stapled him back up. Much to our relief, the third time was the charm, and slowly, Charlie’s head wound began to heal.

Charlie was not a very cooperative patient, to say the least, and he would attack and bite all who dared place food or medicine in his cage. And reaching in to clean his litter box became a three-person job! Clearly, the ordeal and physical pain he had been through had left him scared, confused and ready to protect himself.  But slowly, as his head began to heal, he started putting on weight, and he started acting calmer. Now, the only remnants left of his illness are slight neurological symptoms and a surgery-scar running down his head.

As he began to feel better and better, we realized that this was no feral cat! Charlie was a spirited tame cat, who undoubtedly had lived with humans at some point in his past. When released from the taming cage, he began rubbing himself against our legs and chirping. Although he would still attack our legs when we would try to leave the room, we realized that we could slowly teach him the “correct” way to interact with humans. Underneath his aggressive, tough-guy persona was a very sweet loving boy. Soon after, we even discovered that Charlie was the ultimate “Papa Bear,” as he would lovingly groom and nurture each and every kitten in his foster home!

Several months later, on a beautiful winter day, a wonderful woman who was looking to adopt a cat came in to visit one of the kittens Charlie had raised, but instead fell in love with Charlie himself. It was clearly love at first sight for both human and feline. The depth of the bond and connection between them was undeniable, and it now appeared that Charlie’s life would be taking yet another wonderful turn.

Charlie is currently spending his last weeks in foster care, waiting for his adopter to return from an overseas trip so that they can begin their new life together. Charlie will soon have his very own home and family, and will be cared for and loved the way every cat deserves to be.

This miracle would never have been possible without FixNation. A gravely ill, abandoned tame cat, living under cars, at the brink of death, with no hope, has been transformed into a robust, healthy, happy cat. If not for FixNation, Charlie would not be here today, and would never have had a chance to experience the joys of having his own doting human!

FixNation gave Charlie a second chance for life. And for that, we are all endlessly grateful!

Sincerely,

Minoo Rahbar

Lisa dropped the cat off at FixNation on her appointment day, and by late morning, the FixNation staff called Lisa informing her that the cat was already microchipped!

FixNation tried to contacting the owner but to no avail. So at the end of the day, Lisa picked her up and took her home to foster. Three more days passed when low and behold, her original owner had got the message and returned the call.

Turns out the kitty’s name is “Lula” and she belonged to a teenage girl. Lula had gotten out accidentally and had been lost for over one year! The little girl had been absolutely heartbroken. Lisa happily took her back to her home in Granada Hills to reunite the family. Lula had been lost in Woodland Hills and she was found in Canoga Park, about three miles from home.

We love the happy endings! Yet another reason to make sure all of your pets are microchipped, as you never know what can happen in life.

If you need your pet microchipped, visit one of our low-cost vaccine clinics which are held the first Saturday of every month, 9am-12 noon. Walk in’s welcome. Click here for more info.