Hi there,
We had an emergency dash to the animal hospital this morning as the mother was shaking and meowing out of the ordinary, and after a blood test it was shown she has eclampsia (lack of calcium)
She has been on a good diet, but the 5 kittens she had are literally sucking the nutrients out of her when feeding.
The kittens are 5 weeks old, they are on solids and are slowly getting into the litter tray. But i find that they are wanting to feed off mum as a way to go to sleep and for a calming effect. Its easy to say to seperate them.. but she goes insane and ruins our doors with the scratching!
She has to be fed kitten food and quite regularly to get her calcium levels up but she wont stop feeding them.
What do i do?
2007-12-22 14:47:19 · 7 answers · asked by Libby S 1 in Pets ➔ Cats
Get some bitter tasting spray, the kind they sell to stop dogs from chewing stuff and spray her nipples, that should make them stop sucking
Or take a strip of cloth and wrap it around her so that they can't latch on, make sure its loose enough that she can still breath though
2007-12-22 14:53:06 · answer #1 · answered by cnw002 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Put some premixed kitten milk (from the store) in their solid food. And maybe give each of them a bottle 1-2 a day. Try to make them full so they don't want Mom's milk when she is around. I hope this helps
2007-12-22 14:53:40 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I second the idea of trying to wrap the queen's nipples, and get kitten replacement milk for the kittens, to try and fill them up faster. From their age, it seems like you have a window of a couple of weeks of immediate concern.
Spaying her will dry up her milk, but I am not sure that is the best approach at this stage.
2007-12-22 14:56:48 · answer #3 · answered by cat lover 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not sure where you got the name, "eclampsia." That term refers to seizures in a pregnant woman. If cats get it too, it would come during the pregnancy. Not after.
"Calcium deficiency" is usually the term for lack of calcium.
Ask your vet to spell out that diagnosis again.
2007-12-22 14:59:31 · answer #4 · answered by ThisIsIt! 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the only way is with time or seperation
my dog had 5 pups and we kept one and he still tried to nurse for a while
its just love that does it
maybe try and find something that will make her stop lactating then the kits will stop trying to nurse
2007-12-22 14:52:23 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have bottle fed a litter of kittens before. My cat was sick and couldn't nurse well. It all worked out.
2007-12-22 14:50:22 · answer #6 · answered by ....... 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That's tough. All I can think of, is to loosely wrap her belly with an ACE bandage so they can't nurse, but she can still get in to them.
2007-12-22 14:50:13 · answer #7 · answered by Lisa E 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋