Question:
Hello,
I am new here and have a question. I will start out with some history.
I had a wonderful loving cat for 12 years he was 17 when he passed away last year. My 13 year old daughter wanted to get a new cat and we were looking high and low for an adult cat who needed a home. It seemed at the time that every cat in town had a loving home.... I asked my mother to keep her eyes out for something that we would like to add to our household....
Well on the same day that I agreed to take a work friends Female 1.5 yr old cat, my mother brought to my home a 8 month old male cat. After great discussion we decided to keep both.
Neither were fixed so my first job was to take them to the vet. Done, everyone got shots and appointments were made to get them fixed. First Rocky, the male. Great! He's fixed. Done
Next Abby, the female. I had to wait for 1 week for a payday. Well, She's pregnate and it's not my male. She came to me that way. I didnt know it until the vet told me. He said we could fix her and thus term the pregnancy or wait until after the kittens come.
We decided to wait, as several members of my family have decided to add a kitten to there household. Everything is great.
But...., always a but!!
I have had her 3.5 weeks. I dont know how far along she is. The vet guessed about 2 to 3 weeks. so I am guessing today she is about 5 to 6 weeks.
However, she is most friendly NOW, her breasts have milk, and her belly is HUGE!!! I can feel the babies moving inside her.
My question is this, my male will not leave her alone, he keeps trying to mount her. CONSTANTLY!! At this point he is actually hurting her by holding her down and biting. I have a large pet carrier, I had for my chow chow years ago, and I had been toying with the idea of putting her in there at night but even after a good washing and nice mommy smelling towels she wont stay in there. I worry she will hurt herself. She bites the locks open.
What should I do?
I am not cozing up to the idea of torn out carpet under my doors. (Which I now have on 1 bedroom door) I dont like having her in the pen as she spent hours trying to get out befor actually biting the lock and opening the door and Im afraid it will do her more damage than good and the male will not leave her be. Any Idea's?
I did give her a birthing box, a box with towels in it and she will sleep there on her own, but the male jumps in and trys to mount her.
If I lock her in a room with her own food/water/litter the male spends hours trying to get in or she tried to get out.

Thanks.

Catherine

Answer:
She bites the locks open.
How?

My question is this, my male will not leave her alone, he keeps trying to mount her. CONSTANTLY!! At this point he is actually hurting her by holding her down and biting.
I have taken care of several pregnant/birthing stray cats, and other peoples cats, so listen when I say you MUST keep your male away from your female.

Your male cat is trying to bring your female cat back into heat so that she'll be more receptive to mating. If you leave your male cat around her when she has the babies, either she will become stressed out trying to defend her babies from him and stop feeding them, stop producing milk, become ill (several things can happen), or he will KILL the babies.
Yes, tom cats will KILL baby kittens trying to bring the female back into heat.

Is your male neutered? If not, this is the first step. Even if he is he MUST be kept away from the mother and kittens, or else this is a recipe for disaster.

Not all male cats are volatile around pregnant cats or kittens, but from the fact that your male cat has been mounting her, there's a HUGE chance he's one of the males that cannot be trusted around them.
Either way, by mounting her constantly it could stress her out enough to miscarry, and he will most likely not leave her alone while she's trying to nurse. He can bring her back into heat by mounting her constantly and at that point she will stop producing milk and the kittens will starve.

You also need to be feeding your female a diet of ALL quality canned soft food. You can leave high quality kibble out for her to munch on throughout the day, but she should be fed canned food twice a day, and as much as she wants, female cats eat a lot, and they need it in order to carry the babies and produce milk. Dry food does not contain enough moisture, and cats don't tend to drink enough water on a diet of dry food, so a pregnant cat should definately not eat primarily dry.
It's extremely easy for a pregnant cat to become malnourished or dehydrated.

Like I said, keep ALL other cats away from your female right now and while she's nursing her kittens. She WILL try to defend her kittens, rabidly, and she should not have to do this because it is YOUR job to protect her and her kittens. You don't want her to become stressed, and you don't want him trying to injure/kill kittens.

Sorry to repeat myself, but this is important.

Answer:
My male is Fixed!!! Just 1 week after I got him.
While reading your post, I decided to see if my mom can take him for a while.

The vet get me food and vit's for her.

She cage has 2 little bars to pinch together to open it. My husband just put a zip tye on it for the night. So she is locked away, I hate it. But I know it is for her own good.

Thank you.

Answer:
*shrug* I used to have a fixed male cat that would try to mate, I'm not sure why this happens, I guess I should google it, lol.
He may also be trying to establish dominance over her, which as I said can still stress her out and cause complications.
Also, if he's doing this to her there's a chance he may try to establish dominance over the kittens and end up injuring them, so it is best that they are kept seperated until the kittens are either old enough to defend themselves or no longer in the house.
I'm glad you're trying to find a place for your tom to go, that's a good idea.
Many male cats are just fine with pregnant females and kittens, but some just don't have any manners .

Answer:
Welcome CKayser. I was just wondering if you could lock up your male kitty, and let the soon to be Mom loose. If it is causing her stress to be locked up, it might help. Sometimes when I have a pregnant or nursing foster cat, they can be a bit picky about what they eat. I am not sure if you can get it but it is a canned food that we can get at the vets called A/D. Another thing that I offer to my momma cats is baby food, but just the jars of meat. If I remember correctly it comes in chicken, lamb and also beef. If you dont think she is getting enough fluids, you can also add a bit of plain pedialyte to her canned food to make it a bit sloppy. Also slightly warming her canned food can make it more appealing. But please make sure it is not too hot...If her stool is getting really loose and sloopy, I put dry kitten food in the blender and grind it up. Then you can mix it with a bit of the canned and see if she will eat it. Best of Luck.

Answer:
Hello and welcome Ckayser
Wow no strays looking for a home ... I want to live there Congrat's on your new additions - it's great to hear you were looking to adopt and ended up with double the pleasure Originally Posted by CKayser
I decided to see if my mom can take him for a while

That would be the perfect solution for now. Otherwise your probably better off confining Rocky so that Abby is in a relaxed environment. Good luck and I'm happy to hear the kittens already have homes waiting. Please follow up with your family members to S/N Best of luck

Answer:
You know it was really wierd when we were looking for a new kitty. The closest shelter is about 75 miles. But still you can usually find kitties around. Not last month!!

My mom took Rocky this morning. She is actualy going to give him a forever home, and we will keep a female kitten so we still have 2 cats and she will have a cat as well. We decided it would not be fair to drag him back here after 3 or 4 months. He's a good boy and he has always liked her. When she comes over he sleeps on/in her purse.

Thanks for the advise guys.

Answer:
Welcome to the board CKayser. I also think the best thing is if your mom would take Rocky for awhile so Abby won't be all stressed prior to giving birth. Also, it would be really great if your mom would keep him intil after the babies have found new homes. Keep us posted.

Answer:
CKayser, I just wanted to say welcome! and I think it's sooo great of you & your mom to take such great care of these two cats, despite the difficulties.

That's how I got my youngest cat, a woman I know adopted a female... found out she was pregnant, and found homes for ALL the kittens. I got my little calico, Lulu.

Keep us posted on the kittens!

Answer:
LOL...I had to go answer the phone in the middle of my post. I guess I should have checked for any updates before I posted it.

Glad to hear your mom is going to give Rocky a new forever home. Don't forget to post pics of Abby and Rocky and of course the new babies when they arrive.

Answer:
So glad to hear that your Mom is taking the other cat. I want to tell you not to use clumping kitty litter for your mother cat. I have had pregnant cats that when they go into labor they think they should be using the kitty litter pan. If you have clumping litter and she is giving birth or even if she has a discharge she shouldnt be cleaning herself or possible her newborns as they will be covered in litter. Which she would be digesting. I would like to mention at this time that all pregnant cats at my house are foster kitties, I am not breeding. A good strong, clean cardboard box, makes an excellent birthing place. One that she can stretch out in to push when her time does come. Good Luck.

Answer:
mama samoan, good point re the clumping clay litter. It's very dangerous and fatal for baby kitties:


Answer:
A good strong, clean cardboard box, makes an excellent birthing place.
I just wanted to mention that if you let the mother cat have access to the whole house, don't be surprised if she moves her kittens to random places.
Every mother cat I've had did it at least once, but most of the time when I moved the kittens back to the box and put it in a more secluded place they were happy to keep their kittens there.
One mama cat I had though, kept moving each kitten all to different random spots; underneath furniture, corners of rooms, and you'd hear kittens whining and start to see tiny kittens crawling out from under stuff.
I had to move their box about 10 times and keep putting the kittens back before she finally kept them in the box.
I think first time mothers are more prone to this because they don't like feeding all the kittens at once, and if they move them they can feed them all seperately. So if you leave the house and come back watch out for kittens! Any room she has access to could have kittens in it.

good point re the clumping clay litter. It's very dangerous and fatal for baby kitties:
Wow, I did NOT know that. Luckily when we had kittens I was younger and living with my parents and they never used clumping litter anyways.
I'll keep this in mind in case I take in anymore pregnant kitties or kittens and tell anyone who has a pregnant cat/kittens.

Answer:
Wow, I did NOT know that. Luckily when we had kittens I was younger and living with my parents and they never used clumping litter anyways.
I'll keep this in mind in case I take in anymore pregnant kitties or kittens and tell anyone who has a pregnant cat/kittens.
It's the clay that's the dangerous/fatal part. Not all clumping litters are made of clay.

Answer:
Welcome from a fellow Minnesotan!!! I'm afraid I have no experience with animal pregnancy, so I don't have any advice for you. But just wanted to say welcome to the board and thank both you and your mother for rescuing two kitties and now taking care of coming babies too! That is a lot of responsbiilty to gain so unexpectedly, so I applaud you for all you are doing!

Good luck and please post pics if you're able!!

Steph

Answer:
It's the clay that's the dangerous/fatal part. Not all clumping litters are made of clay.
Are the non-clumping clay litters bad too then?

None of our kittens ever had any problems.

Answer: