Kitten story

[Dr T]

The family cat, Kit Kat (a calico), recently had 3 little kittens. Mean while, at the in-law's, a feral cat had 5 kittens of her own. Their family St. Bernard grabbed that momma cat in his mouth and was malling it, shaking it back and forth and my grandmother found 2 dead kittens and called my wife asking if she can bring three other kittens to our home. My wife asked me permission and I said she could even though I'm not a cat person. I allowed Kit Kat in the house because I gave her that great name IMO. Back to the cat saga. Kit Kat took the wet kitties right away. She was in a bed (outside) with her three new arrivals that were about one week old and immediately starting licking the newborns to clean them up and allowed them to start nursing right away. The five little kittens are now growing healthy and safe in the T household. They are cute little kittens and the kids love watching them grow bigger by the day. I think it is cool Kit adopted them and has been protecting them from our two family dogs. It is a very cute thing.

[pam]

Oh now Dr T. I remember from history on this site that you really are a cat lover. You are just in denial. :)

[Gwen]

First thought the dog would bother me. We had a neighbor dog attack and kill one of our cats and I filed a complaint with the police. Not ok with me.

Kittens are great for kids. Watching them grow can be a wonderful family experience. Remember to hold them a lot. When it comes to cats if they are held and touched the first 6 weeks they will be good family cats, if not they will never really be loving. That's why feral cats are so hard to find homes for, they will never be very loving.

Enjoy the process of having babies in the house (every family should have a litter of kittens at some point) but then take that kitty and get her fixed!

[slamjet]

I'm definitely not a "cat person" but I'm not heartless. That's pretty cool.

[mnn727]

Remember to hold them a lot. When it comes to cats if they are held and touched the first 6 weeks they will be good family cats, if not they will never really be loving. That's why feral cats are so hard to find homes for, they will never be very loving.

Come over to my house and I'll prove your statement wrong: we have a cat that was a feral kitten, living under our mobile home (they were born there in February and we and our dog heard it) with Mama and 2 brothers, we caught them all at about 4 months (in late June) and had then fixed, as the area we lived in then had a "catch, spay/neuter and release" program for feral cats.

The little female was so cute even though she hissed and spat at us that we decided to keep her. DW would hold her and pet her, and pretty soon she was still hissing but she was purring too. Now at age 7 she is the biggest baby, always having to be laying on or by us, lick us, etc.

Edited June 25, 2013 by mnn727

[Bini]

That's a beautiful story and I would encourage you to spay or neuter the kitties.

[Traveler]

I agree that this is an interesting story and Dr T. is doing a good thing. However, I sometimes get the impression that many pet lovers lose understanding; that as fun as it is having a pet they are not people. Many good pets, despite training will revert to instinctive behavior bred into them. There is nothing wrong with dogs or cats that attack other animals and kill them. It is unfortunate when animals acting on instinct harm other pets or even people - but it is not the pet or even always the owners fault - it is just the nature of animals that we use for pets and pets have their own personalities (traits). And traits can be specific to individuals, breeds and species.

There are triggers to instinctive animal behavior and those that have and love pets should understand the instinctive behaviors of the pets they own - but many really do not understand that animals do not have human intelligence and training can only go so far in modifying their behaviors.

It is not unusual for cats to take on other infant cats and in many cases other species. I have seen cases when a cat has taken on a motherless dog and that as the dog has matured that dog has attacked the cat the mothered it. I have also seen very mean dogs adopt a small helpless cat and forever after protect the cat and go after just about everything else.

I realize that every time I imply that pets are not really people I will upset someone that has included a pet as part of their family. My intent is not to upset anyone - but to help then understand our animal friends and how to recognize their characters which is often dynamic and changes when their pet goes into heat or is around other animals in heat or in other circumstance.

The Traveler

[pam]

as the area we lived in then had a "catch, spay/neuter and release" program for feral cats.

We have that in my area. In one of my last jobs we had numerous feral cats that made areas around our building "home." We made a call and they came and set traps to catch them, had them spayed and neutered and brought them back. Someone had been putting food and water out for them until we noticed that it had also attracted about 4 skunks who made the area home too. We also discovered the skunks eating the cat food.

[Iggy]

Dr T - He who has a hate/love relationship with felines!

So glad KitKat is taking care of the orphans.

Gwen, often feral kittens are standoffish. I have two rescued, feral kittens. Brother & Sister, I named Fred and Ethel Mertz. Fred was the runt and barely weighed 7 oz. Ethel weighed in at 1 pound 2 ounces.

To start with, they were removed from their mother way too soon. Ethel was a bully - a fighter and she was more than determined to live. Fred wasn't able to eat the kitten chow. I softened it with water and Ethel wouldn't let him eat.

After three days of this, I took them both to the Vet. Took me an hour to corner Ethel and I carry a scar on my palm from her bite! Fred had lost weight - DUH! 3 oz. Ethel had gained 4 ounces. So I fed Fred Gerber's in the jar strained turkey mixed with human baby Rice cereal. One of the sisters in Primary with me had a baby - just started eating cereal and she gave me a Glad 1/4 C. container of the cereal.

I mixed it with cat milk I got from the Vet. Then later on, I used heavy cream. The more fat in the cow milk, the easier it is for cats to digest.

Any way - 10 years later - both are healthy, thriving and Ethel won't come near you unless you are going to give her Cat Treats, yet Fred is the cuddler, sleep on/near you. His nickname is:The Fabulous, Furry, Fuzznuts, Flip-Flopping, Feline Fred. You can not be standing and have Fred come near you. But sit down or lay down and he is right there. He head butts you, then flip-flops onto you.

The reason I believe he is so much the lover is because I took one of my shawl-scarves and he lived in that around my neck and upper torso. Because I was afraid he would suffocate sleeping next to me in bed, I put him in a soft, pliable basket that had yet another of my cotton scarfs that I wore in it. Ethel slept there with him too.

I believe that had I persisted in holding, snuggling and hand feeding, she would be just as cuddly as her brother Fred.

[Dr T]

Yes, Traveler, I told my wife the same exact thing. We are on the same page there.