Things You'll Need:
- soft bed
- karo syrup
- kitten formula
- kitten bottle/dropper
- nourishing cat food for healthy heart and immune system
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Step 1
When caring for a pregnant cat make sure you follow simple steps to assure her comfort during her pregnancy.
Keep her comfortable but let her be free to do what she wants in her own natural element- be it indoors or out.
Make sure you feed her a more nutritionally based catfood- stick to cat food that contains heart healthy nutrients, healthy skin and coat nutrients, etc. Try to avoid table scraps, extremely oil based foods, and/or wet foods. Only because pregnant cats bodies will change and not digest some foods as well as before, such foods could cause diherreah. Also, look for vitimans in a co-op store for pregnant cats if you're afraid she is not getting the nutrients she needs. Let her pick her comfort zone indoors or out, depending on where she normally lives. No matter how much you want her to sleep in her cute little pink kitty bed, she will be more comfortable hidden from predators, distractions, a lot of movement, etc. It's only natural for her to feel threatened and over protective. -
Step 2
Helping your cat give birth. Your cat will want to give birth in the spot she picks out. They are naturally stubborn animals, so let her go where she wants to, just make sure you keep an eye on where she plans on giving birth so you can be close by when it's that time.
Let her get started on her own. She will meow a lot, she will be lazy right before, she will lay in a comfortable position and be uncomfortable for quite sometime. Luckily though, cat births take a lot less time than human births!
Once she is comfortable and ready to go, keep a close eye on her. If she starts to meow and whine a lot more than what she normally was doing, step in, sometimes a kitten will get stuck in the birth canal or on its way out, don't be nervous, put on some gloves, and very, very, very gently help guide the kitten out. Please do not pull the kitten, just keep it in your palm and apply a tiny amount of preasure to help it along. -
Step 3
FINALLY! They are all out. It is not uncommon to have stillborns at birth, especially your cats first pregnancy. Let the mother cat have time with the dead kitten(s). She will want to clean it and discover it on her own. If you remove the dead kitten too soon she may give up on the rest of the litter that need her attention. Leave her alone while she cleans her babies. She will clean the afterbirth, feces, etc. Feed your cat milk, whole milk- mix it in with her food. Make sure she is hydrated and never runs out of water. Kittens require a lot of food and she needs to produce milk in order to feed them. Make sure she is healthy in order to keep her babies healthy!
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Step 4
If the mother cat shows no signs of affection or interest in raising her kittens, it's normal for a first litter. Usually new borns will not live without a mother, if this is the case and you have another cat who has recently given birth or will about to, try to give her the newborn litter. Cats are nurturing creatures and will take on other litters.
If you do not have another cat to adopt the babies, here's what you can do.
Buy a bottle of original karo syrup, kitten bottle or baby dropper like for eyes (small enough to fit into a kittens mouth). Mix about half a teaspoon of syrup and warm water into the baby bottle or squeeze some up in a dropper. Next, devote a lot of time to feeding the kittens this mix. Also buy kitten formula and feed this to the babies, use more formula than the syrup mix, but the syrup mix will keep their blood sugar up and keep their bellies full until you can find kitten formula. Keep them warm and safe. Do not keep them in anything they can wiggle out of or drop out of, newborn kittens can wiggle and move a lot! Always consult a vet as well!
