Post by Lannie on Apr 3, 2014 12:48:55 GMT -5
The last time I was around a cat that had kittens, I was 13 years old and she had them under my bed and everything was fine, but now I'm old and I worry too much.
Twinkie is a stray (we think someone dumped her) that showed up a couple months ago, sheltering in our garage during some bitterly cold weather. Then it warmed up for a bit, and she disappeared. Then it got cold again the end of February, and she took up residence in our garage again. Because we already have one (spayed) female cat in the house, I said she was going to live outside and be a barn cat, but the temperature was forecast to go down to -20F and she'd already lost half of one ear and the tip of the other one to frostbite, so Rich went out and got her and brought her in. I didn't protest. She was so GRATEFUL to be in the house, and we immediately realized she wasn't some feral cat, she was someone's house cat. And whoever she used to belong to is lucky I don't know who they are.
Anyway, we started feeding her and she was getting "fat," until one day I realized it was only her belly that was fat, not the rest of her, so I was worried she might be pregnant, and then the other day, Rich and I realized she had aliens squirming around inside of her. Terrific. So she IS pregnant.
We don't have any interior doors in our house, except one room in the basement, which is VERY cold, and we have four other cats and two dogs in the house, so there's not a "dim warm room" to put her and her nesting box in like all the websites I've looked at say to do.
So how many of you have had a cat have kittens in your house with not much room to move around and lots of other critters? I have no worries that any of the other animals will hurt her or the babies, but you KNOW they're all going to be very interested in the new fuzzballs, and I don't know if she's had kittens before. I'm worried she'll get really stressed and do something bad, like abandon them, or just not take good enough care of them if she feels like she has to keep running everyone off.
If we were well and truly into spring weather, I'd put her in a quiet corner of the garage, but it's COLD outside and we just had our second blizzard in a week, so there's a lot of snow everywhere. I can't put her out in that, no way.
Does anyone have experience with this kind of situation?
~Lannie
P.S. This is Twinkie on March 1st, when we first brought her inside:
Twinkie is a stray (we think someone dumped her) that showed up a couple months ago, sheltering in our garage during some bitterly cold weather. Then it warmed up for a bit, and she disappeared. Then it got cold again the end of February, and she took up residence in our garage again. Because we already have one (spayed) female cat in the house, I said she was going to live outside and be a barn cat, but the temperature was forecast to go down to -20F and she'd already lost half of one ear and the tip of the other one to frostbite, so Rich went out and got her and brought her in. I didn't protest. She was so GRATEFUL to be in the house, and we immediately realized she wasn't some feral cat, she was someone's house cat. And whoever she used to belong to is lucky I don't know who they are.
Anyway, we started feeding her and she was getting "fat," until one day I realized it was only her belly that was fat, not the rest of her, so I was worried she might be pregnant, and then the other day, Rich and I realized she had aliens squirming around inside of her. Terrific. So she IS pregnant.
We don't have any interior doors in our house, except one room in the basement, which is VERY cold, and we have four other cats and two dogs in the house, so there's not a "dim warm room" to put her and her nesting box in like all the websites I've looked at say to do.
So how many of you have had a cat have kittens in your house with not much room to move around and lots of other critters? I have no worries that any of the other animals will hurt her or the babies, but you KNOW they're all going to be very interested in the new fuzzballs, and I don't know if she's had kittens before. I'm worried she'll get really stressed and do something bad, like abandon them, or just not take good enough care of them if she feels like she has to keep running everyone off.
If we were well and truly into spring weather, I'd put her in a quiet corner of the garage, but it's COLD outside and we just had our second blizzard in a week, so there's a lot of snow everywhere. I can't put her out in that, no way.
Does anyone have experience with this kind of situation?
~Lannie
P.S. This is Twinkie on March 1st, when we first brought her inside: