O/T Mother Cat takes over

Re: O/T Mother Cat takes over

Luke Herzberg

>Glad to hear it's going well. When does your show come out on Animal Planet? "Todd O: The Cat Wrangler" might be a good working title...

: )

- Luke

Re: O/T Mother Cat takes over

Bruce Mack

>Great news. The kids learn more useful stuff from Mom too, real cat behavior. The pounce is badly done by people :)

Re: O/T Mother Cat takes over

Jim Shaver, Oakville Ontario

>That is so wondeful....I can not tell you how incredible that is to read, Thank You!

take care,

Jim

Wow, that's easier than our experiences

Doug Littlejohn

>we haven't had another cat to play mother so we had to be mom ourselves. Whew!!, feed them (kitten 7-10 days old) every 2 hours. Massage them to do their business, clean up and lay them down to sleep. 2 hours later, do it again. After about 2 weeks, you can kick back to evry 3-4 hours and then to every 6-8 hours in another couple of weeks.

We seem to do this every year (ferals ALWAYS seem to have one reject or more). Only one this year (actually tried 3 but the 2 our daughter took did not make it), last year we did three.

Yes, it is very rewarding and worth all of the effort.

Sherwood

Re: O/T Mother Cat takes over

Jack Guzman from Maine

>Great news Todd. What are you gonna do about the possibly "in heat"other female?---Jack

Re: O/T Mother Cat takes over

Paul M. in San Diego

>Hi Todd,

When we had a reluctant mother, we used the "tough love" approach. We put lots of blankets in the bathtub, and then put the kittens in there so they couldn't crawl away. Then we replaced the bathroom door with a screen door so there is some light and ventilation, but there is absolutely nothing else for the mother to do but to be a mother. She went to the kittens out of sheer boredom, and then became a pretty good mom after all. All kittens grown and healthy, and we only kept 2 out of the 6!

Re: O/T Mother Cat takes over

James Watriss

>That's fantastic.

I have to say, given my own experience with my cats, I'm rather surprised she didn't take to the role. With mine, it went the other way. Her mothering instinct got way out of control. He was twice her size, and the only cat I've ever had that you could see the muscles rippling when he walked around. But for the first few weeks after the kittens were born, he simply wasn't allowed to touch the floor, or she's whip his ass, but good. He was terrified, and she was ferocious. He staked out a 1' x 3' shelf for his own space, and when I came home I had to lock her in the bedroom so he could eat and use the litterbox.

Luckily enough, she allowed me to have floor priveleges.

Re: O/T Mother Cat takes over

Todd O. Cronkhite Maine Native in FL. Exile :~(

>Jack,

The other Mother has quit doing the butt in the air circle prance, so I think that she has gone out of heat. I'm gonna get her spayed as soon as I get permission from Momma that I can keep her. I haven't brought that subject up yet. Boy, that's gonna be a real cat-fight. ;~)

Todd O.