New barn kittens!

[StarPattern]

One of our barn cats finally decided to release her hostages. She’s been pregnant forever and today, she decided to deliver 7 kittens on our front deck inside a little house we made her.

Of course, it’s getting cold in Alberta so I brought the entire new family inside and set them up in a dog kennel we had waiting. They’ll get to enjoy the house living for a bit, until they’re a little bigger.

Which leads me to my question - what is the best way to set up a little spot in our barn for them? The barn itself is heavily insulated and it stays around -10 when it’s -50*C outside. Obviously, that’s not good enough.

Rather than heating the entire barn, would a couple heat lamps over some bins filled with straw suffice? Should the bins be completely enclosed and the lamp inside, or can I set up little cat boxes without tops and hang the lamps above them?

With the new kittens (there were 7!), that brings our cat total to 11 so I’ll be setting up a couple different beds.

Picture shown is of the brand new babies, approximately 1 hour old. Mama stopped cleaning them to say hello to me when I came out of the house this morning.

[Janet]

Congrats on healthy kittens.

I would be reluctant to use heat lamps close to straw- too much fire hazard. But you can get special cat heating pads that don’t get hot enough to be a fire hazard. I’d combine that with an insulated box (e.g., an old cooler).

[StarPattern]

I’ve read that putting the lamp 2-3 ft above any bedding will reduce fire hazard - I wonder if that’s true?

[Simkie]

A heat lamp in a barn is such a huge, huge, huge fire hazard. Don’t risk that. A pet heating pad, something like this, is just so much safer. Put it under your bedding, and be sure to have space for the kittens to crawl off of it, so they don’t overheat.

[Alex_and_Bodie_s_Mom]

In a pinch, you can also use Hot Hands - I used these on the last litter I hand-raised. It kept them plenty warm in their box, and they had room to crawl off it if they got too warm. (I also use these in my barn cats’ crates when it gets really cold.)

[NancyM]

They are, of course, beauties. Gonna be expensive to get everyone fixed so no more kitties arrive!!!

[2DogsFarm]

Another vote for the Hot Hands packs.
I used them under a fleece blanket inside my barncat’s fleece house in Polar Vortex temps.
They stay warm 8-12hrs, not hot, just warm.

Congrats on your barncat’s wise choice of Delivery site

[3PonyFarm]

They are cute!

[SummerRose]

@Janet

I would be reluctant to use heat lamps close to straw- too much fire hazard. But you can get special cat heating pads that don’t get hot enough to be a fire hazard. I’d combine that with an insulated box (e.g., an old cooler).

Seconding this.

And regarding the insulated box, here are instructions for building one:

https://humaneanimalrescue.org/how-to-make-a-winter-shelter-for-your-local-community-cats/

https://alleycatadvocates.org/creating-winter-shelters/

These types of boxes keep cats warm even in pretty cold conditions if they’re well-insulated. It might be warm enough even without supplemental heat as long as mama cat has plenty of food and water close and she only leaves the kittens for brief periods. But it’s likely they’ll need supplemental heat. I second the suggestion for pet heating pads.

Regarding the pet heating pads, the cord needs to be kept out of reach of the kittens because they will chew on exposed cords. So a heating pad can be placed between the inner and outer container, with a small hole cut in the outer cooler for the cord. Make sure that the heating pad is situated so that all of the kittens can move off of it at one time if they want to. And use a pet-specific heating pad.

Knowing mama cats, though, they like to create their own beds for their kittens and they’ll often move them from whatever outdoor bed we make up for them. It might be a good idea to test what type of container she might like to use while they’re inside the house, and possibly make another container or two, if feasible, and set them in a couple of different locations in the barn so that she can pick the “perfect” one.

[StarPattern]

Kittens are currently living the life inside our spare room. They have a heating mat that I used with one of my hedgehogs under half their little house and I have a space heater going to make sure their entire room stays toasty (we keep the house at 18, but Google tells me kittens need it much warmer since they can’t regulate their body temperatures). We also have a Kitten Cam set up so I can spy without disturbing everyone too much. Mama Cat is very happy to let me handle the kittens to check on them and our poor Doberman (who isn’t allowed in the room) is just beside herself because she thinks they’re HER babies.

[ParadoxFarm]

So cute!! Momma looks like a ghost in that photo. And your dobey is the gatekeeper. Protector of the realm - or room.

[StarPattern]

Lost one of the kittens today. Given the blood by the mouth, I’m guessing mama accidentally stepped on it.

I let my poor Doberman meet this kitten because I wasn’t sure what she’d do and I figured she couldn’t accidentally injure a dead kitten. She licked it, nuzzled it, whimpered and then gently nipped at its tail. She almost looked distressed for a moment. Poor girl.

[StarPattern]

Seems fading kitten syndrome is a real b1tch. We lost 1 kitten last night and 2 this morning. Despite having a heating pad, supplemental other heat, a touch of honey on their gums to keep their blood sugar up and a mama who feeds them like a good mama should. They were all going to the potty as normal as kittens do.

I’m not surprised. This was her first litter and 6 kittens is a lot. I fully expected this.

[Leather]

The K&H pet pads that Simkie linked are good. If you absolutely must use a heat lamp, go with the Prima lamp from Premier 1. They ship to Canada but not sure how much it would cost.

Prima Heat Lamp

[StarPattern]

Well. The preplanning was an experiment of optimism. The entire litter has now passed, for reasons unknown. My guess one was stepped on, and one had something internal going on because he bloated badly. The others… just quietly passed. The last two just passed this evening and of all them, mama yowled and cried about these two. I caught these photos on our kitten camera, after the kittens had already passed on.

[walktrot]

Our BO kept new barn kittens in the house with mom until they were litter box trained and weaned. they didn’t move to the barn until they were able to transition to independent living. The didn’thave problems adjustintgto barn life. They established residences in hayloft.

[StarPattern]

@walktrot

Our BO kept new barn kittens in the house with mom until they were litter box trained and weaned. they didn’t move to the barn until they were able to transition to independent living. The didn’thave problems adjustintgto barn life. They established residences in hayloft.

That’s usually our plan - keep them in the house until they’re large enough to stay safe outside. Every new (older) kitten we get stays in the house for the first month to learn who we are. Then they get locked in the barn for another couple weeks to establish that as home. Seems to help them not wander as much and they tend to stay on the property.

However, by the time these kittens would have been weaned, had they survived, it would have been somewhere in December/January, depending on mama. In Alberta, that’s usually pretty cold. So I was looking for a way to keep everyone extra warm. The adult cats are generally easier to keep warm, but kittens are more fragile.

[endlessclimb]

I’m sorry for your and mama kitty’s loss. Babies of any type work their way into our hearts quickly, and to lose them so young is hard.

[GraceLikeRain]

I hope mom is spayed quickly to prevent more litters being born. The loss of a whole litter will be very distressing to her but once she’s spayed, she gets to stay someone’s baby rather than pump out babies. If you need additional barn cats there are so many groups desperate to find homes for them.

[StarPattern]

@endlessclimb

I’m sorry for your and mama kitty’s loss. Babies of any type work their way into our hearts quickly, and to lose them so young is hard.

Our Doberman is actually more distressed than mama. Once mama realized her babies were gone, she immediately went to eat and then sat in the window and stared at the outside. She is not a house cat and she doesn’t enjoy it long term. She’s currently curled up with her sister in the barn.

Our Doberman, on the other hand, has checked the room multiple times between last night and this morning, turning over bedding and looking everywhere she thinks they could be. She hasn’t stopped whimpering since and she’s absolutely sure they’re still here, despite being shown the bodies. I might have to take her with me to bury them, so maybe she can understand better and get closure on the babies that weren’t actually hers.