I think feeding treats is always fine. Or so my barn cats tell me.
The neighbors cat who lives with us comes when we whistle.
My DH started it, he made up a distinct whistle which he did while looking for her, til he found her.
Now we all do that same, distinct whistle to find her or call her.
I have tamed a couple of feral or semi-feral cats. They can make great pets, just take your time, once they make the choice to be friendly they can turn into complete love bugs.
Louisa had one kitten early this morning. She still has a big belly, so there are probably more coming. She’s restless, but not in distress, so we’ll wait and see. She nursed Polly’s newborns on Tuesday for about 24 hours through Wednesday morning. Do you think she has enough colostrum for her own kittens? She probably has enough to feed this kitten, but I know colostrum is limited.
That is my all-time favorite TV commercial.
I would guess that cat’s stealing kittens is a pretty common thing in cat colonies so I am betting that Louisa’s body will figure out how to make her kittens be healthy too.
(I truly have no idea what the real answer to this question is.)
My tomcat-extomcat came to a whistle. I didn’t want to call “Kitty kitty kitty!” to a tomcat so I whistled his special whistle and he came. My father, a dog man, thought this was cool.
Horse came to his own special whistle too.
Little black and white or calico so far. She’s really fussy right now, so trying to not to stress her.
Polly is great. She lets us pet her and her kittens.
Sadly, they may “know,” but disagree.
What is it with barn cats and litter boxes? She used a small towel to cover the litter. Got that out, but her litter was scattered. Made a mess. I tried to clean it, but she’s emotional, so it will have to wait.
Hmmm …
The barn cats I’ve known got litter boxes filled with shavings in bad weather.
When my barn cat was in the house he would dig so violently in the litter box that I think we had more litter on the floor than in the litter box. And then he would pull from anything within a couple of feet to bury. I would come back and find all his bedding heaped up in his litter pan and kitty litter everywhere.
How’s the kitty in labor doing?
We’re giving her space right now. No bad noises and peeking shows her not in distress. Beyond that, I think time and giving her space will help. Our son will beeline for her in and hour or two when he gets home, so peace and quiet until then.
TWO kittens now….
Giving her more time. She seems comfy and babies are being cared for.
The new one is grey.
Sadly, both my house cats do this. But they were both street kitties prior (though I did find Kitten at 8 weeks old, so he has NO EXCUSE! LOL)
This link says colostrum is delivered within first 72 hours: https://www.pattonavenuepet.com/newborn-and-young-kitten-nutrition/
This one talks about colostrum deprivation, and if I am reading the abstract correctly it looks like IG concentration is greatest in first two days: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16600652/
I have never raised newborn kittens, but plenty of people do foster babies and bottle feed, so I am not sure it is something to fret terribly over. Do you have a small animal vet you can call? I will try asking my cat rescuer friend and my aunt’s cousin who is a feline vet…
Follow up, @moonlitoaksranch - cat vet relative says should be fine. And “If they get along I’d put them all together” - meaning mama, daughter and both litters.
Cat rescuer friend had nothing - she is drowning in kittens herself.
So, after the mother finishes delivering, I can put her back in the silo with her daughter and grand kittens, where there’s more room?
Sounds like it. Maybe keep mama with babies for 24h if they latch on so they can get her colostrum then merge ‘em? Not a vet, but an idea…