Just found a cat and newborn kittens in my garden on a low bench. WWYD??

[Pinot]

Keep you just made me burst out laughing!! I'm like a duck - all calm up top, frantically paddling underneath

I agree Keep - everything looks suspciously clean and tidy in the background. Pinot is clearly one in control woman.

I may also waggle the laptop under DHs nose later to show him this!!!!!

Lovely new pics. Can't believe how much they have grown.

They will soon be chasing each other around the house, up the stairs, up the curtains....

Will show DH and DS later as they both keep asking after the 'Mumsnet adopted Kittens'

Oh they are sooooooo gorgeous! DD and dh have been hanging over my shoulder looking at all the photos from first to latest. DD has been going squeeeeeeeeeeeeee a lot, which I thought was not actually a real noise, just a way of communicating in type; my ears will not recover quickly

Dp and I just spent 5 minutes oohing and aahing at those pics.

I can't get over how big they've gotten

They've got big so quickly ... like a week ago they were all diddy and a bit wobbly - now they're hanging upside down on the scratching tree thing and jumping, rolling, running. Amazing little things they are.

They were due a feed at 5pm...milk is in one bowl, meat is squished up on a plate next to it. Both sniffed and strutted away...so we're leaving them to get hungry in the hope they eat either milk or meat. Obviously I'll have to bottle feed them later if they beat me don't eat...but I'm trying to be strong and to win!!! They are v-e-r-y stubborn...!!!

You'll have to be strict. My kittens were still piling on top of their mother for milk at 14 weeks The vet didn't believe me when I told him.

When she had the next lot of kittens the big ones climbed into the travel cot with them and there was a huge heap of purring cats several times a day

How long do I leave them Summer? I know tonight I'll do a feed at bedtime...but tomorrow say...after a breakfast feed....how long can I leave them? God its such a worry :(

Well... they both can drink from the bowl, despite not being very taken with it, so i'd say you can be quite tough. Mother cats would be letting them go for substantial amounts of time without nursing at this stage.

Give them half their usual morning amount tomorrow and try leaving them until lunchtime and see if they get desperate enough to at least drink from the bowl, preferably munch some food.

There's nothing wrong with them having a couple of bottle feeds a day at this age, they're still tiny and like human babies, nursing from bottle or teat provides more than just milk, it's comfort and security too, it would be cruel to take it away altogether. But they are getting very big to be surviving on only milk!

Oh squeeeeeeeee at new pics!

Like you say Pinot they've come on so much in the last week and they're building up reserves, you can see their tums getting chunky. I agree with Summer a little tough love seems needed, they won't come to harm for a few hours without a feed given how robust they seem.

They just keep getting more and more beautiful! Yes, very clean and organised house in the background . What would you be like, Pinot, without round the clock kittens?
Good luck with holding the line re food.

Thanks for the support and much needed hand holding. They've had a small brekkie and I'm now leaving them until lunchtime with a bowl of milk and a dish of food.

Eek.

Lolol @ Saffron - it's all smoke and mirrors!

Naughty Pinot

Put down the bottle and step away

I can see you.....

[kitten]

How did they do???

Have they eaten yet? Good news on the litter tray!

Grrrrrrrr! Nothing. Nada. Zip. Nowt.

The only thing that has passed their lips is when Ginger licked at a blob of philadelphia cheese left on my plate. Their food and milk remains untouched. GAH!!

I've tried meat on a fingertip, also warming it, rubbing a bit on the roof of their moths. Then tried putting milk in a bottle and drizzling it into the bowl so they can see it's the same stuff.

Nothing. They are infuruating me now.

he he give em time they'll get there

Apologies for repeated typos in last post.

GAH!!!!!!!!!!!!

i would if i could believe me

:)

what food is it? Some cats don't like strong fishy tastes so if it's fish flavoured they might not be keen.

You could try the cat version of rusks/baby rice in the bottle and dissolve a tiny bit of dry kitten food in the milk to get them used to the taste.

Lord but they're stubborn your kitties

It's whiskas kitten - chicken flavour. Mashed up with some milk on a dish, with some kitty milk (from the bottle) in a bowl next to it. They saunter round it - only the ruddy dog has eaten it so far!!! New stuff out now (thanks dog ) and I've tried the fingertip thing again. You would think I'm trying to poison them!! They're definitely hungry, they are quite crabby and unsettled and Ginger in particular keeps climbing onto my lap and eyeballing me. I do feel pretty useless I must say. I will persevere... :(

I could post you one of my cats for demonstration purposes.... they've certainly mastered eating food

What did they do when the dog ate the food?

They were both asleep in the scratching post thingymajig that has a box on top. That sound you hear from all the way up there is me screaming