Found our cat dead in her bed this morning- kittens 5 weeks

[diege]

Had the awful experience of finding my beloved cat dead on her bed this morning. She was 2, no health issues, and behaving normally yesterday evening. She has 5 kittens, approx 5/6 weeks old. I'm devastated and will have to break the news to my children tonight... She was really my eldest daughter's cat, and got her (daughter) through recent surgery and radiotherapy for an aggressive brain tumour, so it will be exceptionally difficult for her to take in. I'm also worried about the kittens --will they be ok on kitten food/cat milk?They started weaning last week but were still feeding from mum.
Any thoughts/advice very welcome!

Oh they are gorgeous

I love that little long haired black one

Bless you and your family, that's a lot to go through.
Sending the little kitties (and you) lots of good wishes.

Thank you! Well it's been decided that we are keeping two- the tortoiseshell in honour of Matilda (mum) who will be named Tabitha, and the fluffy black one ('Fluffa' )...
One thing I've noticed is that they're getting filthy (from the milk, and also pooey bottoms 😩). I'll top and tail for now until they get the hang of things!

A better photo! 😅

What milk is it?

What kitten food are you trying? Is it diarrhoea or they are bad at cleaning themselves

Oh my days I think I've just fainted at the cutes. How adorable and those wee blue eyes. I think keeping 2 is a great idea especially as they are siblings. Your poor kiddies and daughter. Sending hugs xx

Oh how beautiful are they?

Well done OP you are doing a bloody fab job

The little ginger one 😻😻😻😻😻😻😻

Hi Diege, so sorry to hear about your daughter. Hope things look more positive and she's feeling better. Such a lot to cope with for you all. And how very hard to lose your cat in these circumstances.

Looks like you're doing a great job as the cats' mother. The kittens look a good size which will help. From experience, keeping them and their environment clean is very important (and a total nightmare!). Wonder if the replacement milk is upsetting their tummies? It should settle down. Do they have access to water and are they using a litter tray yet? Wishing you all the best of everything xx

This is the milk I'm using - I'm sort of feeding 'on demand', refilling the bowl every few hours...They're all using the litter tray other than 'peanut' (the ginger) who prefers a corner in the kitchen 🥴
Toilet-wise they're doing poos in the tray but aren't cleaning themselves afterwards so invariably leave bits of poo on their fur. More noticeable with the long-haired one...They also have dried on milk on their fronts that I'm sponging off just with warm water.
Food-wise they seem to have lost interest in the dried kitten food (an Iams' one) that I was offering and now just want the milk...They're drinking water from a bowl too. I'm ever-vigilant as terrified of one of them dying now...they'll be in the house on their own 8-6 next week!

And thank you too everyone for your kinds words about my daughter. She's on 3 monthly MRI scans, next one end of Oct, so things are stable, but obviously very anxious times!

Maybe try some wet kitten food as that may be better accepted than dry stuff. When mine were kittens only 1 of them would eat the dry so had to start giving wet food too. One of mine was also a bit messy in the litter (also long haired with short legs) and used to stand in his poo when trying to cover it up. Had a few occasions of running his paws under the kitchen tap after chasing him round the kitchen

Lovely photos op.

With the kitten biscuits, mine wasn't fussy. But my old boy, with teeth that are probably equivalent to a just weaned kitten, will only eat the go cat kitten mixed into wet food. Not the crunchy stuff, the boxed one. Not entirely sure how nutritious it is, or whether it has any hidden nasties that might not make it ideal for actual kittens as it's irrelevant at his age, but possibly worth looking at. I get the impression (from him) that it's the easiest brand to chew.

Go cat is not good. Lots of cereal and not a lot of meat

Fair enough demented like I say, he's very old so it's more about what he'll eat than nutrition, and will be mainly getting it from the meat which ops kittens won't. So ignore suggestion op.

Awww, OP, sorry about mum cat. I only just saw this thread and was reading through thinking... I'm not sure what is happening with the kittens but OP should keep the little tortoiseshell - who's mum's double - for her daughter. I hope your daughter is okay.

www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/dry_cat_food/royal_canin/kitten/13562

You want some of this. You can usually get a big bag on amazon for £20 or so.

The royal canin stuff linked above is exactly what we used. It's designed to be rehydratable so to start off with you mix it with 2 parts water to one part food and leave it for 20 minutes before giving it to them and it is then very easy for a tiny kitten to eat. Very gradually between age 10 weeks and age 15 weeks we reduced the amount of water added until they were fine with the dry biscuit but I wouldn't expect a tiny 6 week old to manage biscuit.

Oh this is such a sad story OP! I'm glad the kittens are doing well! For a bit of reassurance my kittens mum died in a car accident when she was 4 weeks old so was hand-reared by my neighbour. My girl is 5 months old now and, apart from being a crazy floofer, she eats (very!) well, uses the tray properly and cleans herself fine. She's extra affectionate and a bit clingy but that may just be her personality.

Thank you for all of the lovely, inspiring stories 😊 I'll take a look at the royal canin food, thank you!
All well this morning - they're having a snooze after morning madness!

Oh I’m so glad they’re doing well. They are absolutely gorgeous. You’re going to find it extremely difficult to part with them, especially under the circumstances. How is your daughter?

It's difficult to fathom how my daughter's doing really...She's very grumpy at the moment (not really enjoying college and also worrying about the upcoming MRI) and hasn't said much about the cat at all...I know from past experience that she 'goes into herself' at stressful times though, so am giving her space. We have a treat planned for tomorrow evening though (just me and her) so something nice to look forward to!

They look great. I think instinct to clean themselves will start to kick in soon. Warm water and cotton wool till then. My cat was a terrible mother and I had to step in - they'll get there. I remember using Iams wet kitten food to feed everyone. If you're worried about anyone, start weighing them every day - that's the quickest way to see a problem that needs vetting.

How old is your daughter? It must be very tough for her and for you all. Kittens can be be a great distraction and wonderful way to waste some time. Hope you both have fun tomorrow.

What a shame, so sorry to hear that. Never easy to lose a pet, but in these circumstances a very sad loss. Why does it always seem to happen at a difficult time. Our last darling cat had to be PTS at 18 yrs in the middle of DS1 GCSES, he was devastated. I hope your DD copes with the news, having the adorable kittens will bring her comfort. Hugs to you both.