Trapping Mom’s and Babies – Step by Step Five: Weaning; and how long do you keep Mom? Yesterday we discussed using a grabber bar to safely remove a kitten from a feral mom’s side. To socialize the kittens, that’s the main ingredient – hold that little baby :) As they grow, kittens become increasingly playful and curious – even if with a feral mom, they will toddle up to the side of the cage to look at you. And as they toddle and move around, and start playing, they learn from mom how to get in that food and eat. Because there is such comfort for the baby in nursing, we like to see them stay with mom as long as possible – but just how long that is really depends on the mom cat. Some cats will wean their babies very young, pushing them away when they try to nurse and leading them to the food starting at 4 weeks. Some mom cats hold onto the babies and will let them nurse as long as they like; 8-10-12 week old babies can still get away with this with those moms :) But how long is necessary? Our suggestion is to leave the babies with mom at least until age 5 weeks, 6 is better, and if mom is tame leave them together as long as you have them. Mom cats impart temporary immunity to many diseases through their milk; most kittens are weaned by age 6-8 weeks, and since kitten shots begin at age 6 weeks, you’ve given them their best protection against diseases by leaving them with mom. You’ve also reduced issues like kittens sucking on each other (which can sometimes lead to health issues for the other kittens), nutritional deficiencies, stomach upsets from harder to digest formula – in general, you have more contented and well-adjusted kittens when they have been raised by mom. As long as mom is tolerating confinement with the babies, and is not interfering with their socialization, holding the feral mom until the kittens are 6-8 weeks old is best. But sometimes you will have a mom who rejects the kittens around 5 weeks of age, and may need to be separated if she gets too irritable (well, how would YOU like to be locked up with 4-5 demanding kids 24/7…ha!). In that case, there is no point to forcing her to stay confined, so - spay/vaccinate and let her return to her life. The opposite may also apply, if you get a feral mom who becomes overly protective, and those babies start picking up more of her feral fearfulness. Those two extremes are the main reason we’d say let mom go at 5 weeks; otherwise, 6-8. And by 6-8 weeks, you should also have an idea if that semi-feral mom is more tame than feral, or vice versa, and can release her or adopt her out. Independent rescuers have a huge advantage when it comes to caring for feral moms and their babies. WE get to focus on one litter at a time; to become involved in their “story”, and see it through to the happy conclusion. Like the little family below – a young mom cat with her 2 3-day old kittens was fostered until the babies were 5-5 ½ weeks old; mom was spayed, vaccinated and returned to the site where her 3 identical sisters were still living (though they were all altered at this time!). This was 3 years ago, and those feral sisters still thrive. Her 2 boys were adopted together into one home, and live the good life with humans who adore them. Did this rescuer save the world? No – but she saved THEIR world. And that feels really good. :) When the opportunity presents itself to you, don’t turn your back – you too can save their world, and create a special memory to warm your heart forever. Tomorrow – a success story!
Posted on: Fri, 09 May 2014 19:34:20 +0000
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