Pet Care: How to Care for Kittens

Dear all,

Hope everyone is doing great :) I have had an exhausting yet rewarding weekend. My mummy cat is in the hospital and her darling 4 little kittens are at home. The mum had a pretty bad injury, not exactly sure how it happened, nevertheless, the most important thing is that she is healing. She misses her kids so much. Apparently, my clothes had the smell of her kittens and she got very clingy and meowed so loud when she saw me this morning. Unfortunately, she was so upset when I had to leave that she scratched me for returning her back to the quarantine cage, she tried her best to resist. Oh dear, feel so sad seeing her miss her babies but I have to do what's best for her & do the best to take care of the kids when she is away.  I have been visiting her daily since she was admitted to the hospital on Thursday. Poor baby. So, I officially call this cat/work weekend. I have literally been to the vet & 4 different pet shops. Since the babies are not yet fully weaned off the mummy's milk, I needed to get a kitty bottle & goat powder milk for them, they are super adorable. I love them! Also, this morning got a morning call from my housemate. The gardener came to cut grass and they were scared. Poor thing, they are not usually scared when their mummy is around. I literally was in a deep sleep hehe but at this moment in time, they are priority & sleep is secondary. I woke up immediately & asked the gardener to stop for a moment until I collect them all into their cage. They were sleeping in their basket & box last night. They were all hiding in the drain & all I had to do was call ' Babies, where are you? Come to MeenMeen' and they immediately came out of their hiding place.

I had the netting put up with the help of our gardener to keep the babies safe from going out of the gate when they play in the garden. They only started walking like 3 weeks ago or so, hence why life revolving them can be very dynamic. I have never had a pet cat like since forever, the last time was in America when I was like 9. Never had a pet cat since then and never in my life, raised a mummy cat & little kittens. First life experience in my life, it's teaching me a lot. It is tiring but then I love cats so much. I am already an animal lover but cats are one of my favourite so when you love something, fatigue becomes secondary. I am learning a lot by having them- caring for another being, time management, real responsibility, caring & loving, patience, perseverance & so many more. It is teaching me a life lesson & also I simply love love love having them around. They keep me in a good mood, even when I am tired, I am always so happy to see them. It also reminds me a lot about a mother-child bond & the sacrifices that a mother does for her baby. It looks so difficult, I was with my mummy cat, YY, from when she was a single lady, got pregnant, gave birth up to and now today when the babies turn 8 weeks (2 months officially today). I have witnessed it all and saw the transition in terms of behaviour and patterns of her everyday life. It is super amazing, if you ever have the chance of raising baby animals, I highly recommend you to do so. However, ensure you have the financial and physical means of doing so. It should be done responsibly and also I plan to neuter her after this for her own good & also to prevent having too many kittens. This pregnancy was unexpected, it happened right before I planned to neuter her so we look at it as pure luck. I mean, what are the odds, she gets pregnant right when I want to neuter her. It's her first pregnancy, so I guess its good for her motherly instincts to get babies at least once in her life.

Now, I have tips caring for kittens:

These tips are for when I took care of my 1 month + old kittens which recently turned 2 months today. There are 3 boys and 1 girl. The girl looks like their daddy (neighbours cat haha) and the boys look like mummy (my baby). Mummy's pure silky black but babies are black & white. Baby girl is greyish with stripes. They look bigger than average kittens their age because they are fully breast fed from birth, morning, noon, afternoon, evening, night, all the time with mummy. Vet told me the mummy cat is very caring & responsible. It is taking good care of the babies. Even at the vet last month, it was milking its babies while in the examination room because the babies are super clingy omg!

• Prepare soft pillows and blankets. They need to be kept warm.
• For kittens below 1 month, prepare a closed home for them to sleep. If its a box, it needs to be upside down and carve out a door for mummy cat.
• For kittens above 1 month, you turn the box right way up, their eyes are now open and they are OK with sunlight and some noise. However, ensure this box is in an isolated area of the house-preferably at a corner where people seldom pass by. 
• Start solid food when they are 6 weeks- start with super tiny pellets. I tried Royal Canine Weaning - they are super tiny and they can eat it. The funny thing is that the mummy loves it more than the kids! I am like whatever makes you happy ;)
• I have been giving the mummy milk ever since she gave birth to the babies- now the kittens can start sharing the milk. Mummy cat's milk may be not enough.
• Wet food may help if they are unable to chew on dry food.
• Remember to put toys & strings & balls for them to play with- they get very playful once they can run.
• Cats love to eat grass for digestion, let them play in the garden or remember to buy grass for them.
• Teach them how to potty train by buying a litter box they can climb in.
• Remember to clean the pillows and blankies- hygiene first.
• Injections- remember to take them to the vet & get the necessary vaccinations once they are 1kg or 2 months old. 
• Deworming, they can consume this liquid deworming medicine from the vet- mine was a yellow one.
• Neuter them at 6 to 8 months- say no to irresponsible pregnancy. Neuter the boys, otherwise they will go peeing everywhere and acting aggressively.
• Buy something that they can scratch their nails on, cardboard or something.
• No showering them, only wiping with wet wipes until 4 months or so, this is subjective to the owner but I would not do it any sooner. They get cold easily at night.
• Some cats do not like the air conditioning so bear this in mind.
• Give them your love and attention, they are sweet animals who love being pampered and cared for.

Those are my kitten tips for cat lovers. 

Lots of cat love from me and YY,

XOXO