Last week (Mon-Fri) I have been feeding a neigbours cats while they were away. The adult female had a litter of kittens, which at 4 weeks old this weekend, were being fed by thier mum. The cat had a cat-flap to leave the house when she wanted, on Thursday afternoon she was found dead on the road
The owners are back & now taking care of the kittens. On the vets advice (passed to me via the owner over the 'phone), I was feeding the kittens mashed up cat food and kitten milk. They took to the cat food immediately - phew!
I can't get over how advanced these little kittens are, it's a good thing they are so advanced now thay have no mum to care for them They have even started to use the litter tray. Poor little mites, you can tell they miss thier mum but it's obvious they are very strong and will take to surviving without mum easily.

I will never look after anybodies pets for them again, unless they are confinded to the house and have no babies to take care of, I don't want that stress again.

ETA - This is NOT an ad for kittens!! I am not looking for homes for them - they are not mine, I have nothing to do with finding homes for them.

Poor you. I cant belive anyone would want to go away and leave their pet in that situation but its not your fault that happened.

Cats are amazingly independant at such a young age. My parents got a cat once that was just 5 weeks old. They knew someeone who worked at the Blue cross and as my parents were experienced cat owners they were allowed to have the kitten who's mum had been run over and owners couldnt cope with kittens. He did so well and became the strongest lovelist cat you could have wished for. To this day we havent had a cat (nor have i had one) that had the amazing personality that he had. Bless him.
Heres hoping all the kittens do as well as he did

Thanks Freds Mum. I do hope the kittens do as well as your mums cat.
Even after only 1 day of being without thier mum you could see a big shift in them, they had got very people-orientated in that short space of time. My boys (10 & 11yrs old) did a great job of helping me care for them, (trying to feed them, trying to 'toilet them' with damp tissue) etc, we were relieved to see that after thier second meal of meat they clambered into the litter tray and each did a little squishy, plop!! Unfortunately they all stood in it and trampled it around the cream carpet quicker than we could clean it off them

My boys are as animal mad as me and after spending so much time with the kittens we have really fallen in love with them. It has been really hard to say 'No - no more pets', but I have managed to be stong and not give in to my children or the cute little kittens - much to my hubbies amazement & delight!

poor kittens.  I do hope they find good homes. well done for getting them eating and toileting well.
how foolish of owners to let her out after her kittens born-they can get pregnant very quickly after giving birth and would soon have been having another litter had she not been killed : (

> I will never look after anybodies pets for them again, unless they are confinded to the house and have no babies to take care of, I don't want that stress again.
>

Bet you do you soft little moo

I did the same for my neighbour although they were lucky enough not to lose the mother cat, they just had a tiny little runt that was ages behind the other's in growth, I found cotton buds good for helping with the toilet stimulation.
Well done to you:)

> Bet you do you soft little moo

LOL, you're probably right

The kittens are doing great, the largest of the 3 is a boy, he can lap his milk up & eat like a little piggy The smaller 2 are females, allthough they haven't grasped the concept of lapping yet, they can eat solids, drink from a bottle and are doing well

> how foolish of owners to let her out after her kittens born-they can get pregnant very quickly after giving birth and would soon have been having another litter had she not been killed : (

This was the second litter this year the cat had The kittens are growing up with thier 6 month old sibling, another female - which is allowed in & out of the house as she pleases. I'm afraid that despite the tragic death of the mother, the cycle of kittens will continue anyway