Frisky kitten escapes undetected. News at eleven

Oct
3

Frisky kitten escapes undetected. News at eleven

Filed under: The Fosters;

I’ve got a problem. I went into the cat’s room tonight to sit with mom. She doesn’t like leaving the kittens and getting on the bed, so I took a couple pillows in and I sit with her. Normally I’d check out the kittens and count them. But I didn’t.

I was there for about 5 minutes and I hear this muffled meow. Mom casually ignores it. I can’t figure out where it’s coming from, then she does it again. I pull the pillows back and sure enough, there’s Danica (i named her for her adventurous attitude and complete lack of fear. Like Danica Patrick the Indy Car racer.

It didn’t stop her :(. So she’s shaking and scared. I have no idea how long she’s been back there, and it really concerns me that mom doesn’t seem to care. This worries me a lot. Anyway, I thought she might be hungry, so I let her nurse on mom outside the box where she wouldn’t see competition. Unfortunately she just kept switching nipples. Not sure if mom’s tank was on empty or what. She’s been eating PLENTY of food.

Over the last few days I’ve been steadily raising the entrace to the box so the kiittens can’t escape. But I don’t know if I should keep doing it. From here you can see all the different times I’ve raised it:

All kittens and mom are now back in the box. But the kittens are close to 5 weeks old now. I think mom is going to start wanting them to explore. So should I take down the barrier and start letting them escape? I’m not sure what to do.

6 Responses to “Frisky kitten escapes undetected. News at eleven”

Adilah October 3rd, 2008 at 8:45 pm

Hi JT! What can I say? Yup it’s normal, they’re now in the “I want to explore stage coz I can really see, hear and smell”

Now’s the time to start introducing the litter box and baby food (wet or Royal Canin Babycat Dry).

You could do the following if you don’t want them to run amok:

1. Get a larger box and keep it high or
2. Get a largish cage and cage all of them (inl. mom) or
3. Baby kitty proof the room and let them run amok (This is what I’d do as you saw in my Baby Abys thread in the forum). Mom cat wont let them stray too far for another couple of weeks.

It’s also time to start making appointments for everyone’s 1st vaccination and de-worming!
Dad October 4th, 2008 at 2:39 am

Yeah I think i’ve just been struggling with this step because it’s so easy when they’re all in the box.

I don’t think I should keep them blocked in. My guess is that it’s time (as you said) to introduce the litter box and food. So I should put the litter box they can crawl into next to mom’s. I don’t know if it would work to put it in with them.

I was considering changing the layout. I was going to buy some of that plastic coated shelving people use in laundry rooms. This stuff:

Except it’s only about 1.5 feet wide. Then bolt that to the wall, blocking off a section of the closet itself. That would give them lots of room but still be contained. I was thinking I could put the litter box in there with the food. BUt correct me if I’m wrong, mom won’t show them that litter box will she? So they wouldn’t learn what to do.
addie_bee October 4th, 2008 at 10:45 am

Hey, JT. I’m flattered that you took my suggestion (big smile!) She is sooooo cute! Good that Adilah is advising you cuz I’m not that well versed in kitten care.
Adilah October 4th, 2008 at 9:13 pm

Hi JT,

Could you make it a bit wider? Then it would be perfect! But what you have is perfect for right now - not for maybe a few of weeks later.

Kittens learn from mom - but they wont get it if the litter box is too far away and they can’t see what the litter box is for - same for weaning as well. But then again, it all depends on the babies themselves, with my Happy trio I didn’t even get a chance to move the litter box closer and they figured it all out without my intervention!
Mandy October 6th, 2008 at 10:18 am

JT,

I can come by and start their vaccinations! Let me know when!
Dad October 6th, 2008 at 10:31 am

Hi Mandy!

OK that sounds great. I’m going to be a little hectic the first part of the week but maybe we can do something towards the end?

Glad to see you browsing the blog~!