2 mothers for these kittens???

[meishas_mom]

Boy am I confused on this one... I have 3 cats, Meisha is mine and the hubby's, Girly is my sons and Chaos is my daughters. Meisha is an indoor cat but ran out one night a couple months back. (the night before she was to go get fixed) She came home about 4 days later. I just knew she was pregnant and sure enough 3 days ago gave birth to 5 very different babies. ( black and white, grey, white, orange and beige) She had them under my bed and while she was in labour my sons cat Girly was there and would not move for her life! She clawed the rug and bit at us, which she has NEVER done in the past. Meisha didn't seem to mind her being there so we left her. The wierd thing now is they seem to be sharing these babies. Girly cleaned them while Meisha was having them.. then she cleaned Meisha. She is under the bed as much as Meisha is and the babies try to feed off of her as well. Now the problem is Girly is trying to move the babies upstairs to my sons room. We catch her trying to steal them all the time. We have tried separating her from them but she claws and the door and cries way too loud! It upsets Meisha so we have to let her in. At least once a day Girly tries to move Meisha kittens - Meisha has caught her and batted her a good one, so we are sure Meisha does not want them moved. I just don't understand the behavoiur here can anyone please tell me what is going on in Girly's head? Chaos by the way hates the kittens and want nothing to do with them. lol Meisha at a yr and a half is the oldest followed by Girly about 3 months later and Chaos 4 months later if that helps or makes a difference. :confused:

[starr]

i don't know that much about cats, but it sounds like girly thinks she is the mom. good luck with this one. :)

[dlaura]

meishas mom,
Am I guessing right that Girly is spayed and cannot have kittens of her own? My thought is that Girly just has that natural mother instinct and first was helping Meisha as she had the kittens (kind of like a midwife - LOL) and now having cared for them as if her own, kind of feels that they are. Hmmm, they were born only three days ago so they are young to be moved. I think I might just stand back and let the two cats work this out on their own. Since the kittens are so young Meisha is probably staying with them most of the time and Girly is trying to move the kittens because she was closed out of the room and couldn't get to them at one point. Keep the door open so both cats have access to the kittens and let Meisha make Girly aware that she wants the kittens to stay put.

[meishas_mom]

meishas mom,
Am I guessing right that Girly is spayed and cannot have kittens of her own? My thought is that Girly just has that natural mother instinct and first was helping Meisha as she had the kittens (kind of like a midwife - LOL) and now having cared for them as if her own, kind of feels that they are. Hmmm, they were born only three days ago so they are young to be moved. I think I might just stand back and let the two cats work this out on their own. Since the kittens are so young Meisha is probably staying with them most of the time and Girly is trying to move the kittens because she was closed out of the room and couldn't get to them at one point. Keep the door open so both cats have access to the kittens and let Meisha make Girly aware that she wants the kittens to stay put.
Girly has not been spayed.... she almost seems like she is pregnant, which I hope is impossible. As far as all of us are aware of she has not been outside, but she has gotton big fast ( she eats like a cow though ) she also has 3 marble sized lumps on her tummy two near her butt and one in the middle of her chest. These lumps on right on her nipples.... The vet said the were nothing to worry about last month. Here's a question... is it possible for cats to have phntom preganacies?

[onyxeyes]

the lady i got my onyx from didn't believe in spaying her 2 cats (ridiculous i know)....anyway...she said they have kittens all the time and they switch mothering roles... a lot of times the lady isn't even sure which cat actually had the kittens, because they switch duties so often. i don't think it's that unusal...as long as the one cat doesn't hurt the kittens, i don't think there would be a problem with it. :)

[meishas_mom]

well I figured out where Girly's mothering instincts were coming from... Yep, her own pregnancy... We now have 10 kittens.. trouble is I only have homes for 5. I guess they will have to stay here (hubby not liking it - so he says ) Girly is still mothering Meisha's babies they are just over 2 weeks old now and huge!!! Now she has 5 of her own. 2 questions when do the babies start eating real food and do I need to do anything to get them started[/B]? Also, how long now after birth do I have to wait to get the 2 moms fixed?

[Furbaby Mom]

A cat will typically go into heat about 6-8 weeks after delivering kittens. Call your vet and ask, but I would do it about 8 weeks after they delivered their litters. Don't put it off or you will have more to adopt out!

In the wild, female cats that live together in colonies will nurse and take care of each other's young. Colonies in the wild typically exist of multiple females that share work duties, their younger offspring and a single, older male. Once males hit a certain age, they usually move onto bachelor groups. The male in your house doesn't like this because he knows the kittens are not his and his instinct is telling him to kill them. Domestication has taken a lot of this out of cats, and neutering helps to decrease those types of drives, but you will still see this happen in outside cat colonies.