Return to Adoptable Animals in Foster
February 28
It's time! Velvet's foster mom comes into her room at 5 a.m. to discover that Velvet has been busy during the night delivering her babies. It is a bittersweet moment, though. When looking through the room and the kittens, Velvet's foster mom finds one kitten in the litterbox that did not make it. Velvet did not even remove the baby from the fluid sac it was born in, and when the foster mom finds it several hours after birth, she realizes is too late to save this one. Velvet has six other kittens, though, and she has cleaned up and is nursing all of them. It is possible that Velvet sensed that something was wrong with this first kitten, or, with the size of her litter (seven kittens is a large litter), it is possible that she was busy delivering and caring for other kittens and simply too exhausted to go back and care for this little one. Velvet has moved her kittens into the open kennel that her foster mom prepared for her, but by 6:30 a.m. she has decided that it is time to move the babies and has started to move them into a bookshelf on the floor. When I stop out to check on the kittens, I move them back to the kennel that is set up for her to see how she responds, and she immediately picks up a kitten and heads back to the bookshelf. Because she is obviously very determined to set up her nest over here, we set bedding down on the shelf and move the rest of the kittens there. Velvet's newborn kittens are completely dependent on her care for their survival. The kittens' eyes will not open until they are 1-3 weeks old, and their ears are not fully developed. They need to be with each other and Velvet for warmth, as their bodies are not able to maintain temperature and they can literally freeze. They can't walk or even crawl, but can move around somewhat to find mom's milk. They can't eliminate waste on their own without stimulation from mom, which she provides by licking her babies. Velvet spends almost her entire time with her babies, leaving them when asleep only to eat and use the litter box. Although she does not try to keep us from her kittens, she watches closely if we are holding them and comes quickly if she hears one cry.
Because Velvet has an adequate milk supply and is caring for the kittens, her foster mom's responsibility at this time is simply to provide food, water, clean bedding, and a clean litter box. She will also make sure she handles each kitten daily over the next few weeks. This is important for two primary reasons: to socialize the kittens and make sure they are used to human handling at a young age, and also to allow their foster mom to check the kittens and be aware of any potential health issues so they can be addressed immediately.