Should I handle newborn kittens?

Newborn kittens. Image: MikeB

It should be very limited. I'll quote from an excellent resource, Cat Owner's Home Veterinary Handbook, 3rd edition:

"Most queens [breeding mother cats] display anxiety when their very young kittens are constantly handled by unknown people or if unfamiliar pets or other household animals [that] they are not comfortable with are allowed near the kittens."

This statement points to minimising contact with newborn kittens both by humans and other pets. Leave them alone but make sure the nest and environment is top class. You have to know what you are doing in cat pediatrics. It is a big skill and complicated. Seek veterinary advice promptly.

Newborn Kitten Care (comprehensive guide).

Socialisation later

After sex weeks social interaction with unknown human beings and pets such as dogs and exposure to new and nonthreatening situations are important for the proper development of the kittens. It's what makes them domestic cats and is essential for them to lead happy and well-adjusted lives in the human environment.

Sensitive Period of Socialisation for Kittens.

Cat drooling with delight is rooted in newborn experiences

Cat drooling is often associated with ill health of some sort. The classic reason is mouth disease due to rotten teeth and inflamed and infected gums - please see cat drooling for full details.

But ill health is not always the reason. Sometimes, the reason is because the cat caretaker is petting their cat. Personally, I have never seen this so it is obviously dependent on the individual cat.

Photo: by emilybean (Flickr)

Petting often takes the form of stroking. When we stroke our cat, it is the equivalent of a mother cat licking her kitten. The argument goes that our cats are kept in a perpetual state of kittenhood by us and we are their surrogate mother.  That is the normal arrangement.

Reason for drooling with delight!

In my opinion, cats might drool when being stroked by us because they link the act of stroking (licking) to the time when they were at their mother's nipple being nursed. At this time the mother and kitten purr to communicate with each other. The kitten is saying, "I am receiving milk". The mother's response it an acknowledgment.

The mother licks her kittens at this time. She certainly licks the bottom of her kittens to stimulate defecation.

When a kitten is feeding on their mother's milk, they will produce saliva to digest the milk. If there is a connection between feeding at their mother's nipple and being stroked then it is plausible to suggest that as domestic cats are kept in a mental state of kittenhood, they will salivate when stroked if so inclined. Although this is not common feline behavior. It must depend on the personal early experiences and character of the individual cat.

Some cats salivate so much (hypersalivate) that the cat caretaker has to keep a cloth handy!

Oral health

If my cat drooled when being petted, I would be relaxed about it but I would also just check to see that his or her mouth was in good health. A routine check of a cat's mouth is easy to do. Just have a peep when they yawn or call out. It is useful to keep an eye the health of a cat's teeth. Poor oral health is a huge problem in elderly domestic cats because of neglect to be honest. 

This is not meant to be a criticism. It is easy to overlook a domestic cats oral health. I am referring to gum disease primarily. The link below takes you to more on the topic.

RELATED: We need to formulate a method to prevent poor feline oral health.



From Cat Drooling with Delight to Home Page

What is the largest litter of kittens?

This is a Guinness World Record for the largest litter of kittens born to a domestic cat. It happened in Kingham, Oxfordshire, UK on August 7, 1970. A Burmese/Siamese hybrid owned by V. Gane gave birth to 19 kittens. Four were stillborn. That is all we know. Technically it is possible that a larger but unreported litter has been born but we'll never know.

Burmese kitten. This kitten has nothing to do with the record. This charmer is here to illustrate the page, no more. Photo: Pinterest.

A female domestic cat can give birth to anywhere between 1 and 10 kittens normally. The 19 of the record is, on the face of it, unique. An average litter consists of 4 or 5 kittens.

Mel and Fiona Sunquist in their excellent book Wild Cats of the World state that the record is 13 kittens. I am afraid they were incorrect. Their book was published in 2002. 

New-born kittens weigh about 90-110 grams at birth. This is 3 percent of their mother's body weight.

Normally the weights of individual kittens declines as the litter size increases.

Kittens are born with their eyes closed. Very rarely kittens are born with teeth. Usually they are born without teeth. They have poor hearing but a good sense of smell and touch as they are able, within an hour of birth, to find 'their' nipple and begin feeding. They return to their dedicated nipple which avoids arguments. Brilliant system to create calm and better feeding.

ASSOCIATED PAGE: 12 facts about the domestic cat purr

The kittens purr to their mother while feeding to say all is well. The mother responds likewise. It is their first purr signifying contentment. Many more will come in a good home.

75% of kittens born to free-roaming domestic cats die or disappear within six months

This is going to be short because I don't have the full study results but I do have the conclusion. A study titled Reproductive Capacity of Free-Roaming Domestic Cats and Kitten Survival Rate published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association concluded that 75% of kittens born to free-roaming domestic cats died or disappeared before six months of age and trauma was the most common cause of death.

This photo is so damned sad. It is horrible. It is from Facebook. The photographer was Chris.

CLICK THIS LINK FOR THE STORY BEHIND THE PIC ABOVE

The study observed 2332 female cats brought to a TNR clinic for neutering. In addition, 71 female cats and 171 kittens from 50 litters were also incorporated into the study and they were from managed colonies (believed).

The data that they collected included pregnancy, oestrus status, lactation and the number of foetuses for pregnant cats. They also collected data for feral cats and managed colonies including the number of litters per year and kittens per litter. In addition, they collected information on the date of birth, kitten survival rate and causes of death.

They observed pregnant cats in all months of the year and the percentage of cats that were pregnant was highest in the months of March, April and May. The cats produced an average litter of 1.4 kittens with a median of three kittens/litter. The range was from 1-6 kittens per litter.

Overall, 127 of 169 or 75% of the kittens died or disappeared before six months of age. They say that trauma was the most common cause of death. The conclusion is that these cats had a high reproductive capacity and the information may be useful in controlling feral and free ranging domestic cats.

How many litters does a cat have in a year?

The answer depends upon whether we are talking about domestic or wild cats. And I don't think it is possible to produce a one size fits all answer to the question. In fact, you will see a variety of answers to this question on the Internet. My conclusion is that domestic cats have 2-3 litters per year. Wild cats in general have one litter per year. It is hard to find definitive answers with respect to the wild cat species because even the best reference work that I have doesn't provide answers sometimes on a species-by-species basis.

Image by David Mark from Pixabay.

However, the sand cat and the bobcat appear to produce 2 litters per year but this may not happen every year. In fact, a semi-tame bobcat in a zoo produced 2 litters but Mel and Fiona Sunquists, the authors of a great book on the wild cat species, Wild Cats of the World, said that this is probably unusual. This indicates to me that one litter per year is more normal for the American bobcat.

Theoretically domestic cats could have 5 litters per year but practically it is probably as stated above although Dr. Desmond Morris in his book CATWATCHING argues that they have 3 litters per year and if they have 14 kittens within those 3 litters then within 5 years, there could be more than 65,000 kittens!

You will see that there is a difference between the theoretical numbers and practical numbers.  Many kittens die, for example. And there are variables which influence the number of litters per year. For example, when a group of male lions take over a pride and they kill the cubs, the lionesses are brought into heat. They become receptive to mating. This artificially forces them to have a litter. 

But if their offspring become adults then usually they don't have another litter until their existing offspring have reached the age of 18 months. This would imply that they have one litter every 18 months if their cubs are not killed by incoming males in acts of infanticide.

Bomb squad called out to deal with bag full of newborn kittens abandoned in freezing snow

There are two key aspects to this story from Ohio, USA about cat abandonment and subsequent rescue. Last Thursday a bag full of six newborn kittens and their mom were left outside the main entrance of a church in New Miami, Butler County, Ohion, USA. They had been abandoned in freezing weather. It genuinely was freezing as there are icicles hanging from the church's guttering.

Six newborn kittens and their mom abandoned outside church in freezing conditions in Ohio. Photo: Butler County police.

That's the first point to make. Who in their right mind would do this? Newborn kittens must be kept very warm, almost hot by human standards to avoid them becoming chilled and dying. There was a real risk that the person who did this was passing a death sentence on these kittens. She or he got lucky.

The second point is that the bag looked suspicious. The bomb squad were called out. They must have been surprised when then discovered the kittens. But there was danger there too wasn't there? The bomb squad sometimes defuse suspicious bags by destroying the bag. That would have killed the kittens and their mom. Fortunately it worked out okay.

Six kittens recovering after being abandoned in a bag outside a church in Ohio in freezing conditions. Photo: Animal Friends Humane Society.

The person who abandoned them left a note saying that the mother cat who's named Sprinkles went into labour on 17 Feb at 2pm. That is a strange note if that is all it said. It implies that the person abandoned the cats while the mother was in labour and that the mother gave birth in the bag! 

Anyway they are safe and being looked after by Animal Friends Humane Society. They confirmed that all was well at the shelter. Sprinkles was vaccinated and blood tested and her kittens have been gently bathed. The mother is nursing her kittens well. End of bulletin! 

A strange cat rescue story though. Sad too. If people want help with unwanted kittens they should contact a shelter and talk through it. In non-Covid times you could walk into the local shelter and explain things. No shame. No guilt. It is okay.

Picture of scraggy calico kitten with long pink human nails

I find the human nails ghastly. God, I hate women's nails that are as long as this especially when they are varnished in bright pink and pointed - sharpened up, looking like cat claws. The nails belong to a young woman who is a cat foster carer living in Florida, USA. She does great work and takes some nice photos as you can see on this page.  But please cut your nails and stop varnishing them just for me!

Picture of scraggy calico kitten with long pink human nails. Picture: Instagram.

The picture is good for me because it shows how vulnerable these little newborn kittens are. And look at those nails! Yes, I am on about nails again. I like the nails of cats but not long human nails. Cats are born with decent nails (claws to you and me) but no teeth (rarely they might have some). 

To think that some cat owners ask a veterinarian to remove the claws of their kitten. At such a tender age to put them through 10 brutal amputations. The trauma. The pain. It is quite disgusting to think about it. These people should be ashamed of themselves. 

Because I am on the subject of nails I'll add some more info. You know that cats are digitigrades don't you? They walk on their toes. That part of the anatomy that looks like it is part of the leg leading to their feet (the bit below the hock) is actually their feet. They have very long feet. It helps give them lots of leverage to jump so effectively.

They are built for hunting and speed. There are five phalanges on each forepaw. Four are fully functional and one is vestigial (no longer particularly useful). Each phalange has three parts (bones) called phalanxes. The claw is attached to the distal (farthest) phalanx. They are protractile. So when the vet removes the nail they are actually removing the distal phalanx to which the nail is connected. Yes, it is an amputation, not the removal of only the claw.

You can see the calico pattern on the head. Calico is tortoiseshell-and-white. This kitten has just been fed some milk replacement formula by the look of it as it is still on his face.  Full belly. Happy bunny. Leave his bloody claws alone please. I hope that the foster carer or the cat rescue organisation for which she works have a clause in their contract making it mandatory that there is no declawing. Never declaw please. It is totally immoral.

Toothbrush makes newborn kitten purr

From @kellyfosterkittens: “Goooood morning! ❤️ A toothbrush feels like a mother cat’s tongue, providing comfort and cleaning them! Can you tell by the purrs that Luna is enjoying this? 🥰” #catsofinstagram pic.twitter.com/VVUjuIC5FV

— Cats of Instagram (@catsofinstagram) November 12, 2020

This tiny kitten thinks the toothbrush is her mother's tongue so she enjoys being "licked" by her mother. She starts to purr and offers up her chin for a wash. I think it is the first time that I've heard such a young kitten purring and you can see her left arm juddering slightly in pleasure. That is my reading of her behaviour. It is a form of feline allogrooming only the human is using a toothbrush very gently to simulate an adult cat's tongue.