# Mother cat abandoned kitten



## artemisa (Mar 27, 2004)

I was just at my friend's house. There's a feral cat that they've been feeding for some time now and she's just had kittens a few weeks ago. She moved all 4 of them into my friend's garden but then moved them out of there, except she left one behind. She's been back (to eat) but she ignores the kitten (even tho he cries so much), she doesn't want anything to do with him.

I've read that one reason can be that he may have some kind of deffect. But I didn't notice anything wrong with him, not that I could see (I'm no expert either). But one thing that they think happened was that their lil dog might have licked him in the head. It all happened so fast. Could that be the reason the mother cat left him? 

She's not a first time mother either, she had a litter before. They're going to get her fixed as soo as they can.


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## spittles (Oct 24, 2003)

Something is probably wrong with the kitten. My neighbor has a chicken who had babies, and at a few days old, she left one of them. I didn't see anything wrong, so I called a chicken-freak friend of mine and took care of him. He died a few days later  

Get him to a no-kill shelter ASAP or he will die out there.

Abhay


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## artemisa (Mar 27, 2004)

Oh, they are taking care of him. Feeding him with a bottle, keeping him warm at night and everything. I was just wondering why a cat would leave her kitten. So you think there might be something wrong with him that we can't see?


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## spittles (Oct 24, 2003)

It is hard to tell, but the best thing to do is find a no-kill shelter who will take him or get him to the vet ASAP.

Abhay


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## Lynda J (Sep 8, 2004)

There is something wrong with that kitten. About 4 years ago a wild mother abandon 3 of her 5 babies that were about 2-3 weeks old on the porch of my shop. I took them home and bottle fed them. One seem really active but two never were very active. One had trouble eating and would sometimes bubble milk back up through his nose. But I pushed ahead.
I found homes for two of them but kept the one that had visible problems.
Named him Nuggles because he would "nibble then snuggle." He was always small and never romped and played like most kittens.
One of the kittens I gave away died about a month after going to her new home. No known cause. The other which was the more active of the three is still doing fine. At about 18 months I woke up one morning and Nuggles was having trouble breathing. I rushed him to the vet but he died within a few minutes of getting there. Since I had several other cats, I needed to know what happened. The vet dicovered two major heart defects. He told me that it was a wonder he had lived past 4months. (that was the age the one kitten died). The mother knew there was something wrong with the two kittens. But we just happen to find them before she took the one off. I was blessed to have had Nuggles. He was a loving baby. So do what you can do for them. Love them. But as harsh as it may seem. In nature it is the survival of the fittest. And mother animals will push the weak and sick to the side and put all her engery into the one that she knows stand the best chance of surviving.


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## artemisa (Mar 27, 2004)

That is horrible 

But, remember that the dog licked him as well, so it might be that too? I really hope there's nothing seriously wrong with it. Thanks for sharing that story.


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## Jeanie (Jun 18, 2003)

I have never known of a cat who pushed a kitten away unless there was a terrible problem. It is amazing how they know, but they do. Often, the vet cannot find the problem, but mother cat knows. That's rather mysterious.

However, what awakens a human mother when her baby needs her, and there is no sound-or other factor that would awaken her? There is some type of connection that we just don't understand.


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## artemisa (Mar 27, 2004)

OMG that's terrible. 

So perhaps I shouldn't even try to adopt this kitten, it'd be really hard for my Dad to let me take him so maybe it's not worth the trouble. I wouldn't be abandoning him, he has a home, but maybe it'd be too risky. 

So the smell is not reason enough for she to reject him? Have you experienced many cases of this Jeanie?


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## Jeanie (Jun 18, 2003)

No, but it happened with a baby puppy and a kitten. The mother knew. I could not neglect that baby myself, however. I took care of both until they died. They seemed to pick up, but then died. I was exhausted, but I would always try to give them every possible chance to live. I could not have ignored them.  

Of course, all of the literature tells us that mother cats (including lions, tigers, etc.) always push away the cub with a genetic problem. That is the source of most of my information, educational TV and articles. I was fortunate when I was breeding.


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## rosalie (Oct 9, 2003)

I don't know if the dog licking him could have something to do with it. I know mamas will clean a kitten no matter what he got into but if they would do a dog smelling kitten I don't know.
I agree that it could be the kitten is ill, sometimes it's imposible to tell but they know. The kitten that purred and died I told about in another thread, before we took him to the vet we put her with our cat that had had kittens, she licked him once and left him alone, later she would go to her kittens but not the one we added. So we took him to the and the kitten died later  ..yes they can tell..


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## Jeanie (Jun 18, 2003)

If you put mother's scent on him, that might make a difference. Once a mother cats bathes a kitten and puts her scent on it, the mother cat will accept it as her own. I do hope that is the only problem--(the dog scent)


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## artemisa (Mar 27, 2004)

They have tried a lot of things and the cat doesn't want anything to do with the kitten. She even got a agressive when they tried to force her to be near him. And it's been two weeks so I reckon it might be a little late.

We took the kitten to the vet today. He's ok but he's still so little. He thinks he could be 3 weeks old and weighs around 300 grams. :? My friend's younger brother is taking care of him (apparently it's a he, no one was too sure yet) so hopefully he'll be alright. I agree, he can't just be ignored.

I don't know if I'll be able to adopt him, but I'm sure he'll be taken care of nonetheless. I hope he makes it  

Thanks for all the info. Oh, and heard the story a second time, apparently the dog didn't lick him, didn't have time, the dog just got near him so that makes it even more doubtful that's the reason mama cat doesn't want him.

We'll have to wait and see I guess.


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## Richo (Jul 4, 2003)

That's very sad.  Poor little kitten needs his mother.


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