# Maternity room ready, will she like it?



## HappyFather (May 21, 2021)

So, she is on the 59th day, for the next week she can have the kitties anytime! Last Friday I prepared the room I would like her to accept as maternity room. It is a basement room (I'm keeping lights always on), a bit colder than the rest of the house. It has around 6 square meters. Only one entrance and a ventilation window. It was an empty room, where we were storing things since the move.






































So, NW corner is water, N wall a scratcher with boxes she never showed interest in (but babies may like), NE corner a litterbox, E wall is the door, S wall a bed she never showed interest in (but the babies may like) and the food (dry and wet separate plates), SW and W wall a mattress with old towels and 2 boxes facing the wall.

I put bad quality sand on the regular litterbox and the good quality sand on this litterbox and she has only been using this one.
I stopped feeding her in the living room (that doubles with dinning room) and only feed her here and she seems OK with this.
She drinks from this water but she also drinks from the bowl on the ground floor (above the basement and were we spend most of our awake time).
She keeps sleeping in the living room.
She only spends time in this room if I'm there with her. Otherwise she'll be where we are. The rest of the basement is used as play room, office and wine cellar. It's quite calm.

Am I missing anything? Is there a way to ensure she will want to have the kitties there? Although she is always trying to enter cabinets and drawers, she doesn't seem to be looking for a nest, like if either she already decided and is not worried or she is not there yet...
Should I get a way to block the door so that kitties can't get out (but the mom can) while they are little?
Should I warm the room with a heater? It is now probably around 20ºC/22ºC.

Thank you for looking! I can't wait for the birthday! 😸😺


----------



## Mosi (May 17, 2021)

There's no telling where she will choose to have her kittens. Cats choose laundry baskets, drawers, under the stove, the closet, you name it. If you want her only to be in this room to have them, you will need to close her in there all the time unless you are watching her to see if she starts into labor.

Definitely make sure that nothing in the room can harm the babies, and fix it so she can get out but they cannot, once they are ambulatory.


----------



## miscellaneous (May 24, 2021)

We're going to be Mums and Dads! How exciting! I think you've got mostly everything covered, but you may want to turn the lights on low in the room, and yes, keep a heater on so they'll all be warm when the time comes. Something with your scent on it like a worn T-shirt or towel in the room can also be comforting when you can't be there. Kittens don't move around much at first, so you could put a low gate in the doorway to make a barrier so they can't escape, but Mom can get out. And when she has her babies in the last place you'd ever think of, just leave her be and move all of that stuff wherever she is!


----------



## HappyFather (May 21, 2021)

Thank you @Mosi and @miscellaneous for the suggestions! So, what I changed...
Replaced the three working ceiling light bulbs (7W) with only two working 3W bulbs, effectively making the room a lot darker.
I brought here her carrier, that she doesn't hate, and contains a blanket with her smell. And is another box/hiding spot.
I also brought here her 1st bed. It was a cardbox with an old pillow impregnated with my wife and mine scents. The pillow used to be on the sofa. In the first weeks it was Loreta's bed until I bought the pink fluffy one on the pictures. I hid the box to have her accept the bed and she ended up sleeping on our sofa (in the living room) from then on.

I think Loreta was happy to see the old bed back as whenever I was in the maternity room cleaning the litterbox, she would go inside the box and watch me from there.

But besides coming to the room to eat and use the litterbox, room's adoption seemed like a flop. BUT... I'll leave that for another thread I'll be starting!!! 🙀😻😸


----------



## miscellaneous (May 24, 2021)

You are such a good dad, Happy Father! You've done everything you can, and the rest is up Mom!


----------

