That's really a personal question. You can, but it's a big responsibility because then you're not only responsible for your cat, you're responsible for finding homes for these kittens, or you may have to keep all the kittens. Cats can have litters upwards of eight to 12, so you have to be prepared and do your research. It's not beneficial to them to have a litter. It's not going to change their outlook on life. You do have the risks associated with pregnancy and with childbirth because the kittens could get stuck, and the cat could end up needing a c-section. So there are a lot of things to consider. If you do want your cat to have kittens, you need to be prepared for it because it is an added responsibility and an added financial responsibility on top of that, especially if you have trouble keeping or finding homes for these new kittens.

It's really important to help decrease the amount of roaming that your pet may do. Their hormones drive them to roam and seek out a mate. This is often how cats can get hit by cars and attacked by dogs, coyotes, et cetera. When we spay and neuter them, that hormonal drive will decrease, so they're more likely to stay closer to your house. The other reason why it's so very important is that there are health risks associated with leaving them intact. In female cats, after they have a heat cycle, their uterus can get infected, and it can become a term called pyometra, which is a fancy word for saying that the uterus can fill with infection and pus and nastiness. Think of it like a giant abscess inside your belly. That's a pretty big emergency. It is life-threatening. It does have to be handled surgically in a very quick manner. It always seems to happen on the weekends, and people will end up at the emergency clinic having to spend quite a lot of dollars trying to make sure that cat survives versus having a routine spay done at your regular veterinary clinic where the conditions are controlled and obviously is a lot less expensive.

Fading kitten syndrome is a failure to thrive. If you adopt or take care of an orphan kitten and nothing you're doing is working, and they just seem like they're not doing well, number one, you need to get them to a veterinarian. This means if they won't eat, if they're eating and they're not gaining weight, or if they're not talking and they're just very lethargic or quiet. Fading kitten syndrome can happen from infection. It can happen if they are born with something wrong inside them, like a congenital defect. Just like humans can have cleft palates, so can baby kittens. There can be other changes internally that are preventing them from thriving. But fading kitten syndrome is a failure to thrive. The best way to help that kitten is to get it to a veterinarian so they can administer supportive care and give them a chance.

Most of the kittens found outside will be talking if they're healthy. If their eyes aren't open, they still should be fairly vocal. They should be mobile, like moving around. We should also not see any nasal discharge, wheezing, or gasping for breath. Their tongue should be nice and pink, and they should have coats with no sores. I think their activity is your biggest thing here to distinguish if they're healthy or not.

With newborn kittens that are with their mother, you can just support the mom. As long as the weather is nice outside, you can put a box outside with blankets, and you can produce food and water. Then, once the kittens' eyes are open and they're about five to six weeks of age, you can remove them from the mom and rehome them if the mother is feral. If the mother is not feral, you can bring all of them into the home and put them in a kennel or get them to a rescue where they can grow up and find new homes.

In this instance, it's really good to go ahead and have the help of your veterinarian, so they know what's going on and can guide you. It is possible to bottle feed, but generally, newborn kittens need to teach you how to stimulate them and how to go to the bathroom. You can do this by taking a warm, damp paper towel and gently rubbing over their private area for their poops and their peas every two to three hours, and they should go ahead and go. That's how the mother cat stimulates them to go to the bathroom. I always recommend coming in to see your veterinarian, going through this, and talking about bottle feeding because sometimes bottle feeding isn't the easiest. You think that it would be, but it's not.

It's really important for kittens to stay warm. When they're just a few weeks old, they can't regulate their body temperatures. One way to help keep them warm is to use warm towels from the dryer. You can use a heating pad, but you need to ensure that the kitten can get off of the heating pad. That way, they don't overheat. Those are the two easiest ways. A third thing is you can actually put them skin-to-skin against your body to warm them up. You want them to be about 98 degrees. You don't want them to go above 99.5 until they're a few weeks old.

With newborn kittens, we obviously want to make sure that we're not putting them at risk for just infection, just like human babies. Yes, you can hold a newborn kitten. The recommendation's always to either wash your hands thoroughly or put some gloves on. That way, you don't inadvertently transmit diseases. If the mother is present, she may not want you to hold a newborn. So it's not something that I recommend right off the bat. But definitely, if you are going to handle them, you need to make sure your hands are clean or you're wearing gloves.