Can older kitten nurse pregnant cat? Will it take milk from new kittens?

Nursing can take a lot of energy, so making sure your pregnant cat is receiving enough nutrition for herself, the growing kittens and the kitten she is nursing is key. Be sure to provide her with a high-quality kitten food that will offer extra protein and fat to provide enough for everyone. Many cats will adopt kittens from other litters, and some cats have even been known to adopt babies from other species! If this is her first litter, she may want to push away or attack the kitten when her own litter comes, so be sure to have supplemental milk ready if it is needed or if the kittens own mother is not nursing it already. If your pregnant cat does become aggressive, be sure to keep the kitten separated so both mom and kitten can be stress-free. Otherwise, as long as mom and kitten are both happy, she should be fine nursing one more!

Yes, Bella should be able to produce plenty of milk for everyone, but it is very abnormal for a 5 month old kitten to want to keep nursing. I would recommend removing the older kitten and keeping them separate. Occasionally, older kittens will continue to try to nurse, and if there is no milk present, the nursing can lead to mastitis (an infection in the mammary gland). I would also recommend getting Bella and the kittens spayed to prevent further pregnancies. Cats will mate with any male present, including their own kittens.

Hello and thank you for reaching out to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Pregnancy can be a very stressful time for animals, and it may be hard for your cat to be separate from her previous offspring. However, my recommendation would be to separate him from her so that he cannot suckle/breastfeed from her before her kittens are born. The milk produced at the beginning of lactation is very antibody-rich and important for the brand new kittens to ingest. There is also the possibility that the previous offspring could out-compete the brand new kittens for nipples if they are left together. The new kittens will need the most care and nutrition from the very beginning, and if he is allowed to suckle from the mom, the newest kittens may not get all of the nutrition they need. I hope this is helpful!

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Be sure that Liona is actually producing milk before putting the kittens with her. If she isn't making milk then you need to bottle feed the kittens every 2-3 hours with kitten milk replacer. Once she gives birth you can try to put the kittens on her. Just be sure they aren't pushing her kittens off. Track the weights of her kittens to be sure they are getting enough. I wish you the best!

Hi there. I would recommend keeping the 12 week old kitten separate from the nursing mama. We don't want the kittens to fail to thrive due to too little nutrition. If you want them to spend some time together make sure you supervise and don't allow her to nurse. Good luck and thank you for using Pet Coach.

Yes she can still nurse the kittens, if she still has milk. Sometimes a queen can also restart making milk. This is great as she will take care of them emotionally, hygienically and teach them everything they need to know, especially if you do not take them away before they are 12 weeks old. If she does not have milk (the kittens will get grouchy and whine ) you will need to feed them with kitten formula. You can find out their age by weighing them. For each week of age they are 3.5 oz , so if they are three weeks old they would weigh about 10.5 oz. If you are not sure that mama has milk, take her to your vet who can check that for you. Thank you for taking in those kittens.

This is quite odd behavior, but she is likely taking care of them since her other kittens passed away. I don't know of any ill side effects except maybe becoming overweight or an upset tummy from the change in diet. I would try to separate them so that the 5 month old kittens don't get over weight from nursing and eating regular cat food. Also the kittens could cause some harm to the mothers mammary tissue since they have teeth now. Also I would recommend to spay or neuter the kittens and mom to prevent any additional litters if at all possible. If either of the kittens are male it could mate with the litter mate or mother causing some kittens to be born with some serious genetic defects. Plus if the mother isn't nursing her new kittens then she likely won't properly nurse her upcoming litters. If you are unable to fix all of them, you may want to start with any of the males. I hope this helps!