If someone moves from their place,
The kitten will attack him.
If anything rolls,
The kitten will grab onto it.
Jump-jump! Scratch-scratch!
You will not escape from our clutches!

V. Berestov

Our kitten

The kitten has smooth fur,
And she's probably sweet
Because Vaska is red
He licks the fur often.

R.Selyanin

Confusion

Something for our grandmother
Don't fall asleep -
Yarn confusion
It's happening!
It's good that the thread
Equator
From our kitty
Hidden away!

V. Orlov

Mothers allow kittens
Kittens at dawn
They come home on their own:
They are, of course, children
But still
With a mustache.

V. Levin

Six
Kittens
Eat
They want to.
Give them porridge with milk.
Let them lap with their tongues,
Because cats
Don't eat from a spoon.

S. Marshak

What happened to the kittens

What happened to the kittens?
Why aren't they sleeping?

Why was the buffet opened?
Did you break the new cup?

Drum dropped
Scratched the sofa?

Why are their paws
Did you get into someone's shoes?

A bowl of milk was spilled,
Did you wake up your mother cat?

Why was the book torn?
Because they are catching a mouse.

V. Stepanov

Kitty

I found a kitten in the garden.
He meowed subtly, subtly,
He meowed and trembled.

Maybe he was beaten
Or they forgot to let you into the house,
Or did he run away himself?

The day had been stormy since morning,
Gray puddles everywhere...
So be it, the unhappy animal,
I will help your trouble!

I took it home
Fed to the full...
Soon my kitten will become
Just a sight for sore eyes!
Wool is like velvet
The tail is a pipe...
How good-looking!

E. Blaginina

Kittens

Listen guys
I want to tell you;
Our kittens were born -
There are exactly five of them.
We decided, we wondered:
What should we name the kittens?
Finally we named them:
ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE.
ONCE - the kitten is the whitest,
TWO - the kitten is the bravest,
THREE - the kitten is the smartest,
And FOUR is the noisiest.
FIVE - similar to THREE and TWO -
The same tail and head
The same spot on the back,
He also sleeps all day in a basket.
Our kittens are good -
ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE!
Come visit us guys
Look and count.

S. Mikhalkov

Name

What to name a kitten?
Tiger or Mouse?
Baby doll or May?
Or Jin Li-jian?
I asked the dolls, -
They say: “We don’t know!”
I asked my uncle,
He says: “Leave me alone!”

I wander all day long
All day long I whisper:
Grisha or Misha?
Kriksa or Zhuchkom?
And it's all a joke to him:
Comes off the roof with a squeak
And runs like a ball
To a saucer of milk.
Wait, you little rascal,
Let's open the book, -
What do we get?
That's what we'll call it...
Name by whim!
Third line from the bottom -
One-two-three-four,-
Will we find something?
Ha-ha-ha, cat,
Red face -
You will be called
You are Po-no-ma-rem!

S.Cherny

Kittens

There are kittens in the world -
Kasyanka, Tom and Plut.
And they have a mistress,
I don't remember the name.
She cooks for kittens
Cocoa and compote.
And gives them toys
For every New Year.

Kittens are found for her
Missing glasses
And in the morning they water
Dill and zucchini.
They asked to buy kittens
Products for lunch
They went to town
And they brought... sweets.

Polished the kitchen floor
Kasyanka, Tom and Plut.
They said: “There will be a kitchen-
A completely frozen pond."
And we had fun riding
Skating around the kitchen.
The housewife is scared
She just said: “Oh!”
Kittens for cabbage
We went to the garden.
There by the cabbage beds
They met a mole.
We played blind man's buff all day
Kittens and moles.
And the poor housewife
I was sad at the stove.

Mowed at the edge of the forest
Kasyanka, Plut and Tom.
Found a goldfinch in the grass
With the tail torn off.
They carried the patient down
To the goldfinch mother in the forest
And they made poultices,
Lotions and compress.
Once we went to the river
Kasyanka, Tom and Plut,
Check if it's good
Perches live in it.
They come, and by the river
old pike perch lying
And get to the water
He can’t do it himself.
Hurry the poor fellow into the water
They abandoned
And they shouted after:
“Be careful not to drown!”
The hostess once said:
“I’ll go buy a primer.
Illiterate kitten-
Ignorant and savage."
And that same evening together
Sit down at the table
And learned the letters
Kasyanka, Plut and Tom.
And then, taking the pens
And three pencils
This was invented
Message to mice:
“Hey, sheburshishi mice,
Run from under the roof
Escape from the basement
Until you got hit."

And then everyone signed:
"Kasyanka, Plut and Tom"

“She protects her children like a cat,” this is what they often say about selfless mothers who give all of themselves to their children. Indeed, most mustachioed mothers are examples of tenderness and caring.

But, alas, there are no rules without exceptions. Some of you may have experienced a situation where babies became orphans while their mother was alive. A cat that has not tarnished its reputation in any way leaves newborn kittens, exposing them, deprived of care and food, to mortal danger. What could be the reason for such a strange behavior?

The only thing you definitely shouldn’t suspect a cat of is hard-heartedness. The relationship between cats and kittens is based on instinct, a natural mechanism, and not generally accepted moral standards, like in humans. Therefore, scolding and punishing a cat that has abandoned its babies is as stupid as demanding that it remain faithful to one cat all its life.

A cat abandons kittens: a mistake of youth

But too young an age may well be the reason why a cat abandons her kittens and leaves. There is a time for everything - this phrase is most suitable for young, in the literal sense of the word, mothers.

Alas, in mammals the maternal instinct sometimes manifests itself later than the sexual instinct. Owners of unsterilized young cats should keep this issue under control if they do not want to be left alone with blind, helpless squeaking lumps. True, it happens that motherhood still returns the cat to her babies on the second or third day after birth.

Mom got sick

Another reason why a cat leaves kittens may be her poor health and health problems.

No milk

For example, due to a hormonal imbalance caused by childbirth, the animal simply does not produce milk. The same thing happens to cats after anesthesia for caesarean section. Lack of lactation is one of the reasons why a cat leaves newborn kittens.

Also, in cats that have recently given birth (especially in very young and, conversely, older cats), endometritis often occurs - inflammation of the uterine mucosa. In this case, mothers simply lose milk, and they run away from their babies or throw them out of the “nest”: this is what nature dictates.

In addition, mother cats often experience mastitis, that is, inflammation of the mammary glands, and the feeding process becomes so painful that they have no choice but to escape from the kittens and from the painful sensations.

Severe calcium deficiency

The third common illness of the postpartum period is eclampsia. It is also called milk fever or postpartum tetany. The essence of the disease is an acute lack of calcium, so an unbalanced diet of an animal during pregnancy increases the risk of the disease many times over.

In this case, the cat may not only abandon the kittens, but also show aggression or increased anxiety, for example, biting the babies or anxiously dragging them from place to place.

Only a specialist can diagnose the disease in mothering cats and prescribe the correct effective treatment. It’s better not to skimp on a visit to the veterinary clinic: all these ailments are quite dangerous. The same eclampsia can lead to the death of a cat, and very quickly.

Cat leaves kittens due to stress

Stress may well cause a cat to abandon its own children. For example, excessive attention to a cat during childbirth or constant visits from strangers to the nest where a mother and newborn kittens are located cause excessive anxiety in the animal and can provoke atypical behavior.

The cause of psychological trauma can also be an unsafe nest location from the cat’s point of view (that is, a box or basket that serves as a postpartum chamber) or the appearance of other pets in the house.

Sick or stranger

Everyone knows that under no circumstances should you handle baby wild animals: because of the foreign smell, the mother will abandon such a baby. But for some reason, few people think that this may be the reason why the cat leaves - kittens, even newborns, are often picked up and squeezed in the most unceremonious way. If babies lose their mother's scent, there is a very high probability that the mother will abandon them.

In addition, cats instinctively sense sick or non-viable offspring. The mother can abandon all the kittens or persistently throw one out of the nest if she is sure that it has no chance of survival. By the way, a cat can mistake its cub for a dead one with a low body temperature - this one can be saved by warming it up and placing it again under the mother’s side.

Instinct with damage

There are cats whose hunting instinct is poorly developed and they do not catch mice. And there are those whose maternal instinct is poorly developed. Of course, there are few of these, because this is, in fact, a mistake of nature, but such cats still exist.

Whatever the reason why the cat abandons the kittens and leaves, you should not scold or hit her, this will only worsen the situation. A sick animal must be treated. In other cases, you can try to “reconcile” the mother and cubs by calming the cat down, talking kindly to her and expressing your approval in every possible way.

If this does not help, there is only one thing left to do - find a wet nurse for the “orphans” or take on maternal responsibilities. But this is a topic for another discussion.

Based on materials from the website www.icatcare.org

Unfortunately, when awaiting the birth of kittens, you must be prepared for the fact that some of them may not survive. In purebred cats, the early mortality rate of kittens is slightly higher than in domestic cats. One study provides data that about 7% of purebred kittens are stillborn, 9% die during the first eight weeks of life (mostly from the first to the third week). The number of kittens surviving after 8 weeks of life varies between breeds (from 75% to 95%), Persian kittens are the most likely to die.

Most kittens that are not destined to survive die before birth (they are stillborn) or in the first week of life. The number of deaths in kittens that lived for more than a week is significantly less. As a rule, while the cat is nursing kittens, death occurs from “non-infectious” causes; mortality from infectious diseases increases after the kitten is taken from its mother. This is because kittens receive protection against many infections through their mother's milk. Kittens that die between birth and weaning are called “fading.”

Neonatal isoerythrolysis.

For some cat breeds, neonatal isoerythrolysis is a fairly common cause of death in kittens. The cause of death in this case is incompatibility blood groups cats and kittens.

The kitten should begin suckling within the first 2 hours of life. Kittens receive antibodies from the cat's milk by absorbing them during the first 16 to 24 hours of life, so it is important that they nurse well during this period. Milk is necessary not only for good nutrition, but also for the acquisition of maternal derived immunity, which protects them from infections.

The effectiveness of maternal immunity usually decreases at 3-4 weeks of life, individually for each kitten; by this time the amount of antibodies should be sufficient. A kitten's own immunity has not yet developed, and since most vaccination programs begin after 8 weeks, kittens are at increased risk of infectious diseases during this period. Kittens that do not nurse well will not receive enough colostrum and will not be protected by maternal immunity, becoming especially susceptible to infectious diseases at an early age.

In kittens, bacterial infections are often secondary to viral infections (cat flu, leukemia, immunodeficiency, peritonitis, parvovirus), although they can also be primary. Clinical signs depend on the nature and severity of the infestation and may include diarrhea, cough, difficulty breathing, arthritis, dermatitis, as well as less obvious signs more typical of fading kittens. Ultimately, many of these infections lead to septicemia (a form of sepsis where there are large numbers of bacteria in the blood) and death.