is it normal for mother cats nippels to be scabbed ...

Is she nursing kittens and how old are they?

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Lori McLaughlin
Your veterinarian should ALWAYS be consulted first and foremost when your pet's welfare is at stake.

Yes they are 5 days old. It seems like there are two nippels that are scabbed, and she has 6 kittens, so now there are only 3-4 nippels that they can eat from, she is always makeing sure she is around and avalible to feed them, in turns....making sure they all get fed. The kittens don't cry a lot and do not look skinny.... but I am afraid she is drying up, since it is only day 5 and she has two nippels that seem to be out of milk.... I do not have any exrta money to take them to the vet.... She was a stray that I took in about 4 months ago, she was injured so I took her to the vet and I got her antibiotics and vacinations that was $160 and then found out she was pregnent... she had the litter and they were all underdeveloped and not living...I took her to the vet again to make sure she was ok... and that was another $70... and that drained me of the rest of my savings.   One week after the delivery, I was going to take her to get spayed and she got out for one day and she came right back and I thought she might be pregenant... turned out she was, again...this past saturday she had a litter of 6 and they all look very healthey.... I am looking for homes for them right now, and letting the prospective owners know all they have to do is pay for there kitten shots....Sorry to go on with my sob story... but I am an animal lover and I am very freaked out right now, because I don't know what I can do and how to help mama feed the kittens in the least expensive way possible... until I can round up enough money to get them to a vet...
Please help! Thank you for your time.

I hate telling you to do much of anything with the kittens being so young. I worry that she may be developing mastitis (mammary infection) which could make her milk go bad, and make her pretty ill. If the kittens are content and gaining weight, you could go ahead and put a little bit of Neosporin on the nipples that are cracked. Even if a kitten nursed on that particular nipple, it shouldn't be toxic to it. I wouldn't slather it on, just put enough to cover the sore spot and then only once a day. If she still has 4 nipples that are unaffected, the kittens will nurse enough from them to keep the milk flowing. If they stop gaining weight, you can supplement them if necessary with some Kitten Milk Replacer (KMR or Esiblac or Mothers Helper). Do keep an eye on mom and if she appears glassy eyed, or if the sore nipples appear to be swelling or beome hot to the touch, she really does need medical attention - usually an oral antibiotic will take care of the problem. Many vets will work with clients they have dealt with in the past to make payment arrangements, especially in situations like this where you got "stuck" before you could get her spayed. Please let me know how she does.

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Lori McLaughlin
Your veterinarian should ALWAYS be consulted first and foremost when your pet's welfare is at stake.

Thank you, for your help... I hope she will be ok...she seems pretty good, tonight, and her nippels are not swollen or hot to the touch, so I will keep an eye out for that, but she seemed pretty thankfull when I got the Neosporin on her one that the kittens won't even go to... I cannot reach the other one till she finishes nursing this time... but thank you very much, Lori. I will be in touch with you as she progresses!... Do I just reply to this question again, to let you know how she is doing?

You can go to my profile and send me a PM or get my email off of my profile and email me. It sounds like things are good right now....and give those babies lots of kisses Images available only to Customers.



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Please Press ACCEPT if my answer helped solve your problem.
Lori McLaughlin
Your veterinarian should ALWAYS be consulted first and foremost when your pet's welfare is at stake.

I already accepted the answer above... after I replyed to you! even though I would give you another 8$ if I had it to spare! Thank you again for all your help! and I will keep you updated!

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