New member - urgent question

[Dadyo]

Heather 102180 moved post to Breeding forum.

Hello, I am happy to have found this forum, and it sems that there is plenty of good info here. We have recently (in the last year) started breeding Ragdoll cats. We have had one vey successful litter of 4 kitties, and we kept one of them for our family. The 2nd litter was born 2 days ago, and the kitten (now 6 months old) has begu nursing again! She was totally weaned, and everything seemed perfectly normal, so when Sophie (the Queen) went into heat, we proceeded, and now we are worried that the 6 month old is depriving the newborns of nutrition. We are trying to keep them apart, but the Queen seems to regard her as part of her litter and continually seeks her out. What suggestions would anyone have? We are very concerned!

Thanks

[spotty cats]

I would keep them apart at this young age, they can mingle later on but this early the kittens don't need to compete with a big kitten for milk.

[doodlebug]

I'd keep them apart. But I'm even more concerned that you bred your cat only 4 months after giving birth to her previous litter. That means she only had about a 2 month break between weaning the first litter and getting pregnant the second time. I know you didn't ask about this, but it's just not healthy for her or the kittens. You're risking her life.

[rhythmicgoldfish]

just let her do it she is not taking nutrition from the other kittens she is increasing the mothers milk supply and in all likelihood just nursing for comfort ... leave her alone and let her nurse

[Sol]

Weigh the kittens daily and let the older one nurse as long as the small ones increase in weight. If they start losing weight you separate the older one from the mother. Lock the doors between them if need be.