Mum grooming kittens, is she too rough?

[caz2236]

My house mates cat had 3 beutiful kittens , they are now 3 weeks old..
Portia the mum has been brilliant over the last few weeks. Now they are walking around and mum grabs them to clean them. We're worried she may be a little too rough as she kicks them in the back while shes holding them round the neck :? They squeal really loudly.

Also one of them has a slightly weepy eye but is happy and growing as fast as the rest. Is that a problem?

3rdly and lastly(!) we're wondering when a good time is to put them on solids.. the vet said 3 weeks... so should we seperate them from mum seeing as we're only gonna be able to keep 1:cry:

Thanks as always
Caroline

[dinahsmum]

Hi Caroline.
We had the 'rough mummy' question quite recently. Here's the thread with Fran's experienced reply
http://www.catsey.com/showthread.php?t=18989&highlight=mother+cat+rough+with+kittens
The eye? Well kittens do get infections fairly easily. He may need antibiotic drops from the vet eventually but you could try bathing it with cooled boiled water with a little salt added and see if that helps.
Solids? - I don't know through experience - never had kittens. There are various threads with different people's experience. I think some take to it early but some are quite slow. Fran may be your best bet again, or Smudgley. Sure somebody will come along to give you some advice soon.

[caz2236]

thanks a lot perfect, seems like its quite natural seeing as others have had this problem
cheers x

[John]

when Millie had kittens I put down solid food after 4 weeks and let them make there mind up if they wanted to eat it..I think it was about 6 weeks before they finale started to eat it ...they are a bundle of fun at that age

john >^..^<

[chrisratty]

My kitties where given the choise of solid food from approx 3 weeks, the eldest litter tried them then, but the youngest 2 didn't start eating solids till they were over 4 weeks old.

chris xx

[mable1718]

i hope everyones advice has helped you