my little dolly yorkie is mothering kittens

[sueydolly]

Please help i need advise my yorkie started mothering 4 kittens when they where seven days old after the mother cat was killed she cleaned them and wouldnt leave them. Of course she had no milk then but she let them suckle . I had feed them every four hours and she waited to clean them after. It was amazing . But she soon produced milk but after the kittens where 8 weeks old. Now six months has passed the kittens are bigger then her and she is feeding them after all this time she has more milk then ever. And she won't to be with them. The kittens clearly don't need the milk but how can i stop here from continueing . I need advice my little dog feeding kittens but how can i stop will it harm her
Suey and little dolly

[Carmeow]

Bump....

[WannaBe]

Gosh, that is a tough one. So you are keeping the kittens? If your dog won't stop nursing them I would take her away from them. If you see them nursing, pick her up and take her out of the room? And, if you are not home, lock her in a separate room till they give up and don't want her anymore.

[Nancy1999]

Have you asked the vet about this? I don't know if there are health risks to her, I hope you are feeding extra food. I just think this is such an adorable story, but I don't have any advice. I do know there are things you can give to dry up the mothers milk, but I don't know if that's advisable. Are you planning on placing the kittens, maybe if you could find homes for them the problem would take care of itself.

[sueydolly]

Originally Posted by WannaBe

Gosh, that is a tough one. So you are keeping the kittens? If your dog won't stop nursing them I would take her away from them. If you see them nursing, pick her up and take her out of the room? And, if you are not home, lock her in a separate room till they give up and don't want her anymore.

Thank you for the reply , I live in a very rural area in Spain there is so many cats here and no one wants them , when I rescued them I didn't think about what I could do with them , I just thought they would live around the orange orchard. I can keep my little dog away from them but I'm worried the milk will go stale and she will get an infection called mastitis . I have not contacted the vet for advise as I'm in a very spanish village and don't speak much spanish however I just come across this website and thought someone would tell me what to do my dog is very healthy and I give plenty of food to the kittens as well as my dog but she is so small it just seems not naturally to keep feeding them if I can work out this web site to post pictures I will because it is a truly amazing story but now I have to do something do I let nature take its coarse or separate them and hope she doesn't have problems with her milk drying up. I would home the kittens but there just isn't any one that wants them.thanks for reply to all that reads this little story

[sueydolly]

Originally Posted by WannaBe

Gosh, that is a tough one. So you are keeping the kittens? If your dog won't stop nursing them I would take her away from them. If you see them nursing, pick her up and take her out of the room? And, if you are not home, lock her in a separate room till they give up and don't want her anymore.

Thank you for your reply I have no homes for them but I can try your advise I just don't wont her to get mastitis from a build up of milk I don't really know what to do for the best I thought I was saving life's but didn't think it would turn out that the kittens think my Yorkie is there mum

[WannaBe]

Originally Posted by sueydolly

Thank you for your reply I have no homes for them but I can try your advise I just don't wont her to get mastitis from a build up of milk I don't really know what to do for the best I thought I was saving life's but didn't think it would turn out that the kittens think my Yorkie is there mum

I'm not sure what the breeders do when they wean puppies, do the moms still make milk after awhile, somehow I think it will go away. I don't think she will get mastitis, not from just nursing and then stop nursing. I think if they continue it will not be good for her health. A puppy will stop, not so sure about kittens.

[pink66]

I think that you should let them be. Your dog will eventually decide to stop nursing and will wean the kittens. You certainly don't want to make her stop suddenly-think how painful that would be with all of that milk. That's when she would be most likely to get mastitis.

[tjdmom]

You could put a baby onesie on her so that they are unable to nurse but I would do it gradually unless they only nurse now and then. She must be a really good mom to take such good care of them....

[iLoveLittleRoxy]

Originally Posted by tjdmom

You could put a baby onesie on her so that they are unable to nurse but I would do it gradually unless they only nurse now and then. She must be a really good mom to take such good care of them....

i couldnt remember the word onesie, i was trying to think of how to call it. my youngest is 2 i should know.

[MauiGirl]

This is a sweet and interesting story, however I don't think it is good for any of them, your yorkie or the kittens to be nursing for six months.

I would try to stop them, either by using a onsie, or by keeping them separate.

Good luck, and let us know how it turns out.

[sharleytail]

That is really wonderful to hear how she take them as her siblings. The only way probably is let them separated. BTW is your yorkie fixed?

[lynzy420]

Your in a rural Spanish Village and don't speak Spanish in Spain? I'm confused.
The kittens need to be removed from the situation and separated from your dog, the kittens are too old and it is not healthy for your pup or the kittens who need to learn fend for themselves in the Orchard.

Your dog needs to go to a vet and be spayed, obviously she isn't already, right?

Do you have any pics of the pup and her kittens? That would be really cool to see!!

Welcome to YT!

[Nancy1999]

Originally Posted by sueydolly

Thank you for the reply , I live in a very rural area in Spain there is so many cats here and no one wants them , when I rescued them I didn't think about what I could do with them , I just thought they would live around the orange orchard. I can keep my little dog away from them but I'm worried the milk will go stale and she will get an infection called mastitis . I have not contacted the vet for advise as I'm in a very spanish village and don't speak much spanish however I just come across this website and thought someone would tell me what to do my dog is very healthy and I give plenty of food to the kittens as well as my dog but she is so small it just seems not naturally to keep feeding them if I can work out this web site to post pictures I will because it is a truly amazing story but now I have to do something do I let nature take its coarse or separate them and hope she doesn't have problems with her milk drying up. I would home the kittens but there just isn't any one that wants them.thanks for reply to all that reads this little story

I would have all the kittens spayed and neutered before putting them off in the orange orchard, you will otherwise have a huge feral cat problem in no time at all. There are many low cost or free spay and neuter clinics world wide.