Hello everyone,
My 11-month-old cat gave birth to 4 kittens 3 days ago. She gave birth in my bed while I was there (she wanted nothing to do with the birthing box I'd set up for her). Everything went really smoothly — once the little ones had fallen asleep, I moved them with their mum into the box with a blanket and a hot water bottle.
The father of the kittens (who I'm planning to get neutered soon) has been very affectionate with the kittens and their mum. I never leave him alone with them though, just to be safe.
Yesterday I woke up to the sound of the babies crying. I looked over and saw Mimi (the mum) biting the only male, who is also the weakest of the litter. I grabbed her by the scruff and shouted at her in shock at what I'd just seen. After that she sat down, started meowing at me, and made a kind of whimpering/meowing sound while looking towards the kittens. A little while later she tried again — biting another kitten on the head and back. To me, it looked like she was trying to eat them 😰. So I decided to separate them. Since I didn't have any kitten milk replacement yet, I put her on my bed with the babies and held her paws and head so the kittens could nurse. After I let go, she started licking them.
I was relieved, thinking things would be fine and she'd be gentle with the babies. Just in case, I'd already gone out to buy some kitten milk formula. I left her alone with the kittens, came back two minutes later, and found she'd pulled one of the crying babies under the duvet (thankfully the kitten was unharmed).
I really don't understand her behaviour. The vet I called said she's stressed, and nothing more.
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Has anything like this ever happened to you?
How do you deal with it?
One last thing — the weakest male won't nurse, so I'm trying to bottle-feed him (which is an absolute mission). He constantly makes suckling movements with his mouth, even when he seems to be asleep.
Sorry for the long post (full of typos) — I'm incredibly stressed and worried.
