|
Written by Wendy Christensen
Q: I took in a stray that turned out to be pregnant. She had her kittens, then the craziness started. First of all she was overly protective of them, and kept moving them around from place to place. They are now 7 weeks old and she cries and howls if every single cat is not in sight...... 3 weeks after the births, mother cat went after one of my female spayed cats. Sweet Pea is so frightened or angry that she will not come back in the house. She comes around to be fed, but other than that...I never see her. This is killing me. I didn't want to take the pregnant mother (now with kittens) in at the expense of losing my beloved Sweet Pea. I'm devastated. I carried her back in the house 3 times already and she is scared to death and agitated (hissing and growling the whole time). I finally let her back outside, but I'm afraid that one day she just won't turn up. I couldn't live with myself if that happened, I've had Sweet Pea for 7 years.
I don't want to get rid of the kittens (or the mother) I'd like to get the mother fixed and keep them all. I didn't expect it to get this bad. The mother cat also doesn't like my 5-year-old female spayed cat, Sassy. Can I ever get my house in order without giving any of them up?
A: One of the most powerful forces in nature is a mother animal protecting her young. And mother cats are among the fiercest and most protective of all mothers.
In moving her babies, and in her insistence that she knows exactly where every one is, your Mama Cat is not being "overprotective" -- she's being a sensible, wise Mom. In the wild, a Mom Cat will move her entire litter to a new nest several times during their first few weeks of life. This is to insure that the nest where her kittens are is always clean and fresh, with no odors or other clues to attract predators. This is completely normal.
As far as attacking your other females… I think this is because she simply doesn't know them yet, and so doesn't trust them anywhere near her babies. Again, she's being a sensible, cautious Mama, protecting her kittens from unknown dangers. This protective and defensive behavior is driven by powerful hormone changes that precede and follow through the entire pregnancy-birth-nursing sequence.
In groups of cats who form social groups (rather than living as solitary predators), related and friendly females in the social group will often help each other out with babysitting and even nursing duties. This has been seen in lion prides, as well as feral domestic cat colonies and groups of barn cats. But in your case, your Mama Cat doesn't know the other females, so her nature and instinct for protecting her babies tells her to react to them with fierceness and hostility.
This phase will pass, as the kittens are weaned and grow up. Once Mama returns to her normal, non-maternal self, you can work on gradually and gently re-introducing her to your other cats. Be sure to get Mama spayed as soon as your veterinarian says it's OK, too. This is VERY important!
Because of the hostile introductions among them, your cats might take longer than usual to come around to one another. Please be patient, and let the cats set the pace. Never force interactions! Once Mama is back to normal (and spayed), I think that Sweet Pea and Sassy will feel a lot more comfortable with the situation and return (at their own speed) to their former behavior patterns. The keys are time, patience and plenty of love!
Herding Cats at Home - July 2004 1
Herding Cats at Home - July 2004 2
|
