Mother starting to hiss at kittens!!

Hi everybody. 5 weeks old and all the kittens are doing fine. They are eating wet food on their own and are interested in the dry stuff also. They use the litter box so everything is going well. Except today the mother cat started hissing and 2 of the kittens when thye come near her. Is this a sign that she is done taking care of them and wants to be away from them? Or couldit be the kitten has an unfamiliar scent from being touched by different humans? It could be that since the kitten was handled by a few children that are unfamiliar to the mother?
I am quite worried the mother might do some damage to the kitten...
Any info would be greatly appreciated!

Also, the mother seems to struggle to nurse the five kittens together considering their size and claws, she seems very uncomfortable...
Should the kittens be seperated for her to nurse them?

She could have mastitus....which would make her not want to nurse or have the kittens kneading her...we have seen several of our fosters react that way and they were fine with kittens once the infection was treated.

Have mom checked out by a vet to be sure there isn't any infections. Then start nipping the tips of the nails on the kittens front feet. I start nipping nails at 3 weeks old.

If no infections, then let mom decide if she really wants to quit nursing. Even if she does, they still should stay with mom/siblings till 10-12 weeks old or a bit older (16 weeks). They need to learn important behavior/emotional lessons that only can come with spending time with mom/siblings.

Originally Posted by Leonidis

Also, the mother seems to struggle to nurse the five kittens together considering their size and claws, she seems very uncomfortable...
Should the kittens be seperated for her to nurse them?

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Why don't you just clip the babies claws? That would make it much less painful, I am sure they are sharp if you have never cut them yet.

Mother cats will start to hiss at babies to teach them all the many things she has to teach them. Even if this happens or if she likes to spend more and more time away from them, she still needs to be with them until they are MUCH older, at least 10-12 weeks. Good luck!

I *think* that hissing is normal. Cats don't communicate to other cats through meowing, they hiss. It could just be that the mom is teaching her kittens new things.