Anybody ever experience a grieving mother?

This is such a sad story, I had to ask. My friend at work had a mother cat who had 5 kittens and lost them all in 3 weeks. She feels terribly guilty about the time she left them alone and thinks there is something she could have done to save them if she was there. Worst of all, her mother cat will not stop guarding the couch where she had the kittens, and she walks around the house sniffing and moaning as if looking for the babies. She won't believe they're gone. I feel so bad for her. When I had my sad litter of faders at least one lived. She said her cat was an excellent mother, very loving and attentive, and tried her best. What can be done for this poor sad little mommy? It's heartbreaking.

That is sad. The poor mama.
When I was growing up we lived on a farm and we had barn cats. I remember we had this one pretty calico girl named littlefoot. She was pregnant (I knew she was anyway, my mom argued with me every time I told her a mama was pregnant).
Anyway one day I was outside and littlefood kept meowing at me and walking away and would come back and meow at me and walk away. I knew that she wanted me to follow her so I did. She led me into the barn and there in a pile were her 3 kittens. They were premature and had no hair. It was so sad. I don't know how to comfort a grieving mama. All I know is soon after that we never saw littlefoot anymore.

Yes, indeed I have. A stray we took in a while back had 2 babies and both died. She was VERY upset for about 2 weeks.

Did your friend take the kittens away right after they died or did she leave them there? As hard as it might be for her to see dead kittens laying there, they need to stay there for a while so that mommy can come to the reality that the babies are gone.

I didn't remove the kittens until Dove seemed to not paying attention to them anymore, and then she left that area and left them, she understood they were gone. That only took a day. If your friend still has the kittens she NEEDS to put them back so that her momma cat can see and understand what has happened.

Another option for your friend is fostering some orphan kittens from her local animal shelter, and she can be used as a foster mom(at least the shelter here allows that, I'm not sure about others).

I'm so sorry for her and your friends' loss

Good luck

I agree with the previous poster, maybe your momma cat could be a whet nurse to some orphans?
your vet or local shelter would know about any.

it's sad that the poor momma kitty is missing her babies. she probably feels the need to nurse them and can't find them.

I don't know if the kittens were moved right away, I'll ask. What if there are no kittens needing nursing? I even suggested adopting a kitten and seeing if she'd accept it, but what if she doesn't, what then? That's not a good idea I guess.

i had a batch of just 2 kittens that were born still born and it was so sad ....cats are like our companions , our friends and we always have a special place in our heart for them....i think what was said before fostering or calling a local shelter to see if any need fostering, even dogs have been known to foster kittens....good luck with mama kitty

I am sorry for your loss. I am dealing with a greaving cat myself Stitch had to have and emergency c-ceaction and partly due to her pushing to long and partly due to over estetizing her all 4 kittens died, and no they didnt even show her one dead baby. my poor stitch lost even the will to live. I had to work hard and fast to save her. the one thing that has helped her a bit was a baby bunny I brought home cause the bunny is blind. she still is calling for her kittens and checking the place where she was in labor. tho now when she starts looking for her she snuggles and trys to get the bunny to nurse. I wish you luck and hope you find a solution for the poor cat.

Our cat Stars had 4 kittens 8 weeks ago and 1 of them died 2 weeks ago after a fall. She still wanders the room they are in looking for him and calling to him It's so sad.

Our cat Spooky had a litter of 3 kittens but sadly one was stillborn. We knew something was wrong so we had to help her remove it from the birth canal. It was so sad but Spooky already knew it was too late.

1 of her 2 kittens almost died. Spooky wasn't feeding her properly. Hubby woke me up with a lifeless kitten in his hands. We cried & prayed to God to make her live. It was one of the saddest moments. We slowly fed her & kept her warm. Spooky started to bite us & mew at us while we were trying to help her baby. We've never seen that behavior before so Momma knew her baby may die. She didn't know what to do, she kept coming over to Sadee licking her lifeless body. Spooky kept staring at us like shes trying to say, please help my baby! Thankfully Sadee is healthy now! Shes growing so fast...We ended up having to handfeed Sadee until she didn't need it anymore Lots of work but shes healthy & alive!!!