One cat had kittens, could the other one be jealous?

I started with two cats, littermates, who are now 16.5 months old. They generally get along very well with each other, playing together nicely.

About six weeks ago I took in a pregnant stray. The other two have mostly ignored her except for an occasional hiss or swat from Shareena.

Goldy had her kittens yesterday morning, and Shareena is suddenly hissing at everything, including me. She's not attacking, but she'll barely let me get close enough to pet her.

Could she be jealous? Is there anything I can do to help her feel friendly again, or is this something she'll just have to get over by herself?

Well, I know that if one cat is spayed and one not, sometimes there can be issues. I would think having kittens makes the mom more aggresive protecting the kittens. The other cat would feel uncomfortable and territorial maybe.

Its possible. With our barn cats, there were two sisters (calicos) who were not spayed. One had several litters. The other never had a litter. After the one sister left with my husband's ex MIL, the other remained at our house.

The offspring of the one that left would have kittens. LowCal (the one that remained and never had kittens of her own) hated the females and their kittens. She would run them off or try to chase them into the street to be killed.

Evan after LowCal was spayed, she still did not like any of her sister's offspring. She tolerated a few males (neutered) that stayed, but would run off or kill rival females.

My DH thinks that LowCal was jealous of her sister and the offspring.

I have three girls, none of them spayed. The plan was to take them all at once, which is now going to be after Goldy weans her kittens.

Miss Patchwillow is my scaredycat. Since the new kittens arrived she's been spending more time under the bed or the loveseat. When she does come out she wants extra cuddling. She mostly ignores both Goldy and her babies.

Shareena is my problem child. She's never been a cuddly kitty. She likes to ride around on my shoulder but only as long as I'm standing or walking. As soon as I sit down she hops off to go find a higher perch. When I first brought Goldy into the house, Shareena approached her, touched noses, then proceded to ignore her. A couple of weeks later I noticed the occasional soft hiss or swat on the head--with claws in. As soon as the babies were born the hissing increased dramatically and she started taking swipes with claws out. For two or three days I couldn't even get near her without her hissing at me.

She's calmed down a little now. She still hisses and backs away if I try to pet her when she's in the same room as Goldy. If I have her in a separate room she's almost back to her normal self.

Goldy has always been a sweetheart. Whenever Shareena would hiss or swat her, she just sat there as if nothing had happened. Since she had her kittens she hasn't exactly become aggressive, but she does sometimes hiss back.

The one good thing is that Shareena has never attacked the kittens. She'll peek into the basket and as soon as something moves or squeaks, she jumps back. I did catch her last night reaching into the basket, looked like she was trying to swat something. It turned out to be a bug that had flown in and gotten caught in the sheet. She actually managed to get it out (and eat it) without touching the babies.

She does love going after bugs, lizards, moths, anything that moves.