Young and pregnant

I love animals and have a soft spot for the unwantables!! About 3 weeks ago these jerks left there "under a year" cat out for days. She is as sweet as can be. I put her in our city kennal for fear a coyote would make her his dinner. I went to the home and asked the owners about there cat. The lady there , very nasty, told me it was a stray and they were feeding it but they did not want it. I asked if I could adopt her out and she gave me the go ahead. SO I gave her to my daughter. My daughter is telling me this cat is eating like a pig and getting fat as can be. She cries and cries for food. Here she is pregnant. My daughter  freaked out, so I took the cat . I have other kitties in my house and knew a prego cat would not fit in. I put her in a large dog cage and she gave birth yesterday morning. She was a sweet cat, nice as can be..now she is the meanest cat from hell!! She will let me pet her, but then goes to bite me.  I was just giving her food and she darted out of the cage and at one of my males and beat the hell out of him. I had to get a broom to get her off. Shes turned into SATAN kitty!! I have her in a quiet place, the cage is covered with a sheet. No one is bothering her, they are all scared of her....What could be her problem? i know she has the instinct to protect her babies but WOW!

Second thing is, she had 5 babies in the litter box, even though I had it all set up for her in a nice clean box. The kittens, afterbirth were all full of litter so she did not  eat the cords and afterbirth off. the kittens were all tangeled. I called emergency pet clinic..of course it was all about $$$ not the kittens. Receptionist whispered cut fingertip length or there gonna die!, I coaxed mom into a carrier with food and put the new kittens on a pillow. With surgical scissors I finally untangled the mess so I could cut fingertip length. All were free, one babies leg was twisted completly backwards. There were 5  and then #6 came...tiny tiny one. All eating as far as i can see. she lets me by them as long as i make it quick. I want to see if all are alive still. Otherwise  no one bothers her at all except to feed and water. Is she suppose to be that mean?. I've been dealing with cats for years , even ferral. I never had a prego cat. I'm big on fixing them asap. How long till i can get her spayed????  Will she get better or this is gonna be the way she is..so mean!! Ill never get her adopted then!!

Getting tangled is another reason it's good to be onhand when kittens are born, but it sounds like you sorted it out.

Mum cats getting very aggresive is normal as well.  Do you have a room she can have to herself?  If she feels more secure she will start coming back to her normal self faster.

She needs more than feeding and litter cleaning, she needs fuss and attention but on her own terms.

The twisted leg will probably get better on it's own once the kitten starts trying to walk - it sounds like 'frogs legs'.  A friend had a kitten with both back legs affected and she was completely normal after a few weeks - the vet had never seen it before and was muttering about having to amputate the more badly affected leg!

http://catvet.homestead.com/contracture.html

http://www.pandecats.com/x/update_on_kittens_born_with_twisted_legs.shtml

Ring your vet about when they will spay - many won't do it until the kittens are weaned, 8-10 weeks.

Feed mum as much as she wants to eat, make a fuss of her. find her the quietest place in the house (for now) and hopefully in a couple of weeks she will be much calmer.  If she will let you weigh the kittens each day, do so.  Weighing in grams on a digital kitchen scale works best, they should be putting on 10g or more each day.  Do it in front of her, pick up the kitten, weigh it, record the weight and put the kitten back.  Hopefully you can tell them all apart!

Is she in her own room? If not she really needs to be (still with the sheet covered crate) to help her feel secure.

Especially being such a young girl she needs time to settle with her bubs. What a shame you weren't present at the birth to help her, but well done on sorting them out afterwards. She was probably quite confused and thought she needed to use the litter tray when it was actually labour.

She may calm down again in a few more days, it's helpful if you are able to weigh the litter once a day to ensure they are gaining weight but do wait until she is more settled, usually within 24 hours they properly bond with the kittens.

Spaying can usually be done around 10 weeks, you can get her and the litter done at the same time.