New Momma Not Involved with Kittens

Bubbles gave birth to two kittens on June 11th. Since the birth, she has been available to them but she just does not seem half as interested in the kittens as other momma cats I have seen. She has refused to use the litter box, choosing instead to go outside to use the bathroom. She will spend hours outside in the last couple of days. Last night, I was up late as usual and heard one of the kittens meowing really loudly so I went to see what was going on. Bubbles was bathing herself while sitting on one of the kittens. I saw her look back at the kitten then continue bathing without making any effort to get off of him. I had to intervene. I can't explain it. It just seems as if she could care less. She does still nurse the kittens but as my 15 year old daughter said, it seems as if Bubbles is a teenage mom. She is still a kitten herself (she was a stray who wandered onto our porch one evening then becoming pregnant before we could get her fixed).

 Please don't let her outside,  nursing does not stop a cat getting pregnant again.  usually they don't get pregnant this quick but it HAS happened, and it would not be  good  at all for her or for the kittens.   

 I don't know what you will do about the litterbox situation.    try providing another box,  maybe one covered and one uncovered?   a different kind of litter in one?  try the Cat Attract litter?  

 You will need to keep her inside until the kittens are around 8 weeks and weaned and then get her spayed.   

  Just keep her in a room with the kittens  with the door closed much of the time.  They need to nurse every few hours  (  at least every 3-4 hours  is the minimum)     They can't maintain their blood sugar level if they do not get fed often.  they can go into hypoglycemia.   Plus they need to eat often since their little stomachs can't hold a lot at a time.  

Also would be a good idea to weigh the kitties daily to make sure they are gaining enough.   ( should be putting on at least 10 grams a day. ( In ounces that is about a third of an ounce )  It is OK if one day they don't gain that much   but you don't want to see that repeatedly.   and dont want to see them losing weight.

If you can't get the mama cat to do her job, you will have to do some supplemental bottle feeding.     but hopefully you can get her to do it,  with some encouragement and supervision.  Mothers milk is still the best thing for them. 

   It is OK to let her out of the room to run around elsewhere in the house for a while,  but then make sure she goes back to the kittens. 

She might want some human company too.   She IS  like a teen mom and may be a little bored;  maybe it would help to have a human in there with her paying attention to HER, petting her while she lies with the babies or just hanging out..  

Also they can't maintain their body temperature yet.   and they need to be very warm.   so if the temperature where they are is under 80 and the mom is not lying with them,  I would recommend a  pet heating pad,  or  one for people turned on the lowest setting and wrapped up in a towel,  and placed on just part of the nest so they can move off if they get too warm. 

Excellent answer, Maewkaew.  Just to second it all for me.  

Good luck with Bubbles!

We woke up his morning to find one of the two kittens missing. We searched every inch of this house and it's like he just vanished. The momma does not seem the least bit concerned but we are worried. It's been four hours since we woke up and no telling how the kitten has been missing. We live in a double wide trailor so there aren't many places he could be. Two of the bedroom doors were closed all night and we have searched the remaining bedroom several times. I don't know what to do! I do not know what behavior the mother cat should be showing with a missing cat.

IF he is not missing at all, she will not worry much.  If he died during the night, mom either carried it away and hide somewhere, or even she could eat up it.

Was the missed kitten ill by any way?

But you must continue to search, if he is alive somewhere... Just to be entirely sure.

Good luck!

One time when our cat Pepper was a kitten he fell into an air vent and we had to go into the basement and take apart the shaft to get him out, and my grandparents cat got locked in a closet for a week. They didn't hear it meowing or anything. They can get in surprising places. Check the shut off rooms anyway just in case, check air vents, any little crevice they can get into. Pepper also liked to claw the underside of the box springs and he make a hole and climb into the bed from underneath! Ditto for sofas or anything like that. He was sneaky when he was younger. When they are that small there's no end of hiding places they can find. Keep your ears open for meows in a while, he/she is bound to start making noises when it gets hungry and momma cat will want to feed them, so maybe she'll hear her baby and lead you to it's hiding place?

Last night, we lost the remaining kitten. He passed away about 8pm. The momma cat carried him to the back of a closet and walked away. We still have not found the kitten that went missing yesterday morning. We even enlisted the help of some friends to help locate him but there is no sign of him. We miss the kittens dearly.  

So sorry. Most likely, the mom cat hide the other kitten's body. That's what they do to keep predators away from the nest. Mom kitty is lucky to have found you.

I am sorry for the loss of your kittens. You might want to post a tribute to them at our Crossing the Bridge Forum. When you do, this thread can be closed and a link to your Bridge thread about your kittens posted here.

 I am so sorry you lost the kittens. 

It might even be that Bubbles sensed something was not right with them and they were not likely to survive and that's why she was not as involved as most mother cats with healthy kittens.   

 I am guessing the first kitten died and she either hid the body very well  or even consumed it as Stefan mentioned ,  which can happen occasionally,  probably instinct to avoid drawing predators by the smell.  

 I would give a call to the vet ASAP and discuss an appointment to get her spayed.   It could be the kittens were ill due to some infection in the uterus,  or a genetic problem.       so even apart from the other reasons to spay ,  you don't want her going through the same thing again.   

Again,  I am sorry for your loss.     I know even when they have had such a short little life, it feels so sad for them to die.