Why is my cat doing this, and what should I do?!

My cat Snuggles had four kittens, two of them died though and my mom thinks it was because they didn't get enough milk because they kept getting skinnier and Snuggles wouldn't lay with them for more than a few seconds before she would hop right back up and go lay down somewhere else where they couldn't get to her, my mom tried to feed them formula which worked for a while, but they still died. The two kittens that are still alive are a little over five weeks old, they were either born right before mothers day or right after I'm not sure which.

Well we will take the kittens out of their little play pen/bed and let them walk around the living room after making sure to barricade the areas we don't want them to go off in and she's just started beating them up out of the blue. (Holding them with her front paws while she bites their faces, heads and necks and kicks with her back paws. most of the time they will squeal and try to get away, so I gently flick her nose to stop her from attacking them when I catch her.)

Sometimes she'll get ready to pounce on them, when they are walking around sometimes she'll walk by and just grab one and roll over with it as she's beating it up and sometimes she'll fling it into one of the table legs of my laptop table, so I don't think it's just a case of her trying to hold them still to clean them.

Most of the time when she does it they are just sitting there trying to sleep, are trying to play with a toy or random object or they're trying to play with each other and she'll just grab one of them and start beating it up, most of the time I catch her doing it to the smaller female that my mom named Daisy.

I want her to stop this behavior because I worry that the kittens might get seriously hurt or she's trying to kill them.

Oh, and if it helps this is Snuggles' first litter and she's normally an outside cat, we only let her stay inside because she brought her kittens inside and because the last outside cat that had kittens lost all but one because flies laid eggs in their eyes.

Please let me know if you know why a mom cat will do this to her kittens that aren't getting into trouble, or doing anything to bother her or if you've found any solutions to stop it.

Hi, I will ask a mod to move this your question to Pregnant and Kitten care.

If I find time, I will try and give answer too.  

Good luck and

Welcome to our Forums!

Moms harshy teaching their kittens to behave isnt  unusual.  But here I wonder if she is mostly a bad mommy.   Ie, the question is, if it is perhaps best to separate them.

Does she wash them propeerly, nurse, teach them useful things??

I normally would not recommend separating mom from kittens but am also wondering if that would help here.  I'd basically echo StefanZ's questions- is she nursing and grooming  them? Do they have positive interactions sometimes? Is she only 'violent' when they are in the living room? If so maybe she is just anxious when she can't keep track of them.  It would be really helpful to see a video if there is any way you can post one. 

Well she does lick them, but for some reason she doesn't like to lay down with them and let them nurse for very long, but she has taught them to play.

She is mostly in the living room anyways because she likes to be around people, maybe it's because this is her first litter.

Are they on solid food yet? They certainly should be eating canned food by this age. She doesn't like to nurse for too long, because their little teeth are sharp. But she is teaching them important cat manners. If she only beats them up when they're loose in the living room, it may be best to put her in another room while they're out, because she might be trying to teach them not to leave the nest. If you want them out, that conflicts with her motherly instincts, so best to just save her the stress of it.

Please let this be her last litter as well, and have her spayed before she is allowed outside again . There are so many kittens who are killed because there aren't enough homes for them .

Willowys analysis sounds good.  Also I second his proposals, like spaying etc.

Good luck!