Mom cat attacked me - babies are 5 weeks old

My mom cat has three healthy 5 week girls.  She is the most hissy of my adult cats and I anticipated she might be protective of the babies.  Up until last night she has been amazingly easy going, even allowing the other adult cats that she lives with to visit without incident (she and the babies are shut away behind a gate in my bathroom.)  We have had my daughter's cat here for the last several weeks that mom had not met yet, mom did go wild when I stupidly thought she should meet the babies (I know, I still don't know what I was thinking!!).  Since then I have been keeping my daughter's cat as well as the other cats completely away from the babies. Last night I went in to see who was scratching in the litter box and was congratulating the babies and mom went wild and latched onto my arm with teeth and nails.  No other cats were in the area and I had had come from my bed so didn't even have the scent of my daughter's cat on me.  Once I cleaned my wounds and the blood off the floor she was fine.  So far today I have warily gone in there multiple time with protection and one time she lunged at me and I covered her with a blanket, the other times she was fine, but believe me, I'm being cautious with her.  I haven't even picked up a baby since last night - and she used to let me man-handle them any way I wanted.  Is this normal mom cat behavior?  Do you think she's reacting to the new cat?  Calming pregnancy hormones wearing off?  Will she calm down?  Any suggestions?

Such happens sometimes with high pregs. Moms being protective can occasionally attack/claw at say a not cautious kid in the family, but attacking her dear Ma drawing blood, must be very rare.

You are a breeder, right?  Can you consult the owners of her mom and dad, if its something in the lineage.

Next though is, cats being in pain has often less patience then otherwise. For example, may it be so, the kittens having now teeths are gnawing on her teats? Hurting them?  She perhaps even got inflammed in them...

So a vet visit is in order...

Is your vet experienced with breeders, ie experienced with moms and kittens?  Hear hers advice too.

Last, not least: set up a Feliway diffuser,or Feliway spray...  It will spread a calming soothing atmosphere in this bathroom of theirs...  Relaxing soft music may also help some.  Classical harp music is best here.

Take care of these wounds too!

Good luck!

Such vicious attacks may come in one more variation: the redirected aggression. They arent unusual. Typical is, say the cat sees a hostile stray cat outside the window. He cant get out to chase it away. His aggressive feelings builds up, stress hormones going sky high.  And he attacks violently instead his best friend, another home cat.   Or even, his dear Ma.   The only to do is to try and throw a blanket on the cat, and close it off  in a room.  So he can calm down. Usually, after several hours, everything is back to normal.

Dr Bachs Rescue Remedy is useful here, along with the advices mentioned in the foregoing post.

What was it the mom reacted to here, I dont know. Perhaps a dog barking outside, or some new, peculiar sound?

Or even something spooked her, as it WAS Friday the 13:th yesterday, no?

I dont know if this was it. But this could nicely explain such vicious attack.  It it wasnt it, you must seek on.

The kittens beginning to be indenpendent, going outside the nest, even using the litter, is stressing on the mom. But shouldnt cause such vicious attacks.  Perhaps a swat with a paw, but not more.

Good luck!

Thanks so much Stefan, I guess I just needed confirmation that it wasn't completely unheard of for a mom to snap.  I should know, I'm a mom

She's hissed at me a couple times since the attack but then goes immediately back to purring.  I'm sure it must be mom hormones.  I will do what I can keep the stressors for her down to a minimum.

What a beauty!!!
Cats can be very private and over protective/possessive creature...