I thought she's have them by now!!

You might see about getting revolution from the vet and putting it on her yourself. I'm sure they won't want you to bring her in given the circumstances.

okay thank you. 

Just now my daughter noticed that the mama cats vaginal opening is seeping a little blood.  

is this normal? 

Normal, we all bleed for a little bit after birth. It should start to brown in the next few days like a period.

mother

Cats tend to spot for a few days following birthing. It should get darker and become less each day. If it's heavy and does not stop she'll need to see a vet. It also should not last but a few days.

You can purchase Advantage 11 for cats at a pet store and put a tube on mom's neck. It will kill the fleas on mom and on the babies. You'll need to change the bedding out after you dose her to get rid of eggs and larva. Advantage is one of the most effective products out there for killing fleas on cats.

thank you for the quick replies!  

Our kitties are so precious to us.  my oldest daughter wants 1 after we get them spayednuetered and squared away. 

and we've decided we're keeping the rest . 

told my youngest that we'll get a cat playland i'm just going to resign to being a cat lady! i grew up w/ kitties and adore them. lol

we met a another lady at the grocery store in the pet isle, could tell she was selecting some litter. 

i told her about our expecting mama kitty, she said "i have five cats at home." 

so if she can do it, we can do it! 

We had 10 desexed cats at one time while I was growing up - they say the more the easier! Although I've had 16 foster kittens at one time and kittens are messy lol, I much prefer adults.

changed her nesting box bedding again today.  tonight she's acting anxious and i can tell she wants to move them.  she picked one up and took it out of the nesting box but i closed the bedroom door and put the kitten back in the box.  

she's in the bedroom now, door closed w/ her kittens.  

should i let her move them?  will she be ticked off and get weird if i dont allow her out of the room and to move them? 

why would she want to move them?  that's like the safest place in the house and we dont go in there much.. really.. okay maybe a little bit cos they're so cute but we dont bother them or handle them that much. 

should i change the bedding again?

Leave her in the bedroom where it's quiet and safe. She will settle down. She may move them around the room, but you will be able to find them.

Cats think differently than we do. Changing the bedding in the nest caused her to feel invaded, so her instincts told her to move her kittens to a different location. It's the nature of cats.

But she's safe where she is, and does not need to move her kittens, as she's not in the wild and you are not a predator. So continue to change the bedding when necessary.

Mama kitty is simply protecting her kittens. The instinct governs all her actions right now, but she should settle down more and more, though most good mamas remain vigilant for several weeks.

i love that she's such a good mama!  and thanks for replying!  i wasn't sure if i would mess the nature of things up if i didnt allow her to do what her instincts were telling her to do.  

you're right, she has settled down some i can notice it even today.  i've mostly stayed out of the bedroom. the house is quiet for the most part. i did babysit my 7 mo.old granddaughter again this morning and some this afternoon, but my son and his g/f just dropped in and picked her up. so it's very peaceful. Mama kitty is in the bedroom w/ the door closed and when i went in, she was eating at her food station.  the litter of 5 all cozied up snug and warm together napping.  and doing these adorable little twitches!  it's so cuuuute!!  

yea i haven't experienced baby kittens since i was a child so this is fascinating and too adorable for words all over again! 

my teenage daughter and i plan to do a manual removal of any fleas as best as we can today.  with a bowl of sudsy dish water by our side to drown the fleas in after we pick them off. 

i know this will stress the mama and probably the babies a little too? 

they're 3 days old today.  and i dont think it's been quite 30 days since i applied the Sentury flea treatment on the mama.  when do u think it's safe to apply the Advantage 11?  i haven't purchased it yet, but plan to do so in the next couple days. 

You can apply it immediately, and again a few days later if necessary. Fleas can be devastating to small kittens, quickly causing anemia.

thank you . we'll be totally dilligent about these fleas. going to spray beds and furniture as well as i've read that they're not only on the pets.  i would think that the majority of them are on the pets since they are their main source of nutrients.   i've made my son bathe the dog 3 times in the past 2 days so he's not too happy w/ me for that but. it's got to be done. 

well, the manual removal of fleas was not much of a success at all.

we saw like 1 or 2 fleas crawl across the belly of each kitten when we first began inspecting and searching. when we would attempt to remove a flea, and being extra careful w/ the tiny kitten, the flea would hide so that we could no longer find it.  we didnt have much luck at all.  i managed to pick 1 flea off of 1 kitten.  after we were finished looking and searching, we weren't seeing fleas crawl on their bellies so i assume they were all hidden. 

frustrating. 

we did put some very soapy dish soap water around the mama kittys neck and rinsed her just to help reduce.  really didnt see any on her when we inspected her so they're hiding good. 

she was totally ticked off at us and anxious about what we just did.  changed the bedding again and everyone's back in their place. 

@sweetlynn86 has some good tricks for finding fleas.  She puts the kittens on a white blanket so the fleas are easy to spot.  She also does something to attract the fleas.  I couldn't find the post in her thread,

You probably need a flea comb too.

Question - Do mother cats get impatient or angry/frustrated w/ their kittens when they fight over her nipples?  

ours seems to act anxious and meow differently and she even places her paw over her kittens when they 

"scrap" for a nipple.   tonight she seemed exceptionally ticked off.  it's as if she's had it w/ their fighting . 

it's sort of funny and kind of cute.   but at the same time hope its nothing to be concerned about. 

Nothing to worry about. She's doing early discipline.. They'll learn!

sometimes she bites their necks and holds them in place for a second and then begins cleaning them and bathing them.  

i'll be honest it sort of scares me that she's going to hurt them.  is that normal?  

Yes, she is still disciplining them.

This behavior goes on for quite some time. It is mom's way of teaching them kitten manners. It looks rougher than it is. Only occasionally did I break it up when my mama cat had one of her babies screaming. Those kittens are 6 months old now and very well behaved!

Okay thanks guys.  i had no idea that mama cats did that! was thinking maybe our kitty wasn't such a great mama after all. 

becuase, i mean... she gets this look of determination on her face like  "I WILL DESTROY YOU!!!"  bites their necks and holds them in place for a second

then begins licking and cleaning them all up.  the kittens never scream , actually the opposite , they hush and hold still. 

mama kitty rarely leaves the bedroom.  she does rest outside the kitten box after their bellies are full and all they're all napping. 

i give her a nice size bowl of KMR every morning.  boy does she love that! laps it right up. 

all the kittens seem to be thriving and growing. all have their eyes fully open now and have begun playing a little bit w/ eachother. but are very wobbly on their feet.  they are lifting their heads as if trying to see outside the nesting box, seemingly becoming more aware of the world around them. 

i still see one or 2 fleas, we're going to bathe the kittens this weekend by shampooing them w/ some dawn soap. mama kitty also. 

Overall this has been a great experience! 

thanks everyone for letting me know what's going on. 

im sure i'll have more questions.