Mama not using litter box

Hello Everyone, I'm new to this forum and a new "grandma" to four very beautiful accidental kittens. Mama cat had then last night around 3 am.

First think I want to say, is thank you for this forum because it has been a godsend.
I Had never experienced a cat giving birth and read this forum up and down the last few days in anticipation. She did really well, she woke me up and wouldn't do a thing unless I was sitting right beside her, if I moved she moved so on the floor I was talking her through it somewhere between fainting an throwing up from nerves

So the second part of this is my question, she is doing great eating, playing, drinking but she has not used the litter box. I keep checking and it is still empty of BM and urine.Is this normal after delivery? Maybe she is still sore?

Also, she doesn't stay with her kitties. I assumed she would stay with them other then the times she eats but she is out of the box more then she is in! She does go in and naps with them, cleans them, feeds them and then right back out she goes..is this normal?

Thanks in advance for any responses,
Sherry and her pretty kitties

Congrats on your new babies! I don't know about the not using the litterbox yet. My guess is she emptied bladder and bowel before giving birth, but now that she had eaten the afterbirths, etc, it won't be long before she goes again. Is her litterbox near enough that she doesn't have to leave the room with the kittens, but far enough that she is comfortable using it?

I think it is pretty normal to jump out of the nest and just watch over the babies at times. As long as she is feeding them and cleaning them, I'm sure she is doing fine.

Welcome to TCS!

I agree with the above poster - she prob went before the delivery and after she eats enuf, she will go. Queens will leave the nesting area on occasion - sort of harkens back to when cats had to hunt fir food nand protect their babies I think. My family once had a Queen (a stray we adopted) who got locked in a garage away from her babies while outside - she still went out and this was a long time ago and we thought it was OK. (NOT!!!). My sisters and mom and I had to feed and care for those babies till she made it home 2 days later - we were sooooo glad to see her as were her babies!!

thank you both for your response! And you were both right, she got up this morning and did her business.

As far as her getting out of the box, I have been watching her, she doesn't go very far away, so your right on that one too. Last night, she was nowhere around, so I lay down on the floor next to her nest and her kitties. I was just watching them but it took her about 3 seconds to come over and see what I was doing LOL..

One more question, is it better to leave them all alone until older, or should I start picking them up?

Thank you!

I personally like to leave them alone for the most part until they are able to walk (crawl?) around a little. But just picking them up for a minute to see if they are doing well is fine. Just watch that Momma is okay with it.

I have kids, so that is part of my strict rules of leaving the kits alone. If a 5 y/o is told not to handle kits, and sees me in there all the time, he is more likely to over handle the kits IMO. There was one time, when I held a kit to him so he could see it, and Sugartoes took it out of my hand and returned it to the nest. Then once I was trying to get a pic, and the kitten was crying. She wasn't impressed with that either, and just as I was ready to click, the kitten was gone!

As they get older, the more handling the better. They need to learn that humans are a source of pleasure...chin scritches, fun toys, yummy food, etc.

me_n_myktties..welcome to TCS...I think your questions have been answered. If you need a low cost clinic to have mom fixed when the kittens are weaned (around 6-10 weeks) you can go to this link:

http://www.lovethatcat.com/spayneuter.html

Scroll down, find your state and click on that link. It will bring up a list of low cost clinics in your state.

Also....make sure there is no opportunity for mom cat to accidentally get back outdoors again. I had a friend who kept making appts for her cat to get fixed..only the cat would accidentally get out and get pregnant again. She ended up with 5 accidental litters before the mom could be spayed. Cats can go back into heat fairly soon after giving birth.

Katie