momma cat weird behaviour

molly keeps meiowing and pacing up and down the room where her kittens are. sometimes they follwo her. then she started to pick a toy up and carry it round the house meiowing.

any ideas?

Maybe she is teaching them to play? Or maybe she is in heat, and anxious to find a male. Be careful to keep her locked inside.

it isnt the behvaiour she shows when she is in heat. when she was in heat she wanted to leave her kittens and was trying to get out down stairs.
during this behaviour she was staying close to her kittens making a funny chirrping sound.

Maybe she is trying to play with them..

Chirping sound sounds like she's teaching them to catch pray (the toy)? Just a guess on my part though.

There's no maybe in the beginning of my answer cause what you're describing is a very known behavior.. what is true is that it's weird that you're cat is doing it WHILE been a mother..

The weird miewos and carrying around toys in her mouth is a known "Mama Game" played by spayed females who were about to be or were mothers in the pass or females who were moms in the pass but are not currently with kittens.

They carry objects, usually dolls or mouse toys or socks in their mouth and make weird noises as if they were calling their young ones (which explains kittens following her around).. My Siamese did that in the months in which she wasn't with kittens, it usually took place weeks after we finished giving away all of her kittens...

My uncle's cat was spayed when she was young and sometimes they hear her in the middle of the night making weird miaws and they see her walking around with objects in her mouth putting them in all kind of weird places..

Is your cat still nursing and behaving to her kittens as if she was their mother? (what I mean is if she's still "working as a mother" )
It is possible that this is a side effect of her getting into heat during nursing. Most cats don't do that, I know mine took months to get into heat again.

Missy would get toy mice and meow for the babies to come over, then she'd drop the mouse in front of them and play with it.

She still does it, but not as often and they are a year old.

When Spritzers walking around with her toys it more like "back off, this is my kill"

the kittens are 4 weeks old. and yes she is still being a really good mother to them. they are looking well.

Lexus has done this with each of her litters and it always puzzles me as well. But, from what I can ascertain, it seems as though she is trying to teach them what to do in order to hunt and get food. With her first litter, she even resorted to dropping the toy mouse into her own food bowl - so when I see her begin this behavior, I normally go ahead and introduce the babies to solid foods, even though they will still nurse from Lexus for several weeks yet.

Maybe this will be helpful to you.

~g~

Originally Posted by gayef

Lexus has done this with each of her litters and it always puzzles me as well. But, from what I can ascertain, it seems as though she is trying to teach them what to do in order to hunt and get food. With her first litter, she even resorted to dropping the toy mouse into her own food bowl - so when I see her begin this behavior, I normally go ahead and introduce the babies to solid foods, even though they will still nurse from Lexus for several weeks yet.

Maybe this will be helpful to you.

~g~

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Yep, I think you're right. In the absence of kittens, Elsa chirps at me to come see her kill. It is a very distinct chirp, and the other time I remember hearing it, she had stolen a hot dog and taken it downstairs to the kittens, LOL!

Originally Posted by kluchetta

... In the absence of kittens, Elsa chirps at me to come see her kill. It is a very distinct chirp, and the other time I remember hearing it, she had stolen a hot dog and taken it downstairs to the kittens, LOL!

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*giggle* A hotdog, no less! Elsa has very discriminating tastes! Lex dropped the toy mousie in her foodbowl and then came and got Pepperidge Farm cookies dipped in milk from me.

Originally Posted by gayef

*giggle* A hotdog, no less! Elsa has very discriminating tastes! Lex dropped the toy mousie in her foodbowl and then came and got Pepperidge Farm cookies dipped in milk from me.

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Keep in mind this IS the trailer park cat! LOL.

Originally Posted by kluchetta

Keep in mind this IS the trailer park cat! LOL.

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You can take the cat out of the trailer park, but you can't take the trailer park out of the cat. ROFL