Very weird behavior from three day Mommie cat

emmies · Jun 5, 2006

Hello,

I am seeking some advice about my cat Vanilla. Vanilla gave birth to three kittens three days ago. We lost one on the second day. We are not sure exactly what happened to him, we found him buried in the box with the other kittens. Vanilla will not hardly stay in the box since the kittens were born. She returns when they cry though to feed them and bathe them. What the strange part is , she had these kittens on my daughters bed late at night, when she was asleep , right next to her. It left a mess, and we of course, cleaned it up. We moved the kittens to a clean , dry warm box away from my kids room. As soon as we did that she tried to move them to the now clean spot where she had them. We returned the kittens to the box in the other room again, and she again moved them the following morning to behind my computer desk. We again moved them to the safety of the box. We have a heating pad on low in the box. She has started to try to move them several times today, to various, unsafe locations in the house. She has been very vocal about getting into my daughter's room again, and trying to take the kittens placing in the house. This is our first set of kittens, and our first cats. My male and female cats were both gotten from the street when they were babies. We have had them about a year now. My tom cat, Tiger, has not made a move near the babies at all. They are with out a doubt his kittens. In fact, he has been very loving toward the kittens, even trying to prevent Vanilla from moving them by biting her on the tail. Is this type of moving the kittens around normal, and is the almost obsession to move them somewhere dangerous normal? I would appreciate any help we could get with this. We just don't understand her strange behavior. Thanks, Melissa

tnr1 · Jun 5, 2006

Originally Posted by Emmies

Hello,

I am seeking some advice about my cat Vanilla. Vanilla gave birth to three kittens three days ago. We lost one on the second day. We are not sure exactly what happened to him, we found him buried in the box with the other kittens. Vanilla will not hardly stay in the box since the kittens were born. She returns when they cry though to feed them and bathe them. What the strange part is , she had these kittens on my daughters bed late at night, when she was asleep , right next to her. It left a mess, and we of course, cleaned it up. We moved the kittens to a clean , dry warm box away from my kids room. As soon as we did that she tried to move them to the now clean spot where she had them. We returned the kittens to the box in the other room again, and she again moved them the following morning to behind my computer desk. We again moved them to the safety of the box. We have a heating pad on low in the box. She has started to try to move them several times today, to various, unsafe locations in the house. She has been very vocal about getting into my daughter's room again, and trying to take the kittens placing in the house. This is our first set of kittens, and our first cats. My male and female cats were both gotten from the street when they were babies. We have had them about a year now. My tom cat, Tiger, has not made a move near the babies at all. They are with out a doubt his kittens. In fact, he has been very loving toward the kittens, even trying to prevent Vanilla from moving them by biting her on the tail. Is this type of moving the kittens around normal, and is the almost obsession to move them somewhere dangerous normal? I would appreciate any help we could get with this. We just don't understand her strange behavior. Thanks, Melissa

Melissa...welcome to TCS. First, you need to have Tiger neutered if he isn't already. Cats can get pregnant again as early as a week after giving birth and males can carry active sperm for up to a month after being neutered. We would like this to be Vanilla's only litter so best not to risk a second pregnancy. I would recommend that you keep Vanilla and her kittens and food and litterbox in a room with a door....preferably a quiet room (a spare room or a bathroom are good options). She may feel that your daughter's bed is a safe location...but I would recommend you contain her to the other room. Also, I hope you have removed the kitten that died...I would also provide her a new box so that she doesn't associate it with the kitten that passed away. Remember to keep mom cat strictly indoors and away from intact males until she can be spayed (once the kittens are weaned). Below is a link to low cost clinics in TN:

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

Katie

katkisses · Jun 5, 2006

I have kittens aswell, mine are a tad bit older than your though. I keep momma and kittens in a lage dog kennel. I will put a pic of it at the end of this. I recomend that you try that, letting momma out every few hours to exercise, and shutting the crate so she can't move the kittens while she is out.

I hight recommend that you get your boy neutered, it will prevent more kittens and spraying.

For momma, you might want to put her on kitten food, it will give her and the babies all the vitamins and nutrients to them until they are weaned.

If you have any other questions or concerns please ask! Good luck with momma and kittens, and I am sorry the hear that you lost one.

Ignore the torn horse posters on the left, momma thought that they were her playtoys! The blue box is where her kittens are, and her in the pic, lol! I call it my nursery!

gayef · Jun 5, 2006

I agree that confining is best and the large dog crate is perfect for this. It is relatively inexpensive (about $60 at Wal-Mart) and can always be used for future needs as they arise. It is just a good thing to have on hand when you have pets -- you never know when you might need to confine them for one reason or another.

For safety's sake, I would get a dog crate, put it in a room where you can close the door to that room and confine her in the crate for 2 hours at a time. You can open the door to the crate and let her come out ~supervised~ for trips to eat and to potty, a little stretch and away-time from the babies, but you should be with her to make sure she doesn't try to move those babies again.

Vanilla is moving her babies back to the place she chose as her nest. You removed the birthing materials but the nest still has the scent she deposited when she delivered her kittens, so she keeps going back to that place. It is completely normal, instinctual behavior for her to do so. However, the place she chooses is not the best, I gather, so again, confining her will prevent her from moving the remaining kittens to unsafe places.

In addition, by confining her, you can be assured that your boy does not have access to her and of course, that will prevent any future litters. As TNR1 encouraged, you should probably go ahead and get him neutered now as it will take about a month for him to be completely sterile. Since Vanilla will be confined within a crate in a room where you can close the door, there would be no chance of an unplanned mating.

beckiboo · Jun 6, 2006

My crate is similar to KatKisses, except it is two cages wired together. This makes it tall enough that there are two wooden shelves for the Momma to jump up on. I can also set food and water up there.

The shelves are just pieces of 1x12 cut to the length and with two screws on each end so they catch on the cage bars.

Hope your kitty is doing better with her kittens!

Very weird behavior from three day Mommie cat

emmies

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tnr1

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katkisses

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gayef

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beckiboo

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