Mom Being Rough with Babies

Spots has been a good mom but just awhile ago I caught her with most of the smallest one's head in her mouth! I was shocked, it almost looked like she was hurting her but the baby wasn't crying...THEN she got up and it looked like she was trying to lay on top of this kitten, on purpose! I could be wrong but all of a sudden it seemed like she didn't like this one anymore.
This kitten is the first born, the smallest, but NOT tiny, only a 1/4 or 1/2 oz less in weight.
Is this normal, was she trying to get a point across or should I keep an eye on her?
Thanks!

Hmmm...keep your eye on her, and the kitten. Is this kitten showing any signs of being ill or weaker than the others?

how old are the kitten's now ?

They are 8 days old. She is a tiny bit smaller (really can't SEE the difference) and she doesn't seem to be acting ill. She had a bit of a problem nursing at first but then got the hang of it just fine. She has a strong meow when she cries (when I weigh her!) and she seems to be a bit behind in that her eyes aren't open yet and the other two's are almost fully open....

just keep an extra eye on her hope all turn's out well

I have checked on them a number of times tonight and all seems to be well, I just can't be in there 24/7. Tomorrow I will see how she is doing weight-wise. She HAS been gaining but has always been 'the little one'.

boots has been doing that with her kittens aswell but ive noticed only when they are all jumping about i think boots is trying to play but is not realising how rough she is being as she is only one herself maybe not though but i know what u mean it gavve me an awful fright aswell good luck and i hope ur mommy is only playing with them

Well for a couple days now Spots has been fine (I haven't been watching her 24/7) but today she was alone with smallest one and got quite rough again. It LOOKS like she is playing like she does with the older cats but it would seem as if she were hurting the kitten, it would cry, right?
Spots is pretty young herself, just turned a year a few weeks ago, so maybe she doesn't realize that she is being rough? I tried to just sit back and watch to see if her claws came out or if she bit hard, but really couldn't tell.
This kit is the smallest, at 1 oz less in weight, but otherwise appears to be fine. Though this one kind of keeps to herself, sleeps away from the other 2 most of the time....she just makes you feel sorry for her! And all of their eyes are open now.
They are 10 days old and the small one weighs JUST over 9 oz.

You know with feral cats the Mom cat is extremely strict with her babies ..... extremely ..... they have to be quiet and be safe from predators ....... some moms are just rougher with ther babies than others......thats not to say not to intervene if she gets too rough ....
When Easy had her babies ...... Kiko was a loner and when he ventured off without her permission she would grab him by his neck and rabbit kick him ......it totally freaked me out .... sometimes I intervened and sometimes I didnt ....but as I continued to watch them grow and understand things more ..... she did feed him and bathe him and help him pee and poo .....but she also disciplined him ..... teaching him ...... what he could do and not do ..... as of today hes a spoiled little kitty that she will even slap him now when he gets out of hand .....

so for the most part .....I think thats normal...... as long as she isnt outright killing him ..... Easy never killed Kiko altho many times it looked like she would.

Im looking at her face in my siggy and you can see from her eyes Shes a strict Mom !! LOL

LOL about the 'strict mom' !!!

That sounds kind of like what she's doing but she doesn't do it when the kitten is crawling away. The kitten does stay to itself alot. Mom cleans it and feeds it, but she did the exact thing that you described--the holding it and rabbit kicking it--when they were alone together. I had brought the kitten out to be weighed and put it on the bed with mom.
It is getting so that they are hard to weigh now, they will NOT stay still and climb off the scale!

You know I always felt bad for Kiko for always getting in trouble, I used to hold him a lot and give him special attention. I would sing to him while I held him like a baby. To this day he crawls up in my arms and rolls over on his back like a baby and I sing and he falls asleep .......
Altho your mom may not be disciplining for running away she may be doing it for something that we just cant see. Something thats just a part of her being strict, maybe crying, maybe playing too much ....as I said before feral moms cannot afford to even let their kittens play or make noise because it could cost them their life from predators .....and altho yours isnt feral maybe her great grandmother was and this strict rearing is a part of her.
With Easy, it was directed to only Kiko, not the others. Laura was the runt, not Kiko. But I did notice what she did it for and it was his excursions outside the nest. But I tried to reassure her and intervene sometimes because I thought she was killing him ........just watch the situation and calm her .... Can you post pics of your clan?

Nefertiti seemed to do that a lot to Hope. I was also worried at first because Hope was weaker with FCK and I thought mom was sensing it. Later I found out this is normal and mom trying to encourage them to leave her alone and teach them manners. Its scary to watch but seems to be natural. I did later see her do this to the other kitten in the litter but I think I was just overprotective of Hope!

Edit: I see your kittens are really young though! What I described happened at 4 weeks...

Pam and Solarity,
My babies are 11 days old. This is the only one she does this to. She was not crying, I had taken her out to weigh her and then give her some one on one nursing time as she is about an oz smaller than the other two. She was just sort of looking for a nipple when mom grabbed her with her paws and began licking her, then it turne into the holding/kicking and then biting. The baby wasn't crying so I thought maybe mom wasn't HURTING her but it looked bad! I pushed moms head away a couple times and after a little bit, she stopped. Then she did it again. Her tail was twitching like it does when she plays with the other cats. It was scary!
By the way, she is a feral--her mom had her in the bushes and abandoned her when she was 3 weeks old. We hand raised her.
The kitten I am talking about it the one on the bottom--white with less black.

Originally Posted by mowsluver

Pam and Solarity,
My babies are 11 days old. This is the only one she does this to. She was not crying, I had taken her out to weigh her and then give her some one on one nursing time as she is about an oz smaller than the other two. She was just sort of looking for a nipple when mom grabbed her with her paws and began licking her, then it turne into the holding/kicking and then biting. The baby wasn't crying so I thought maybe mom wasn't HURTING her but it looked bad! I pushed moms head away a couple times and after a little bit, she stopped. Then she did it again. Her tail was twitching like it does when she plays with the other cats. It was scary!
By the way, she is a feral--her mom had her in the bushes and abandoned her when she was 3 weeks old. We hand raised her.
The kitten I am talking about it the one on the bottom--white with less black.

Click to expand...

How sweet !!!!!! Take some face pics if you can ......

If her Mom was feral then she was raised very roughly ...... It could be she doesnt think she is as healthy as the others ....altho Easy was like this to Kiko when he was a week old, too. And he was and is healthy. Easys tailed twitched, too and she would get big eyes. I dont know maybe Mom cat thinks shes moving around too much....just keep watching her ........ I know how you feel .... it freaked me out so much to the point I was panicked most of the time .......... Just watch her and maybe try to calm her a bit when she does that ..... if theres a such thing you can do for a mom cat.

I will try to get some face pics. They all have eyes open now. I am just afraid that I will go to bed one night and wake to find that mom has killed the little one.
Can you tell this is my first litter!?

LOL it was my first and only, too .... I understand .....

Whats the update ? Is she getting somewhat better? Let us know ..........

Hard to tell if she is doing better, I don't notice it when they are all together, only when they are one on one. The little one hasn't gained any weight in the past couple days and I would like for her to nusre just this one for awhile, but I am worried that she will start up again.
The kitten will not take a bottle, I tried, but if she doesn't have a weight gain tomorrow, I may have to do it with an eye dropper or syringe.

Originally Posted by mowsluver

Hard to tell if she is doing better, I don't notice it when they are all together, only when they are one on one. The little one hasn't gained any weight in the past couple days and I would like for her to nusre just this one for awhile, but I am worried that she will start up again.
The kitten will not take a bottle, I tried, but if she doesn't have a weight gain tomorrow, I may have to do it with an eye dropper or syringe.

Click to expand...

I would go ahead and start with a syringe today ...... they should be gaining weight everyday. Tomorrow it could be too late.

Just checking in again ......... did you start feeding her with a dropper or syringe yet ?
With her already being too small, Mother cat may be trying to hurt her because she doesnt think she will survive thats what feral moms do........... please start at least supplementing ...... and let me know how it goes........