Behavior after giving birth

[bney]

A stray cat I took in a couple weeks ago has just given birth yesterday. She originally had them in an unsafe spot, so I moved them somewhere more comfortable and safe for them. The issue now is that she keeps going back to the unsafe spot and scratching around and meowing, like she thinks one was left there (there isn’t). I’m concerned she will try to bring the kittens back there, is there a way I can make it less appealing to her? I can’t close her in my room as I’m remodeling that area, and she’s still too scared to venture beyond the living/kitchen rooms anyways.
She has also been coming out from her kittens and just staring at me meowing a lot, something she’s never done before, and in general acting nervous/anxious. If she hears her kittens crying while she’s out she will sort of growl and run back to them. The only time she seems completely comfortable is when she’s with her kittens and I sit next to her. She has been eating, drinking, and using the litter box since giving birth. All kittens are doing great too. I have no idea how old she is and if this is her first litter, though I did think she was an older kitten when I first saw her two months ago so she might be very young.
Does she just have new mom nerves? If so, how long does this usually last, and is there anything I can do? It breaks my heart to see her stressed out.

 

[di and bob]

Yes, she is extremely unsure of herself and of what is going on. First-time young moms are often this way. She just needs some reassurance that everything is OK. If she moves the kittens again, I would just try to let her be, or offer her a spot well hidden, like in a closet. Or set up an enclosed box with the door opening towards a wall. My outside cat moved her kittens every time we found them, it's just natural for them.

 

[Sarthur2]

New cat moms are in a high hormonal state the first couple of days after giving birth. She should calm down more in the next day or two. Is there any room she can be with her kittens where you can close a door?

How many kittens did she have?

Do you plan to spay her after the kittens wean?

 

[bney]

Thanks for the replies - I feel better knowing this isn’t unexpected. Having the opening to the wall is a great idea, I’ve just set one up like that. I’ll be getting more boxes with blankets set up around the house today for her to choose from. The only other room I could close her in is the bathroom, it isn’t very big though and I worry she would be bothered often in there as it’s the only one able to be used at the moment. But I would also feel a lot better knowing they’re safe.
She had five kittens, and she’s definitely getting fixed ASAP.

 

[vince]

Sometimes they just get it in their mind to keep going back to the one spot where they felt comfortable. We had a queen that kept going into my mom's nightgown drawer and birthing there. Nothing could persuade her to move (she always promptly moved her kittens right back), so mom just cleaned out the drawer whenever she'd have a litter coming and she always had her kittens in the same dresser drawer.

 

[bney]

Hey everyone, a bit of an update if anyone is curious and another question.
Hazel (the mama) has relaxed so much! I don’t know if this was even what she was worried about, but I spent some time with her going over the spot she gave birth, looking under things and checking everything out so she could see no one was left behind. She now seems to really like her new little nest. I pulled a couch that was by a corner out from the wall at an angle and have a covered cage set behind there, there isn’t room for anyone else to get back there except her unless you hop over the couch and I think that makes her feel secure. I also set up a security camera in the cage so I can check on them from my phone without having to bother her. She is such a great mom! There’s enough room in front back there for her to sprawl out, so she spends most of her time laying with her babies or sleeping just outside the cage. One of the kittens had a bit of an iffy start. He wasn’t gaining like he should have been and I kept finding him sleeping away from the others. He was able to latch fine though so before bottle feeding I thought I would try just getting him latched every two hours and making sure he stayed like that without being pushed off for at least 20 minutes. I’m not sure if what I did made a difference but now he’s doing great! It’s crazy how much they’ve all grown so quickly!
Now to my question - this has only happened two or three times that I have seen but it makes me nervous. Hazel sometimes will bite her kittens heads. It looks pretty violent, but she isn’t leaving any marks. The kittens will cry and flail around when she does so. I usually see this through the camera and it doesn’t last long but it’s kind of scary. It’s not like the little bites when she’s grooming them, it’s different than that. Is this something I should be concerned about or is it just one of those mama cat things that seem weird to us? She’s such an attentive, loving, absolutely obsessed with her babies mama otherwise so I’m not sure what to make of this.

 

[Sarthur2]

She is letting them know she is boss, but at only a week old they are a bit young for this discipline. Moms usually do this when kittens are 3-4 weeks old and begin leaving the nest to explore. Stop her if she gets too rough.

Good to hear that all are latching and growing!

 

[bney]

Thanks for the info! I’ll definitely stop her if it gets too rough. Sometimes it’s hard to know if something is wrong and when to step in. I wonder if she’s just getting a bit restless. Yesterday she was running all over the place! Hiding and jumping out at me and playing with all her toys, something I’ve actually never seen her interested in before, though I haven’t had her that long and she’s been pregnant since bringing her in. I played with her for a while and it seems she got a lot of energy out. I’ll be making a routine of making sure she gets plenty of playtime daily from now on!

I was wondering if someone could tell me when I should move them from their covered cage hidden behind the couch to something bigger and more open. And if anyone has any suggestions on what sort of pen I could get them so they have room to move around and play together while still keeping them contained. We still have a couple weeks until then I’m sure but I like to plan for the future!

 

[Sarthur2]

Kittens begin to leave the nest to explore when they are around 3 weeks old. They definitely need a safe, kitten-proofed space or room to play in. You might want to try something like this:

PAWS & PALS Insta-Fort Portable Soft-sided Dog & Cat Playpen, Blue - Chewy.com

 

[bney]

That seems perfect, thanks! I’m so excited to watch them grow into their own personalities, I can’t wait until they’re big enough to graduate into a bigger pen.

 

[bney]

Here’s some pictures of the kittens Now that they can move around more I’ll be lining the cage with cardboard so they don’t get stuck or caught in the bars.

 

[bney]

Hi, I have another issue. The hair around one of Hazel’s nipples has become extremely matted, to the point where it’s just a ball of fur and the nipple is completely enclosed. It seems like there’s dried milk in the matting too. Does anyone have any experience or ideas on how I could get this off?

 

[Sarthur2]

You can try cleaning the fur with a warm damp cloth to loosen the dried milk, or you can very carefully try to cut the matted section, or both.

 

[Nylonbottle]

Gorgeous babies!

 

[bney]

So I found a couple fleas. I treated my house, vacuumed, washed everything etc and will be going over the mama and the kittens with a flea comb everyday. There aren’t really that many, it’s not a full on infestation or anything, but I am wondering if there is something that is safe to use on Hazel (mom). The kittens will be 2 weeks old this Sunday. I’ve read that advantage II is safe to use on nursing cats and bought some but I don’t want to little ones to get hurt or sick. I’m nervous to put it on her and wanted to ask for some advice here before going forward.

 

[Sarthur2]

It’s safe to put a tube of Advantage II on the back of mom’s neck between her shoulder blades.

 

[bney]

Great I’ll put it on her today! Thank you so much for answering all my questions!

 

[bney]

Does anyone know which are boys and which are girls? I’ve been looking at all kinds of these pictures online and think I might know but I also have zero confidence in my ability to tell lol. Hopefully these pictures are good.

 

[Sarthur2]

Boy, girl, boy, girl, boy. Not quite positive on #4. Others will chime in. W Willowy

 

[bney]

Boy, girl, boy, girl, boy. Not quite positive on #4. Others will chime in.

Thanks for reply! I figured the orange kitten was a boy so I was trying to compare them all but it’s pretty tricky! And that b/w one was also the one that was giving me the most trouble trying to figure out.