Clingy Mama Kitty (former Stray) And Her 2 Week Old Kitten

[sandmanndreams]

Sorry, but this is long. It's late, I'm tired, but I can't sleep because I'm worried.

Mama cat keeps moving her kitten if I leave her alone and doesn't always seem to recognize her kitten when it isn't crying. I'm also concerned that she may reject or kill her kitten (but I don't know how to watch out for this).

Mama Kitty is a former stray who used to live in our garage. She has barely spent time in our house, however, still preferring the garage but allowing us to pet her and provide food and cat litter.

She had a kitten two weeks ago on May 22nd. Yes, a single kitten. Since she got pregnant she has been clingy and has spent most of her time in the house, something she rarely did before.

She was also never very close to me, since I am gone for most of the year at school. But when she went into labor, I was the only one home and she followed me around the house and demanded that I stay with her until I finally realized what was happening and helped her through it, putting down towels and petting her. Since then, I've been her new best friend. She won't leave me alone. When we put her and her kitten in the bathroom in a nice box with towels and everything, she would come get me from the living room and have me sit beside the box and pet her and rub her stomach while the kitten nursed. She's also been doing that thing with the blinking and the hooded eyelids that supposedly means she loves me?? But she's never done that before.

However, she only stayed in the bathroom for one night, the night the kitten was born. The next morning, she moved it to a corner in the living room, few days later, she moved it behind some furniture in front of the window, then behind the tv, then under the couch, then today she did something new. She picked up the kitten, carried it to our couch, set it down, and stared at me, then jumped in a box behind the couch and meowed at me until I put the kitten beside her. (Every time she moved the kitten, she would get confused about where she left it when it cried and she would check the old spots first)

She is being clingy again, only staying in the box with the kitten if I sit next to her and pet her and rub her stomach. This was okay for a while, then she looked like she was finally going to relax enough to let me sleep, so I lay down on the couch and tried to asleep. Then I heard her meowing and the kitten crying, she was trying to move it. I sat as still as possible so she wouldn't freak out or anything, but she kept carrying it around, without any sign she knew where she was taking it, so I stood up. When I got up, she jumped back in the box with it and meowed at me until I pet her. I tried to sleep again, but she did the same thing, this time carrying it around for longer even when I stood up and didn't calm down until I sat down next to the box again.

She nurses the kitten, comes when it cries, and cleans it, but I'm worried.

I'm just so tired, but I can't sleep. Not just because of this, but because of a concern I've had since the beginning- that she'll reject the kitten and possibly kill it. (I don't even know how mama cats kill their kittens so I don't know what to watch out for)

TL;DR- Mama Kitty keeps moving her kitten when I try to go to bed because I stop giving her attention (I think is the issue, anyways) and I'm concerned and I want to go to bed.

Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated. Again, I am sorry about the long post but it's late and I'm not sure what's all relevant.

 

[sandmanndreams]

Oh, and before anyone asks/advocates, we plan on getting her fixed soon. All our other cats are either fixed or scheduled to be fixed. (We have three adult cats, including the mama cat.)

 

[StefanZ]

Many mommas do move the nest / their kittens, but I do agree with you, she overdoes it some. However, its nice and swell in a way, she choose you as her Momma, allowing you, demanding, you do your share of co-parenting.

You have other cats too. Is she friends with them? Do they have access to hers quarters? ie may it be so, they are adding to her feeling anxiousness, lack of confidence, uncertainity?

I suppose this with her not really used to be inside adds to feel uncertain...

Some ideas: A Feliway adapter. Cant hurt, may help.

Perhaps a big dog cage? it will not only contain her and her baby, but also, it will probably add to a feeling of protection. Why, the cage WILL be protecting her... Lay a towel on the cage, so tis alike a nice hidey hole.

Relaxing calming music on. Classical harp music is best, they say, but almost any such music may work. On you tube there are long sessions of calming music for cats.


The dangeer of her killing her baby is practically nil - but the danger of her abandoning the baby does exists, if she is bad momma, or has got mastitis in the teats or...

So get home some kmr or goats milk, so you arent defenceless IF that happens. Good also if you have a scale, and can monitor the baby gains as it shall. Minimum 6g a day, but preferably 10g+ a day...

 

[sandmanndreams]

I am not so happy to report that I fell asleep in a chair next to the box. (I eventually woke up and moved to the couch.)

The other two cats are both boys and have mostly been kept outside since the kitten was born. Usually they all coexist (mostly) peacefully, but we didn't want to risk anything. We think when they are in, they've been getting too close for her comfort. There is also a big dog (yellow lab), but he's been kept in the bedroom for the most part or outside and hasn't gotten too close. He wants to sniff the kitten, but he's like a giant and nowhere near gentle enough.

I have been playing soft classical music for the past two weeks, but stopped a bit the past few days due to concerns that it was covering the kitten's cries. Since its summer, we have the ac and fans going, so yeah that was a concern.

It's just that I had heard or read somewhere that strays sometime kill their kittens if they have issues with their 'nests'. And I was really tired so all anxieties and concerns were on the forefront.

Usually when we have a cat with kittens, we put them all in the bathroom with food and everything and a litter box and shut the door, but again, the thing about strays. And we don't have any kennels or cages. At one point she did have the kitten in the litter box (she wasn't interested in using it, anyways) so we accepted it but when I put a towel in it over the litter, that's when she moved it from the bathroom to the living room.

I was in town yesterday to visit my grandmother and planned on getting the stuff like a scale and the milk replacement, but I had the only set of keys to the house and my mom was locked out so I had to come home empty handed. But the kitten's definitely been growing.

 

[Sarthur2]

She is a nervous, inexperienced mom.

Your best bet is to put mom and kitten in your bedroom in their nesting box. Put mom's food, water, and litter in the room too for now.

Close her in the bedroom when you are not in there. She needs to stop moving the kitten all around the house, and to stay with it most of the time for now.

Just go in and spend time with mom, but do not allow this behavior for now.

 

[sandmanndreams]

She is a nervous, inexperienced mom.

Your best bet is to put mom and kitten in your bedroom in their nesting box. Put mom's food, water, and litter in the room too for now.

Close her in the bedroom when you are not in there. She needs to stop moving the kitten all around the house, and to stay with it most of the time for now.

Just go in and spend time with mom, but do not allow this behavior for now.

The problem is, the living room is my bedroom right now. My room is used for storage when I'm at school and we haven't gotten the chance to shuffle the contents to garage or anything yet.

And she does spend most of the time with it. She just is really clingy and needs me nearby constantly. We think that's one of the reasons she moved it from the bathroom into the living in the first place. With the exception of right now and when she was in the bathroom, I was always within eyesight from her spots as long as I was sitting on the couch.

 

[talkingpeanut]

Mom will also get used to using the litter box. You can fill it with dirt, or add some dirt on top to help her adjust.

She definitely needs to be settled in a room.

Please don't let her outside at all.

 

[sandmanndreams]

Mom will also get used to using the litter box. You can fill it with dirt, or add some dirt on top to help her adjust.

She definitely needs to be settled in a room.

Please don't let her outside at all.

There are no rooms available. There's a bathroom and the living room. That's kind of the limit, and she doesn't like the bathroom.

And she used to be a stray, this is the most she's spent inside the entire time we've had her. She's gone from maybe a few hours taking a nap inside a few days a week to being inside nearly 24/7. She's inside as much as possible, but it's just not gonna work if she can't go outside. She's never gone for long or very far, and usually comes right in if I stand in the doorway.

 

[Sarthur2]

Can you shuffle enough items from your room to the garage so that she could stay in your room?

 

[sandmanndreams]

Can you shuffle enough items from your room to the garage so that she could stay in your room?

I wish, it would make things so much easier, but no. My room is filled with bins, baskets, and various other items. I can't even get to my bed (not to mention the storage under my bed that she has always been too interested in). One of the few times my room is a mess where it isn't my fault.

I'd move the bins at least, but most of them are too heavy for me to move on my own. It's just me and my mom and she's at work.

Plus one of the reasons we haven't moved stuff to the garage is because my mom's exhusband never picked up his stuff like he was supposed to so we'll have to work on the garage to make room before we can move the stuff from my room. It's an endless cycle.

 

[Sarthur2]

That's too bad. I don't know any other solution beyond closing her in the bathroom with her kitten.

 

[talkingpeanut]

Mom can get pregnant again within a week of delivery, she could bring a disease back, or she could not come back at all. Her going outside is a liability. You could end up having to hand raise this kitten, or endangering it.

Strongly suggest you at least try to make the litter box work. It's instinctual for cats to use it, and doesn't sound like you've given her time to adapt.