Hi, new here so hello everyone!
i am a cat owner and reasonably experienced fosterer but this is my first time mum cat
I have a foster cat currently who had 3 kittens 6 days ago, they’re all doing very well gaining loads of weight and she is very happy and doesn’t seem particularly stressed.
She is in a cupboard under my stairs (it’s dark, enclosed etc) with a kittening box that I changed the dirty bedding in a few days after birth
sometimes I would find the kittens had a bit of litter on them but didn’t think too much of it, until I found them all this morning in the litter tray (clean luckily) with mum laying next to them.
I moved them back into the nesting box and she moved one back to the litter tray and lay down with it (not feeding it at that time)
I moved it back again and she settled in the nesting box again
I then saw she had urinated on the separate bed that I set up for her (in case she wanted a break from kittens or got too hot) instead of the litter tray.
she Clearly knows it’s not good to have kittens in a dirty litter tray but any ideas why she might be doing this?
Although I’ve only had her about 3 weeks total, she’s very relaxed with me around the kittens- she loves fuss and hasn’t hissed at all but I’ve mostly been leaving the kittens except to weigh them. She’s also been relaxed about my dog sniffing at the door a bit and went for an explore around the house today not caring that the dog was lying by the open door
The litter tray is also closer to the open (only when I’m around, but covered to prevent my cats and dog getting in there) door so it’s not as if she’s looking for somewhere even more private?
Shes Been very attentive and good even though she’s only very young, and didn’t eat properly or use the litter tray hardly at all in the first few days as she didn’t want to leave them (she would eat ravenously when I put the bowl in the box) but this has improved a lot and obviously today she also went exploring around the house like she used to before she had the babirs
sorry this is quite long! Thanks in advance for any insight
i am a cat owner and reasonably experienced fosterer but this is my first time mum cat
I have a foster cat currently who had 3 kittens 6 days ago, they’re all doing very well gaining loads of weight and she is very happy and doesn’t seem particularly stressed.
She is in a cupboard under my stairs (it’s dark, enclosed etc) with a kittening box that I changed the dirty bedding in a few days after birth
sometimes I would find the kittens had a bit of litter on them but didn’t think too much of it, until I found them all this morning in the litter tray (clean luckily) with mum laying next to them.
I moved them back into the nesting box and she moved one back to the litter tray and lay down with it (not feeding it at that time)
I moved it back again and she settled in the nesting box again
I then saw she had urinated on the separate bed that I set up for her (in case she wanted a break from kittens or got too hot) instead of the litter tray.
she Clearly knows it’s not good to have kittens in a dirty litter tray but any ideas why she might be doing this?
Although I’ve only had her about 3 weeks total, she’s very relaxed with me around the kittens- she loves fuss and hasn’t hissed at all but I’ve mostly been leaving the kittens except to weigh them. She’s also been relaxed about my dog sniffing at the door a bit and went for an explore around the house today not caring that the dog was lying by the open door
The litter tray is also closer to the open (only when I’m around, but covered to prevent my cats and dog getting in there) door so it’s not as if she’s looking for somewhere even more private?
Shes Been very attentive and good even though she’s only very young, and didn’t eat properly or use the litter tray hardly at all in the first few days as she didn’t want to leave them (she would eat ravenously when I put the bowl in the box) but this has improved a lot and obviously today she also went exploring around the house like she used to before she had the babirs
sorry this is quite long! Thanks in advance for any insight