Expert: Ali - 6/16/2009

Question
Hi, I have 4 female cats. All 4 have had litters in the past month but one only had 1 kitten that died. She has since taken over the role of looking after a few of the other kittens with what seems no problem to the actual mothers. Lately tho she seems to be very possessive of the kittens that aren't hers and is getting into fights with the other cats. We have separated the other queens and their litters and now she tries to fight with the neutered male cat who happens to be a big wimp.
Is this normal behavior for a queen who has lost her kitten? And what can I do to prevent it from happening other than keeping the culprit cat away from the others. They all got along very well until last night when a couple of minor cat fights broke out.

Answer
Brenda,

It's not uncommon for queens who are related or live closely together to share in the responsibility of caring for all offspring within their group, I suspect that her possessiveness with the kittens has come from one of two issues - if she's trying to take the kittens from a more submissive member of the household it's not uncommon behavior. Another possibility is that this mom is grieving the loss of her baby and trying to fill that void. There's really not much you can do to prevent her from taking babies from the other moms if she is allowed access to the other nursing queens and their kittens.

I would recommend that you consider seeking the advice of a holistic veterinarian to help provide this mom and all of your other household residents with gentle, natural medicines when they need them and it's appropriate to use alternative therapies (obviously there are some situations where it's necessary to provide medical care in the conventional sense such as a serious infection or traumatic injury). Holistic veterinarians are trained in conventional medicine as well as one or more alternative therapies which might include herbal medicine, massage, homeopathy or acupuncture to name a few options. My own vet is a wonderful holistic practitioner and she often uses homeopathic remedies to treat her four legged patients. In my experience this is a wonderful option and I've seen some pretty amazing things happen when the right remedy is administered to my own cats. You may want to try a homeopathic remedy called Star of Bethlehem, this is a Bach Flower Essence and it works well to treat mental, physical or emotional trauma. I'd recommend giving 4-8 drops of this remedy 3-4 times a day for 2-4 weeks and then gradually reducing the dosage and frequency over the following 2-4 weeks. This should help this mom work through her grief quite well and may stop the less than harmonious way she's been interacting with the other moms and adult cats in the household. Another remedy you could add to the Star of Bethlehem is Rescue Remedy which is a good all purpose remedy, I wouldn't recommend adding this remedy if you're starting to see improvements in how this little girl is functioning within the household with the other moms and the litters of kittens. I have also sent off a request for other remedies that may be helpful for this cat just in case the two I've recommended aren't working quite as well as you'd like. The nice thing about using homeopathy to treat our pets when appropriate is the fact that if you administer the wrong remedy the worst that will happen is absolutely nothing in the majority of cases, however if you administer the wrong medicine when we're talking about conventional medicine the consequences can be serious or even life threatening.

There is an incredibly serious pet overpopulation issue that affect shelters and rescue organizations. Unfortunately many animal loving staff working for animal welfare organizations are forced to euthanize healthy, adoptable animals simply because they don't have the time, space or resources to devote to each animal until their forever family comes along to adopt them. The euthanasia rate for cats tends to be much higher than that of dogs, possibly because cats are seen as disposable or simply because pet parents aren't taking the simply step of controlling pet overpopulation by spaying/neutering their cats. It's important to keep the new mom indoors and away from intact male cats because she can become pregnant as early as 24-48 hours after giving birth. I would also recommend that you discuss spaying/neutering with anyone who wants to adopt one or more of these kittens, it's important that potential adoptive parents be prepared to accept the responsibility of providing their kitten(s) with appropriate care and spaying/neutering is definitely a part of ethical pet parenthood.

There are many good behavioral and medical reasons to spay/neuter our cats. Cats that have been spayed/neutered are prevented from getting uterine, ovarian or prostate cancers. The earlier in life that a cat is spayed/neutered the less likely s/he will be to develop prostate or breast cancers. Unspayed female cats are at risk of developing a potentially life threatening uterine infection called pyometra which causes the womb to fill with pus, if the uterus ruptures and spreads infection throughout the abdomen the cat's chances of survival are pretty low. The only treatment for pyometra is to perform an emergency spay, this procedure is much riskier than a routine spay because the cat is already quite sick which is associated with higher risks of anesthetic death and post surgical complications. The emergency spay is more complicated and time consuming so it tends to be quite a bit more expensive than a routine spay.

The leading cause of death in cats living in North America is euthanasia secondary to behavioral issues. This statistic is heart breaking because many behavioral issues can be prevented or minimized by spaying/neutering our cats. Common behavioral problems including inappropriate elimination (urinating or defecating outside of the litter box), fighting with other cats (the resulting injuries from cat fights often require medical care because bite wounds tend to get badly infected forming abscesses which must be drained under anesthetic, flushed with sterile saline and treated with antibiotics), queens howling to advertise their availability to mate, tom cats caterwauling and fighting to win the right to mate with receptive queens and wandering over a large area are all issues which can be prevented by having the cat spayed/neutered before they reach sexual maturity. Behaviors like house soiling or fighting can sometimes occur with cats that have been spayed/neutered however these behaviors are often related to things like improper introductions to new cats in the household, poor litter box hygiene, scented litter, and other issues which can be easily solved.

Ultimately spaying and neutering our cats is a responsible and ethical choice which saves countless lives each year. For pet parents that are having difficulty getting the money together for routine vet care I may be able to help find a solution to those issues. I keep an ever growing list of resources that may be willing to cover part or all of the cost of routine care like kitten vaccines and spay/neuter procedures. The only information that I ask for in these cases is that the pet parent provide the general area they are writing from - in Canada or the US the province or state is fine. Spaying and neutering helps cats to live longer, healthier lives and as kitty caregivers that love our pets we all want to have as much quality time as possible with our furry friends. I'd be more than happy to provide more information about kitten development, proper socialization, nutrition and any other questions or concerns you might have, so please feel free to contact me again.