Expert: Ali - 3/20/2010

Question
my cat gave birth 3 weeks ago and at night every so often she will attack a kitten and start to bite it but this only happens at night about once a week or so

Answer
Lee,

My recommendation at this point would be to watch mom carefully since this could be an early indicator that she's very stressed/anxious which may mean that she's going to wean the babies very early or even reject them entirely. If she's not isolated from the other pets in your household then I'd recommend moving mom and her litter to a dimly lit, quiet room behind a closed door where they can bond privately as a family. It would also be best to keep the people handling mom and her kittens to a minimum if mom's acting a little off. Normally I'd recommend that mom and her kittens stay together with a minimum of interference for at least 12 weeks, but if mom become super aggressive or shows warning signs that she may try to kill her babies I'd advise intervening by separating the kittens from mom temporarily, placing mom in a quiet, dimly lit room on her own and gently rubbing 5-7 drops of a homeopathic remedy called Bach's Rescue Remedy into the relatively fur free area of her skin in front of her ears (do be careful not to get any of this remedy into mom's ears since the flower essences are preserved in a grape alcohol solution which may sting if she's got any irritation inside of her ears). Leave mom to settle for 15-30 minutes and try gently reintroducing her to the babies by bringing the litter into her room and laying them in a cardboard box lined with a towel (be sure this box is large enough for mom and babies to stretch out comfortably while nursing), dim the lights, keep as much activity away from the room as you can and leave the kittens with her. Check back on mom and the kittens in 15-30 minutes to see what they're doing, if mom is still stressed and aggressive with her babies you may have to remove them for a longer period of time and offer them 1-2 feedings of kitten milk replacer from a bottle or syringe so that they don't go hungry. If you have to remove the babies for a second time I'd recommend repeating the doses of Rescue Remedy every 15 minutes or so until mom calms down and returning the babies as soon as mom is relaxed and calm going through the reintroduction process that I've described above. It's important that you don't place the kittens with mom or vice versa, it has to be mom's choice to reunite with her babies and provide them with the nutrition, TLC, warmth and protection they need.

If you're interested I can also provide you with information about the developmental stages of the kittens, how to hand rear the babies if it becomes necessary, providing the best possible nutrition and care for mom and the benefits of spaying and neutering our pets to prevent them from contributing to the massive pet overpopulation issues that lead to so many healthy, adoptable pets being euthanized every day by shelters, rescue groups and private veterinarians simply because there just aren't enough good, stable homes with responsible pet parents willing to provide lifelong homes for these homeless pets. If you have any further cat related questions or concerns I'd be more than happy to help you out to the best of my ability.