Mother cat attacks her kittens

by Shannon Lee
(New Zealand)

Our cat Mynxie had kittens just over a month ago. For a while she has been quite rough with them, biting them almost as if she is playing. But over the last couple of days she has been really ROUGH. She bites any where she can grab and starts to get her back foot in there and kicks them like what they do with toys. The kittens scream and try to get away from her but she is obviously alot stronger. We aren't sure what to do and we are scared because if given the chance she might kill them. Please help,

Faye

Answer from KAte
Hi
it would be extremely unusual and rare for a mother cat to kill her kittens. It sounds o me like she may be playing and teaching them how to play etc. mother cats have to teach their kittens a lot in the first 3 months while they are being milk fed.

It may be that it looks worse than it is to us and she is simply playing with them. Watch when she is playing, no claws and her bites are not hard at all.

If you really feel that she is hurting them then you will have to take them away from her and feed them yourselves until they are weaned. But this would be a shame and is not good for the kittens fr the rest of their lives.

Please see my kitten pages which you may find of further interest.
http://www.our-happy-cat.com/kitten-care.html
best wishes kate

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