Mother cat rejects her babies...help

Question

my tabby cat just had three babies. One of them she keeps taking and hiding..and the other two he refuses to be around. My other cat which also just had babies is feeding them now. There is still the smallest one that she keeps hiding and he arley cares for that one too...What should i do??

Answer 1

Leave them alone.  If you move the kittens you risk upsetting the mother.  Just let nature take its course and if you've got two mother cats and only one is doing the feeding right now just stand back and watch.  I've had feral mothers that shared the responsibility for their kittens.  You get in the mix too much and all you do is upset the mother cats.

The kitten the mother is hiding may be sick, and she is taking it off to die.  That's natural.  Only the fittest surive.  She could be trying to hide the babies from you.

I'm not trying to be cruel, but if at all possible, back off and let them handle things.  They know what their doing.

Answer 2

If she is a new mother, she might not know quite what to do with more than one kitten.  My cat had her first set of kittens right in the middle of the living room floor. She too, tried to hide just one kitten with her, but it was more like she was "forgetting" the other one even existed when she was caring for the first one. I just made sure to keep them together in a nice nest box in the closet. If she tried to move just one, I'd help her move the other kitten.  After a little while, she never left the other one behind again. She was such a doting mother after she figured it out that she let them nurse until they were 5 months old!

Give them a warm cozy box to cuddle in a dark corner together.  Keep the other nursing mother nearby just in case though!

Answer 3

You may want want to try putting the cats in a crate or enclosed area. Your cat keeps hiding her baby because she doesn't think it is safe and is trying to bring it to a quiet location.

You are lucky you have another nursing cat. You may want to go to the pet store and buy some kitten formula to hand feed the kittens if your cats keep rejecting them though. Kittens need to be fed every four hours and they need their privates with with a cotton ball so they can relieve themselves after, since they cant do it themselves yet.

Answer 4

She is probably hiding them because she is nervous and can feel too much is happening around the birth!  Cats have babies in private usually and don't like interferance.  Back off and let her do her thing.  The other cats taking her kittens may be bothering her too.  She may reguard them as their kittens now.  Let her do her thing and give her room!  She will do fine!  Good Luck and call your vet if you still need reasurance!