Mother cat seperating herself from baby

Question
My cat had her very first litter two weeks ago. She had three kittens. One was stillborn and the runt passed away 4 days after birth. We took her to the vet and tube fed her but she was too weak. My concern is that after the baby died Mama brought the only survivor into my bed. This went on until yesterday when I noticed that the baby was starting to have "accidents" I cleaned the closet where the original box was and replaced it with a thick blanket and put the baby in there. She seems to be content but Mama will not stay with her. She goes in to check on her and feed her but 80% of the day she is on my bed sleeping. Is this normal for her to leave the baby alone so much? Baby is only two weeks old. Mama was very attentive when the baby was sleeping in my bed but now seems not to really care. I am so afraid to lose this baby too. Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Answer
Stacey,

For the first couple of days, nursing mamas are very protective of the babies and nurse constantly. If the babies are hungry, they let mama know and she will come running.  Some mamas dote on the litter until they are weaned and some take a more relaxed approach. The one thing I know is that you cannot force the issue.  We usually do not change the bedding until the babies are weaned.

If the baby is squalling, does mama come and tend to it?  If, so there is nothing to worry about.  As long as the baby is growing and relatively quiet all is probably OK. The problem is that if there is a problem, at two weeks, there is very little the vet can do for it!

I assume you are weighing the kitten daily to check that the baby is gaining weight?

Please let me know.

Best regards... Norm.




At age 3-4 weeks, the weaning process can begin.