my maine coon cat after labour

Question
my cat gave birth to six kittens 6 days ago and has been great with them she lost one the morning after they were born. The other 5 have been fine until yesterday evening 1 got poorly and died this morning, another this afternoon and another this evening. Millie has been to the vets and they said she has early stages of mastitus she and her remaing kittens has been given antibiotics but she seems 2 be not spending as much time with the kittens as she did before, im really worried about her and her babies is this normal behaviour?

Answer
Hi Kelly,

Mom should still be spending a great deal of time with the babies at this age. She should not be leaving them for much more than eating and using the litter box. She may not be spending as much time with the kittens because she's avoiding nursing them due to pain. Or it may be possible she is no longer interested in caring for the remaining kittens because it's not a "productive litter" by instinct. Litters that are very small are more likely to be neglected. This is so that the mother can go on to conceive another, hopefully larger litter.

But whatever the reason, I think you need to intervene if the kittens are to have a chance at survival. You will probably need to supplementally bottle feed until she starts caring for them again (IF she does). There is a possibility that something was wrong with the litter - a conflicting blood type with the mother, or that they were born prematurely if you didn't know her conception date, for example. Some kittens cannot be saved, but if it's a simple case of neglect, you should be able to raise them by hand.

Good luck!
Jessica