Cat behavior after giving birth

Question
My cat just gave birth 9 days ago. For the past 2 nights at 1 a.m. in the morning, she has decided that two of them need to be moved under our bed. They are squeaking and making all sorts of noise when they are moved. Needless to say, nobody is getting any sleep. HELP!!!

Answer
Cynthia,

I would like to have a bit more information before I make any recommendations. How old is your mother cat? Is this her first litter of kittens? What is the area like where the kittens are most of the time? How is mom picking her kittens up? How many kittens are in the litter? Is mom always moving the same two kittens away from the rest of the litter? Normally I would expect that the kittens (assuming mom is picking them up properly) would go limp and not make a sound while they are actually being moved. Normally mother cats pick kittens up by the scruff of the neck and the reflex on the part of the kittens is as described above. If this is a younger cat there is a good chance that she is not quite sure how to raise her family and may need good conditions to do so presented to her. If this is her first litter of kittens inexperience may contribute to insecurity and your kitty may do well with a homeopathic remedy called Bach's Rescue Remedy. You can generally purchase Rescue Remedy in health food/natural health stores. Rescue Remedy is a blend of flower essences that works to calm and reassure and you may find that giving her a dosage of about 10 drops per day in a fresh bowl of water works well to calm mom and babies so that the house is more peaceful for everyone. If the kittens are in an area where there is a lot of daytime noise and traffic this could be causing mom to feel insecure and have a build up of anxiety which worsens as the day goes on. As I mentioned before mom should be picking her kittens up by the scruff of the neck, it is a reflexive behavior that when young kittens are handled by their scruffs they become limp and quiet. The reason that this happens is so that predators who would gladly kill and eat either the mother cat or her babies are not made aware of the presence of kittens nearby. I have seen inexperienced mother cats pick kittens up by their backs or heads which generally creates a fairly loud response from the kitten. I would suggest for the moment that you help mom by trying out the Rescue Remedy and making her a bed with old towels in a cardboard box. You will want to put this bed in a dimly lit, warm and quiet place. Once you have made sure that mom has a kitten sized litter pan, a dish of good quality kitten food, a bowl of water and a few toys nearby you can try moving mom and the kittens to the new location. I would suggest that you try somewhere in your bedroom, maybe she needs to be near you to feel that her babies are safe. It is possible that if mom moves specific kittens away from the rest of the litter and leaves them to go back with the rest that there may be some sort of health issues with them, this is not always the case though and you should consult a vet if you have any reason to believe that mom or babies may have health issues. I have also seen mother cats move some of their kittens away from their litter simply because they just don't have enough milk to feed the whole litter, this is something seen with fairly large litters though. If the mother cat has too many kittens to feed on her own I would suggest that you look into supplementing the whole litter with a kitten milk replacement. If you need instructions and recommendations regarding supplemental feedings feel free to contact me again. If mom is generally anxious even out of the presence of her kittens I would suggest that a trip to the vet is in order just to be sure that there is no deceased kitten blocking the birth canal. The other possibility that happens sometimes in cats that can cause anxiety, general shaking, a stilted gait and other more serious complications is a calcium deficiency which can happen in cats with large litters. I do feel that it is appropriate to let you know that mom will wean her kittens on her own between 6-8 weeks. Once mom's milk has dried up for at least two weeks you will need to have her spayed so that she doesn't continue to contribute to the serious pet overpopulation problems. Unfortunately cats and kittens have incredibly high euthanasia rates within shelter systems simply because there are just not enough good homes to accommodate the sheer number of unwanted and homeless cats. In the meantime I do recommend that you keep mom indoors and away from male cats old enough to breed as cats can still become pregnant while they are nursing. I do hope that you find this information helpful. If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me again.