mother cat attacking her kittens

Question
My 10 month old mother cat had kittens and was going okay till she got mastitis when the kittens were 3 weeks old. I took her to the vet and she went on antibiotics but she couldn't feed properly and the vet said her milk wasn't coming through adequately so I started hand feeding the kittens. The kittens are now 5 weeks old and doing okay - reluctant lappers but getting there. Anyway, the mum seems anxious and initially would come and find me, I think to make sure I fed the kittens, but when I started to try and get them lapping and eating she would gourge on their kitten milk food and then vomit (always on carpet) later - this happened 3 times. I started keeping the cat away from the kittens as I want to get them to start eating on their own, now the mother cat sits outside their door and yowls but when I let her see the kittens she starts attacking them. Initially it seemed semi-playful but now the kittens are squealing and are becoming quite frightened of any noise or movement. What should I do?

Answer
Carolyn,

I would keep mom isolated from the kittens because ultimately I think that she may not be able to deal with the demands of raising a litter of kittens. She is too young to be raising kittens as she is just a kitten herself. My advice to you is to consider the euthanasia rates for mixed breed kittens in animal shelters. Please spay your kitten so that she doesn't continue to contribute to the pet overpopulation issues. I hope that this answers your questions. If you have any further questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me again.