My cat attacked

Question
My mother cat attacked her two kittens, one female and one male. They were hissing at each other and after we separated them, I saw blood on the mother cat's paw. We wanted to see if the kittens would get along without their mom around, so we let both kittens be together. Soon they also started hissing and growling, and I had to separate them too. I don't know if one of them has rabies because the mother cat has killed mice outside.
The mom is one and a half years old, and the two kittens are a little over one month old.
Earlier today they were perfectly fine and normal, then this afternoon I heard a very loud cat fight outside.
Please help me, I do not know what the problem is or if we can get them back to normal.
                                Thank You,
                                  Elizabeth

Answer
Elizabeth,

You didn't say whether the loud cat fight was your cats or not. If it wasn't that probably is the problem. When cats hear a cat fight they get all upset and start fighting too even though they don't know why. Especially mother cats with kittens. And since she attacked the kittens (the closest things to her) they are doing the same thing with each other.

I doubt it is rabies. That usually kills them within 10 days. But if the mom should or a baby should die within 3-4 days, get to the vet immediately.

The family should be OK tomorrow after they settle down, if nothing else scares them. Give them some kitty treats and some extra attention and affection. If not write back and we can go from there.

Also remember that the mother can go back into heat as soon as 7-14 days after having kittens. She may be coming back into heat and there are tomcats outside, and that could cause her to act like that with the kittens also.

Tabbi