My cat is being nasty to her kittens!

Question
I have a problem with my 2yr old bengal cross.  She had kittens back in April and turned from quite an aloof, distant cat to a really friendly fantastic Mum.  However 6mths later and with only 2 of the 5 kittens remaining, she has gone back to her old ways of disappearing off for hours and hours and in general not particularly wanting to be fussed or to spend any time with us at home - this I can deal with, however what is alarming me is that over the last week or so she appears to have turned on her own kittens.  Whenever she comes home they tend to rush to great her, no doubt expecting her usual fond greating (lots of licking and fussing), however what they are actually getting is her growling rather loudly at them in warning and if they dont move off she tends to give them a good hard swipe before running off muttering to herself.  The kittens are left bewildered, she seems really angry and i'm getting really upset about the whole thing.  What can I do to make her love them again?!  As you may have gathered I had decided to keep these 2 kittens (thinking rather foolishly that she would like it as much as I do!) and it would break my heart to let any of them go.  Is there any way that this issue can be resolved.  Please help me!

Kind regards

Paula

Answer
Paula,

If I had to guess she is back in season or, maybe, even bred, again.  It is normal for a cat to "push" the kittens out of her nest, so to speak, and discourage them from being with her.

My guess is that spaying the 2 year old may help, but there are no guarantees.

Cats will be cats and there is no way to make them like each other.  They either will or they won't.  However, if the female no longer has to fight her hormones, she will tends to be much more even tempered.

Best regards... Norm.