cant get to new born kittens

Question
Hello, my cat had kittens last night. She turned her nose up at the comfy boxes in random places and opted to have them under my bed, in a sliding cupboard. Mum seems to be coping well but she's the only one i can see.. seen two more of the kittens but apart from that I can't monitor or see how many there are etc... Mum seems happy where she is, but i'm concerned about the kittens. Should i move them to a box? Or let first time mum deal with them until she moves them? Thanks

Answer
Claire,

I would leave her be for the first week.  If she and the kittens appear to be thriving, leaving well enough alone may be best.  The less she is tempted to move the kittens, the better.  If you can get her out of the cupboard into a carrier, temporarily, you can then handle the kittens.  The more they are handled by humans, the more social they will become. If the kittens are less than a week old, do not clean things up quite yet (unless things are really messy in that cupboard).  Once they are a week old, new bedding would be in order.

I would make sure that other pets or small children do not have access to the kittens.  They tend to make mama very upset and she will be tempted to move the kittens to some place even less accessible.

If mama is not growling at you, there should be no problem handling her or the kittens.  Usually, the mama is highly protective only for the first few days.

Please let me know how it goes.

Best regards... Norm.