Queen Lost her Litter

Question
My cat recently got out while in heat and she not surprisingly got pregnant. She seemed to do fine through the pregnancy. She went in to labor and had 4 live kittens and 1 dead. Within several hours 2 of the live kittens died. I took the remaining 2 kittens and momma to the vet the next day. The kittens had some type of virus in utero, per the vet. Their skulls had frontal occlusion and suprsingly to me their eyes were not sealed closed but open. In any event, the issue at hand is the vet advised me to keep mommy away from the kittens , since she did not test positive for a virus.  Each of the 2 kittens slowly got weaker as the hours passed and eventually both kittens died. When the first one died I thought it would be best for mommy to be able to smell the dead kitten so she would know that it was gone. Her reaction was to grab the kitten by the scruff and try to run off with it. When the last one died I was afraid to let her smell it because of her past reaction. Now she sits in the hall outside the room we kept the kittens in and just cries. I dont know how to comfort her . Is it just a matter of time or is there something I can do to make her feel better and not miss her babies so much?
Liz

Answer
Hi Liz,

I'm sorry that your queen lost her kittens. She is meowing for her kittens right now. She will get over the loss. It will take time but it won't be that long before she stops. I would let her in the room where the kittens were. She will cry and look around for them but should stop that soon. They don't have a memory like we do.
She will go into heat again soon and will forget all of this. You were lucky that she didn't catch a virus that could have killed her or made her very sick. Please spay her if she is not a breeding queen. You and her will be better for it. Good luck and let me know how she is doing.

Ciao, Karen