Emotional Trauma in Cats

Question
We live in Thailand and was adopted by a stray cat a few months ago. There
are a lot of feral cats here unspayed and unneutered. She was pregnant and
we looked after her. We don't know how old she is but guess she is quite
young. She is very friendly, never litters in the house and acts just as a
domestic cat would (apart from occasional gentle biting when over stroked)
She gave birth to the first of her litter right by my side. We built her a kitten
box and she nursed her kittens and they were all developing normally.
This morning a tom cat broke into our house and attacked and killed all four
kittens - her whole litter has died (I can't stop crying as I write this). We heard
a cat fight very early this morning and rushed down to investigate. We found
her alone very stressed with fur and urine all over the floor near her nest. At
first we didn't realise the kittens were dead - we thought they were sleeping
but then we realised that they were not moving and their necks were broken.
We took them away and buried them and removed her nesting box. Maybe
this wasn't the right thing to do but it was so tragic we didn't know what else
to do.
Now our poor little cat is in distress - she keeps calling for them, hunting
around the house and going back to where her box was and calling out to
them again and again. The only thing that seems to console her is when I pick
her up and stroke her but then she goes back to crying for them. Is there
anything I can do for her right now? I feel so upset and helpless and want to
help her as much as I can.

We had also talked to a local vet about the right time to get her spayed after
her kittens - but when would be a good time now - I don't want to stress her
out by putting her through an operation so soon after this but there are a few
toms around and her life is made such a misery by them.

Answer
This is very terrible and I'm very sorry for your loss. It's going to be just as difficult for her to get through is it is for you. Unfortunately this is something that is just going to have to pass on its own, with time. One thing you could try is giving her some smaller stuffed animals to act as a replacement. We do the same thing for younger kittens to they can feel as if mom is right there with them.

And it wasn't a bad thing for you bury them. As far as having her spayed, since there are so many toms around, I really wouldn't wait and chance another of the same situation. The main thing you can do is try to act normal. As long as she can sense that you are stressed, she will be stressed as well.

Let me know how things go.