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Cat keeps moving kitten
- Thread starter jb136
- Start Date
Hi, welcome to cat raising!!
Try putting a heating pad, set on the lowest, under a cardboard box that is almost completely enclosed. Obviously you need an access hole for the mom to get in and out from.
From my experience, it sounds like she feels the kitten is unsafe. Perhaps not handling it for a few days will help also.
Is it her first litter?
One of my persians just had her first litter. She is TWO years old!!! They are such prima donnas!! She delivered it, then waited for some other female to come by to clean and feed it. Much to her surprize, I set her up in one of my big cat cages with the new baby and she has to do her own baby work!!
Be grateful that your cat actually cares about her kitten.
Try putting a heating pad, set on the lowest, under a cardboard box that is almost completely enclosed. Obviously you need an access hole for the mom to get in and out from.
From my experience, it sounds like she feels the kitten is unsafe. Perhaps not handling it for a few days will help also.
Is it her first litter?
One of my persians just had her first litter. She is TWO years old!!! They are such prima donnas!! She delivered it, then waited for some other female to come by to clean and feed it. Much to her surprize, I set her up in one of my big cat cages with the new baby and she has to do her own baby work!!
Be grateful that your cat actually cares about her kitten.
I would be interested to know what you mean by different locations. Is she moving them around in one room or moving them to opposite areas of the house or yard. Are these inside or outside cats? What are YOU doing when she moves them? Are you moving them to where you want them or are you leaving them alone, only to have her move them again? Usually a mother cat will pick the safest spot she can find to give birth and she will usually leave the kittens there unless situations change too much for her to feel safe. If you are moving them, she will keep moving them back to where SHE feels safe and NOT where you may think is the best spot for them. We put our expecting queens in a separate room and close the door, opening the door only to go in and spend time with her, feed, change/clean litterboxes, etc. No other cats are allowed in and neither are visitors to the house. Mom and kittens are confined to this room until the kittens are completely weaned, although we will let Mom out when she becomes restless and wants a break from the litter. (she is usually back in heat at this time as well, so there are no whole males loose when she is out!) If you are able to confine mom to a specific room for her birthing, then leave her kittens alone except to weigh or touch them for the contact. Don't intervene unless there is some real danger to them.
Pete
I have outdoor cats and for my last litter, she had them in the garage which was great, but she got nervous because of one of our dogs always barking. She moved them outside then which I definitely didn't like, so I set up a laundry basket for the kittens and moved them to a little shed we have. She didn't like me moving them and actually tried to take one out of the basket (not that I blame her). But I got them moved to where they were out of danger and just kept petting the mother until she calmed down, and eventually she saw that it was pretty good spot for the kittens. She crawled in the laundry basket then and she's stayed there ever since (about 5 weeks). Hope that helps.
