Mother attacking her kittens

[kuu]

Hi,

So I have a less than a year old cat who had a litter of 4 kittens about a month ago. She has been the ideal mother, nursing when they need, it, cleaning them, playing with them, all that jazz. However, yesterday she started behaving oddly. The kittens would venture outside of their "nest" room and play around. The mother would sit and watch them, and occasionally mew at them. They have just gotten the hang of running and every now and then they do a little burst of speed around the room. When they get too close to the mother she would kind of put them in a head lock with her paws, clamp her jaws around their necks and rake them with her back claws. I pull her away from them when this happens. Sometimes she would go out of her way to attack them across the room.

I don't understand. The kittens always have this look of terror on their face afterwards. Is this normal behavior? She doesn't do it when they are in the "nest", or when they are next to me. I love my mommy cat and I don't think she's trying to hurt them but sometimes they cry out and one time she grabbed a kitten by the foot with her mouth and dragged it towards her and inch, while the kitten cried. I seperated the mother from then kittens for a time, but she would cry and try to dig her way under the door. I don't know what to do! I get all motherly and try to keep them near me when they go exploring.

What should I do? Is this normal??

Please help,

Sarah

Hello I wanted to ask about your current situation now? My cat behaves the same when they try to leave the nest, idk what to do

 

[Sarthur2]

This thread is from 2013.