# Can Cats get postnatal depression?



## Feisty Kitten (Jun 18, 2010)

My cat gave birth 5 weeks ago. The kittens are healthy, and running around like loonies. They started weaning last week. 

Jackson was just over 1 year old when she gave birth. Before she got pregnant, she was the most affectionate little thing. We used to have cuddles every morning without fail, she would paw my face, nibble my nose, dribble and roll around all happy. She would stand on her back legs and give me a cuddle. Now, she is nothing like that. She has the most pathetic miaow. It's more like a groan, sometimes she does silent cries. I can't even give her a cuddle now, she just walks away. I can't hear her purr, can only feel it in her chest. She has lost a lot of weight, which I'm hoping is down to feeding the kittens and having them live off of her for goodness knows how long. 

She's been a really good mum, albeit slightly reluctant. I let her out of the room so she can have a break. She always comes back to check on them and feed them still. 

I just want my little girl back. I was wondering if she could be depressed?


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## ~Siameseifuplz~ (May 6, 2007)

Giving birth and raising a litter are a lot of work and involve a lot of hormones. We have a cat at the shelter who went from sweet to dangerous after giving birth. She started attacking her foster parents to the point where they couldn't get in the room with the kittens. She had to be separated from the kids because they could not be socialized while she was there.

She didn't get much better after being separated though. At the shelter she started friendly but would suddenly turn and start growling, hissing and scratching. She did it to me once because I was putting her litter box back in the cage and she didn't like me doing that so she went from very sweet to psycho kitty. She eventually was spayed and it took a few weeks but the hormones stabalized and she's back to her sweet self now. If ever there was a poster kitty for not breeding your cat she's it.

So it's possible once your kitty has weaned the kits and is spayed she'll be back to her normal self. However you need to remember she was very much still maturing when she gave birth, cats usually fully mature around 2 years. Giving birth might have sped that up a bit so she might just have gone from kitten to adult very quickly and this could just be her now. So you never know, she might be stressed or hormonal or maybe not. Just spend lots of time with her and make sure she has everything she needs.

As far as her weight, what are you feeding her? She should be eating a high quality kitten food, as much as she wants.


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## catloverami (Jul 5, 2010)

How many kittens is she feeding? She sounds like she is run down, and as _Siameseifuplz_ suggested should be fed kitten food. Also some extra protein, such as chicken, would certainly help. The kitties should be fed some kitten food now. This will help Jackson to gain back some weight. It's best for the kittens to continue to nurse for a while longer, but by 10-11 wks. they should be completely weaned and ready to go to new homes. Being a momcat is exhausting especially if it's a large litter (5-6 kittens), or she's a small cat herself. I think when the kittens are weaned and off to new homes, she will go back to her old self, but it may take some time for the hormones to settle. Some cats really take to motherhood, and others not so much. She sounds like in the latter group and would likely be happier being spayed.


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## Feisty Kitten (Jun 18, 2010)

She had 5, and to be honest, we're planning on keeping them. She is a very small cat. 

I feed them all Whiskers kitten food and kitten biscuits. Jackson has special treats like tuna and chicken too. 

We're definately having her spayed once all the kittens are weaned.


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## Mom of 4 (Jul 29, 2006)

I don't know how Whiskers rates over there, but what we have labeled "Whiskers" here is not a good quality cat food. She needs to be on a quality kitten food while she is nursing and until she is back to normal. The kittens are draining all of the nutrition from her. Dry kitten food should be available all of the time and wet given several times a day.

No more tuna either. Sad, because cats love tuna. But it contains mercury and that builds up in the body. It can cause permanent neurological problems and death.

How wonderful that you plan to keep all of the kittens too! 
Remember that giving the cats and kittens good quality food reduces a lot of problems and can keep you out of the vet office - cheaper in the long run.


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## Feisty Kitten (Jun 18, 2010)

Whiskers is one of the main cat food brands in the UK, but maybe I could look into a more specialist brand. Whatever is best for Sossy. They do also have dry biscuits out all the time. I'm always topping up their food. 

She'll be sad about the tuna. I won't tell her though, hopefully she'll forget!!


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## catloverami (Jul 5, 2010)

You could add a little juice from canned salmon, or sardines. That may stimulate her to eat more. Try to find a food that has the highest protein. Wow! Small cat with 5 kittens, no wonder!....she's just run down and not feeling energetic. I think when you get the kittens weaned and neutered/spayed, she should revert to her normal loving self. Do give her extra "special attention". She needs to feel loved!


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## ibbica (Jul 28, 2010)

Second the opinion about Whiskas; I'm in Europe too and yeah, Whiskas here is terrible  You have lots of far better options that aren't any more expensive and are WAAAAAY better for you cats!

As a resource, I actually like ZooPlus' website (zooplus.co.uk I think, for you); they sell a decent selection of both dry and canned foods, but I like their site for the complete ingredient lists and content analyses that you can go through to find the best options (I like to rotate through a variety of foods, so it's nice to have a few!). You might actually be able to find some of the better foods in a pet store in the UK (unfortunately I haven't had much luck in Belgium).

In general, I start by looking for a few main features when I'm looking for a food for the kitties (note that this is a starting point only, and is just my personal opinion):

1. No corn if at all possible. Preferably no wheat either, ideally no grains at all, and as little carbs as possible. This is actually pretty easy with wet food, but can be tough to find with dry kibble (kibble will always have some source of carbs and/or fibre to hold the kibble pellets together). An big no-no for me is food that splits the grains in their list... i.e. listing corn, corn meal, and corn proteins as separate ingredients. It's very misleading, and may mean the food contains a lot more grain than you think :?

2. The first couple ingredients should be an identified meat, meal, and/or by-products (e.g. "chicken meat", "rabbit meal", "turkey by-products"... NOT simply "poultry", "meat meal", "poultry meal", "animal by-products", etc).

3. Taurine content; it's denatured in cooking and it seems not all "complete" foods here in Europe actually list it on the package (!). If in doubt, you can purchase taurine powder as a supplement (but look for a good deal, including checking prices on the human-grade stuff; it's often cheaper than buying it from a pet store).

4. As for protein sources... I like to provide variety, so we try to feed mostly what I call small-prey-based food (e.g. chicken, turkey, quail, duck, rabbit), then occasionally some large-animal-based (e.g. beef/veal, mutton/lamb), and finally a bit of seafood-based food (e.g. salmon, tuna, shrimp, crab) once in a blue moon.

As for your question about post-partum depression... well, it's a very good question  The fact is that we don't really understand it very well even in humans, the clinical definition is constantly under revisement, and the jury's still out on the underlying cause (or even whether there IS only one underlying cause!). Whether animals can suffer postpartum depression depends on how you define postpartum depression :? (Technically speaking, the current clinical definition only applies to humans, so a clinician's answer would be "no"). 

Your best bet at this point is to do your best to provide your cat and her kittens with the best care you possibly can and hope she gets back to herself as her hormones re-stabilize. But do be prepared for her to not change back; as others have noted, pregnancy and lactation is quite an ordeal, especially for such a young cat.

Good luck!


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