# Cat biting her kittens



## Stacieamy (Apr 1, 2006)

Hi! I've just found this site on my search for information on the behavior of our cat who adopted us a couple of months ago.

She was a neighborhood stray who started off coaxing us out of treats, then began sleeping over at night, etc...I'm sure the same story has happened many times, lol. But, it's okay, we love her. We've named her Sybil and, trust me, it's been earned over and over again.
When we decided to make her part of the family, we didn't realize that she was already a couple of months pregnant. But, once we found out we began preparing for the arrival. Yes, we were given to option of abortion during a typical spay operation, so, please don't lecture about that. I believe that babies are babies from conception.

Anyway, the litter of four of the most adorable little balls of fur and paws (2 boys and 2 girls) will be 4 weeks old this Sunday. They're working hard on learning to walk without toppling over and are becoming very adept at fighting with each other. 

My concern is when Sybil wants to join in. When she gets into that "play" mood (eyes dialated and complete spaz mode) she has started walking to where her children are asleep and meowing very loudly and continuosly until she wakes them up. Then she will lay down as if ready to nurse and when the little guys toddle over to her she will grab one of them with her paw (no concern so far) and she will proceed to play very roughly with them, including biting and I do not mean gentle nipping, I mean she will hold their entire little throats or legs in her mouth. There have also been a couple of times when she gets really excited and brings the back legs "kangaroo kicking" into it. I can usually make her stop by grabbing an ear and pulling back a bit (not hard) and when she sees that it was me and not one of her kittens then she calms down for a few seconds, but, she will go right back to this rough batting around and hard biting. 

We wonder if perhaps it is a dominance thing, but, it just seems to get out of hand.


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## Sky Eyes Woman (Feb 26, 2006)

How old do you think she might be? I dunno why, but your description of her behavior just screams "inexperienced mother" to me. But, I'm no expert on such things. It was just my first impression. It does sound worrisome...have you asked your vet about it?


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## boojagirl (Feb 9, 2006)

my 9 month old cat Gray C. does that with my other cat Julies kittens, Sky Eyes Woman sounds right, the cat could be young and inexperienced and see the kittens as something to play with, not realizing how much bigger she is than them, when she plays like that with them do they cry out in pain? As long as she is not using her claws or biting them hard enough to hurt them it should be ok.


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## spacemonkey (Aug 12, 2004)

Our cat was a very young mother, and she did the same with her kittens. You could just tell she was waiting for the day when they could start running around, just so she could play with them :lol:

Scully still plays with her daughters (though, now they're as big as she), and I've never seen her get too rough or too aggressive with them. _Even though_ it looks bad, I don't think your mama cat will actually hurt the kittens. Cats play very roughly, and it can be hard to watch, but I really don't think she's going to hurt them.


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## roseeden (May 18, 2005)

Having had five kittens myself, I think kittens are very elastic and rough playing won't hurt them.

How many of the kittens are you keeping? I am hoping you could keep all four


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## Mickey's Mom (May 5, 2005)

shengmei said:


> Having had five kittens myself, I think kittens are very elastic and rough playing won't hurt them.....



Shengmei, when you had the five kittens, did you play rough with them, too? LOL Oh, please excuse me, I hope you are not offended. I just found the faux pas wording too delicious to resist. Sorry, CF Mod, maybe I'm overcome with Spring fever. :roll: 8O


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## Stacieamy (Apr 1, 2006)

*Yeah...*

She is an inexperienced mother. When I took her to her check up visit the vet put her at 10 months old and that was right about a month before she had them, so, she should be at her first birthday now or will be soon. And it does seem that seeing them as play toys is exactly what she does. 
She doesn't use claws, so, her batting at the doesn't bother me, it was the biting. They've never made a sound when she does it, so, I doubt she's ever hurt them. Plus, my correcting her seems to have made her more wary about it, at least when I'm around her, hehe. Also, today her smallest daughter and the only fearless kitten has taken the initiative to attack mom, so, she's probably never frightened them, either.
Thanks for the replies, I do feel less anxious about it now.


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## Zalensia (Aug 25, 2003)

As others have said if they are not crying out she won't be hurting them.
Usually if one will cry out she will stop almost immediatly, she knows then it is going too far.


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## roseeden (May 18, 2005)

Mickey's Mom said:


> Shengmei, when you had the five kittens, did you play rough with them, too? LOL Oh, please excuse me, I hope you are not offended. I just found the faux pas wording too delicious to resist. Sorry, CF Mod, maybe I'm overcome with Spring fever. :roll: 8O


Oh yeah...they used to purr even when they are suspended upside down.

Not that I ever do it for more than a couple of seconds 8O 8O 8O


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## Mickey's Mom (May 5, 2005)

shengmei said:


> Mickey's Mom said:
> 
> 
> > Shengmei, when you had the five kittens, did you play rough with them, too? LOL Oh, please excuse me, I hope you are not offended. I just found the faux pas wording too delicious to resist. Sorry, CF Mod, maybe I'm overcome with Spring fever. :roll: 8O
> ...


Oh, Shengmei, thank you for that comeback. It was so cute the wording you used.


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