# Mother cat rejects her 5.5 month old kittens after surgery



## thirdwiley (Jul 1, 2010)

Our mother cat Minnie (mostly Maine ****) had been the most calm, unflappable cat I have ever known. Dogs, strangers, other cats were observed with caution but no panic. We just had her 5.5 month old female and two male kittens spade and neutered. When we brought them home she totally rejected them; hissing and trying to attack them. Now we can not have her in the same room with her kittens. Any suggestions?


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## Darkcat (May 27, 2010)

They smell funny to her. You can try putting a drop of vanilla on their necks, or rub them down with something that smells like home. Other than that, give it time for the vet smell to wear off.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Welcome to CF and I hope we can help.
DarkCat is right; the babies have come home from the vet smelling *different* and of *scary* things like blood, anti-septic and strange animals/people. Cats are visual but they also rely heavily on their senses of smell and hearing. 
What you've got is a kitty who can't recognize her babies. 
They *look* like her babies, they *sound* like her babies .... but they don't *smell* like her babies .... they smell of 'scary things' and she is trying to drive the 'intruders' away from her safe territory. Separate everyone for a few days. Rub a medium sized towel over each cat, going from cat-to-cat-to-cat and repeating until the scent-transfer is evenly spread between all cats in the home. The same principle applies when using a dot of vanilla on everyone's shoulder blades, it is to make everyone smell the same and override the scary/strange smells from the vet office and surgery. Once the vet/surgical smell has worn off, everyone should return to normal.
heidi =^..^=


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