Mother cat issues

[Night kitty]

A few months ago we took in a stray kitten that had been hanging around our house. Unfortunately she got pregnant before we could get her spayed. She ended up giving birth to her kittens in a plastic bag in our garage. Well, of coarse we had to get the kittens out of the plastic bag so they wouldn’t suffocate, but after we got all the kittens out my mom panicked and tried to take all the kittens inside the house and away from their mother. I tried to warn her that it probably wasn’t a good idea to take them away from their mother but she wouldn’t listen and started taking the kittens inside. The mother cat saw what she was doing and went and grabbed one of the kittens in her mouth. My mom then freaked out and picked up the mother cat with the kitten hanging from its mouth and tried to carry them inside (the mother cat dropping the poor kitten in the process). The whole thing turned into a big ordeal and eventually the mother cat and her kittens ended up back in the garage inside a little play pen we set up.

The problem is that now a lot of times when my mom goes out to the garage and gets near the kittens the mother will swat at her or try to attack her legs. She typically only does this in the garage, in the house she can actually be pretty friendly towards my mom. But now my mom’s scared of her and wants to get rid of her. The kittens are five weeks old now and their once very overprotective mother has begun to mellow out now and will let other people pet and play with the kittens, except for my mom.

I’m not sure what to do here, before all this my mom and this cat were really good friends and now they seem to be at odds. I would really appreciate some advice on how to handle this situation.

[Mollycat]

You were so right in what you said, unfortunately you mom handled the whole thing really badly and this could take some work to repair.

For the time being until the kittens are older could your mom just stay out of the garage altogether? Mother cat's reaction to her is really perfectly normal in the circumstances, she is trying to protect her kittens at all costs. Can you persuade your mom that the cat can't be rehomed while the kittens are so young, and buy some time?

[fjm]

I agree your that mother's actions, no matter how well intentioned, could have been designed to upset a cat with new kittens. Perhaps if you suggest to your mother that she may have behaved similarly had anyone attempted to steal her babies she may be more sympathetic!

I suspect that given time and space the cat may well come round to enjoying your mother's company when her own kittens have been homed in a few months time and her maternal hormones have eased off. I would ask your mother to leave the kittens strictly alone, and to ignore the cat, but whenever she sees the cat to drop really good treats - a scrap of chicken or other meat or anything the cat finds really irresistible, to help rebuild their bond.