All of us at Alley Cat Allies wish all the moms out there, of every species, a very happy Mother’s Day this weekend!
In honor of the occasion, we’re walking through the 5 top tips to help mother cats—on Mother’s Day and every day. From mother cats outdoors to mother cats raising kittens in your home, you can provide support and care that ensures the entire little family is safe and healthy.
How to help mother cats and their kittens:
1. Spay Mother Cats As Soon As You Can
Mother cat may still be raising her kittens, but get ready to have her spayed and vaccinated as soon as the weaning process is over! Mating, pregnancy, and birth are very hard on mother cats, and she will be healthier and happier if her current litter is her last. Plus, spay can end the risk of certain types of reproductive cancers!
Once the kittens are ready to leave their mom, make sure the whole family will be spayed or neutered! If mom is a community cat, return her to her outdoor home through a Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program.
We have tips on TNR for mother cats with kittens, just click here.
2. Leave Them BeTM: Let Mother Cats Raise Their Kittens
Most times you find young kittens outdoors, their mother will be close by—even if you haven’t spotted her. Keep a lookout for at least a few hours from an out-of-sight area to see if mom returns. As a general rule, if the kittens look clean and well-fed, their mother is almost certainly still caring for them.
If kittens have their mother cat, Leave Them Be! That means allowing mom to raise her kittens in their outdoor home rather than scooping up the kittens to bring them indoors or to an animal shelter. The bottom line: not all kittens need rescuing!
3. Provide Support to Mother Cats and Kittens Outdoors
We’ve established that there is no need to bring kittens, or mom and her kittens, indoors if they are doing well right where they are. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t other ways you can provide support!
We recommend nestling an outdoor shelter, with comfortable and dry bedding, near where mom is already raising her kittens. Try not to disturb her current nest too much, lest she move her kittens elsewhere.
You can also feed mom on a regular schedule and provide her the highest quality wet food accessible to you. And feed her extra: she needs the calories and nutrition to keep up her energy and nurse her kittens!
Find outdoor shelter options here.
4. Properly Care for Mother Cats and Kittens Indoors
If you are caring for a mother cat indoors (remember: there is typically not a need to bring a community cat and her kittens indoors!), make sure you give her the most comfortable, safe area possible to raise her kittens.
The space doesn’t have to be fancy, just functional. Make sure mom has a nesting box available, which could be anything from a nesting box designed specifically for cats to a large carrier to a cardboard box. Just make sure mom can step in and out of it easily. Whatever your setup, place it in a quiet, temperature-controlled area that can be closed off so it is inaccessible to any other animals in the house. Try to choose an area you see mom gravitating to as she gets closer to giving birth.
Line the nesting box with newspaper and then clean, dry bedding like towels or a blanket. The bedding will need to be changed if it ever becomes soiled, so keep extras nearby. Provide food, water, and litter, but don’t put any of them in the box! Place these items outside the nesting area, as far from where the kittens will be as possible but still in the room.
5. Monitor Mother Cats and Kittens
Keep an eye on the kittens over the next weeks to ensure they are growing on track! Watch for any signs of sickness or injury, and contact a veterinarian immediately if you spot something of concern.
If you are helping a mother cat raise her kittens indoors and she is comfortable, make sure you weigh her kittens every day. Healthy kittens should be gaining 7 to 15 grams per day! Any less than that—or weight loss—are signs something may be wrong.
For a community cat mother, touching her kittens will likely not be an option. Just make sure the little family looks healthy and content by checking in every now and then, taking care not to stress out mom. However, if you do touch the kittens, know that a mother cat will NOT reject them. It is a common myth that cats will abandon kittens touched by people, but it is nothing more than myth.
Our Kitten Progression Guide will help you determine if kittens are growing on track and hitting their milestones! If you have reason to believe mom or kittens are sick or injured, we have a guide on next steps to help.