How To Stop a Cat From Moving Kittens
The majority of cats make excellent mothers and cherish their babies. Kittens are defenseless when they are born since they can’t see or hear, so they rely on their mother to protect and nurture them. Mother cats are fiercely protective of their kittens and can be violent to humans and other animals. Mother cats have an innate instinct to defend their young, thus this is normal behavior. This is one of the reasons why the mother cat moves her kitten.
Even while seeing a momma feline with newborn kittens in her teeth can be highly unsettling for us humans, moving kittens is a fairly natural mother cat action. When a kitten is around 3 to 4 weeks old, most mother cats will change the location of their kittens. So, why do mother cats like to move their kittens around? If the circumstance is too stressful for a mother cat, what she does is relocate her kittens. Another common motive of a mother cat moving her kittens is when there are too many people looking at and touching them too often or too soon for her comfort.
Touching the kittens of a female cat can mean a lot to the cat. So, what happens if you touch the kittens of a female feline? Will the female cat relocate her little ones if you cuddle or touch them every time you see it? Well, let’s take go a step further and look into that.
Will Cats Move Their Kittens if You Touch Them?
Cats do not move their kittens if you touch them, contrary to popular belief that they will. Although most mother cats do not enjoy humans bothering their kittens, the different scents on their kittens may make them agitated.
The fragrance of a human does not usually scare a mother cat away from her kittens. If the mother cat has lived with you and is familiar with your scent, she should be fine with you caressing her babies. Unfortunately, kittens are frequently relocated by their mothers for a variety of reasons. Please keep reading to learn why mother cats react the way they do when their kittens are present.
Let’s move on to more reasons why cats move their kittens.
Reasons Why A Cat Will Move Her Kittens
Cats, being secretive and private animals, generally take their kittens to a protected location after giving birth. In general, the cat does not feel at ease in the location where she is raising her kittens. It is not safe for the feline kids for her, therefore she must have another.
The following are some of the most typical reasons why a mother cat moves her kittens to other rooms in the house:
1. To keep them away from predators
Mother cats have an innate instinct to protect themselves and their newborns against predators in the wild, in addition to maternal impulses. Despite being domesticated, they still have an impulse to defend their young when they give birth. A maternal cat’s strategy of deterring predators from smelling her kittens is to move them.
2. Trying to get a cleaner nest for kittens
Some other possible explanation a mama cat will relocate her kittens is because she dislikes the scent and feel of the current location. Unusual aromas, such as the stench of rotten food or a strong chemical odor, may turn her off. Mother cats will also relocate their kittens from their nesting area if it has become filthy due to the litter’s excrement and pee.
3. Trying to get a safe place for her kittens
After a few days, a mama cat will normally shift her kittens away from the spot where she gave birth. She does this because she may have observed anything that could endanger the safety of her offspring. It could be as simple as loud noises or other activities in the vicinity.
4. She finds a quiet and perfect place for her kittens
Mother cats require a calm location where they may be alone with their kittens, and if this is not possible due to reasons such as loud noises made by people, appliances, or other pets, they may relocate their young to other isolated or dark areas of the house. This is, once again, part of her mother’s drive to protect her kittens and herself as she recovers from childbirth.
5. Too much human touch on kittens
When her kittens are introduced to human touch, the mother cat gets uneasy. Some domesticated cats don’t mind if you touch their litter, but others won’t. A mother cat may become stressed by the human scent on the kittens, forcing it to transfer the litter.
Ways to Stop Cats From Moving Kittens
It may be impossible to completely stop mother cats from relocating kittens because it is a natural urge for them. Let’s have a look at some options for preventing your adoring feline from engaging in such behavior.
1. Organize a good and warm habitat
Whenever a feline gives birth, she does not require your assistance in caring for her young. Her anxiety is caused solely by your access, and nothing else. You should be patient and not disturb them from the moment they are born. All that is required is that you leave the cat family in a quiet, distraction-free environment. Children and even animals such as dogs may become irritated if you do not.
Setting up the location is only the beginning of what you should do. Water and food are also necessary. Mom’s milk will be consumed by the kittens. However, the mother requires nutrients. Fresh water and proper foods should be supplied daily. Also, make sure to give the cat’s mother a gentle glance to ensure that she is not in an insecure mood.
Due to kittens’ low resistance, they must be kept in a separate and quiet room in the house without being chilled. The ideal situation is to have a large box or bed large enough for the cat and kittens to enter. Then you layer clean blankets on top, removing each one after the cat has defecated. If the mother cat and you have been friends for a long time, your visit might be appreciated. However, it should not be done frequently.
2. Touch the kittens less
While having newborn kittens in the house can be thrilling, resist the impulse to pick them up and love them. Your mother cat should be taking excellent care of her kittens, and she only needs minimum supervision as long as she has a clean nest and access to food, water, and her litter box.
If a large number of people come to see the kittens and even take them up, the mother cat will become alarmed. As the kittens are continuously handled, her scent may begin to fade, leaving her confused. In this instance, she might decide to relocate the kittens to a location where she won’t be bothered.
Keep every human interaction to a minimum until the kittens are at least 4 weeks old, and visits should not be allowed until they are around 8 weeks old. The mother cat will become more relaxed and receptive to visitors as the kittens begin to move around and explore on their own.
3. Make sure the nest is warm
Because newborn kittens are unable to control their body temperature, they require assistance in keeping warm for the first few weeks of their lives. If your mother cat’s nest is exposed to drafts, she may opt to relocate it to a warmer location. Make sure all doors and windows are closed. You could even want to put a thermometer in the room so you can monitor the temperature.
4. Keep the nest area as quiet as possible
Start thinking about prospective locations for your cat’s nest as soon as you find out she’s expecting kittens. Most cats like a calm environment with low light levels and few people. While your cat will find a location to call her own, it may not be the best spot for her. You can try to persuade your cat to build her nest somewhere that fulfills her needs while also allowing you to keep an eye on her and her offspring from afar.
Keep the place as peaceful and tranquil as possible if your cat has decided to construct her nest somewhere improper, but you decide to leave it there. Ensure that other pets are not allowed near her nest. You can even construct a frame for her nest or set it inside a huge box. To offer more privacy and comfort, drape blankets over the space.
5. Ensure the nest is clean enough
Cats will naturally prefer to keep their kittens in a clean environment. This is because powerful odors can attract predators in the wild, putting her cubs’ lives in jeopardy. If the nest becomes filthy, the mother may attempt to relocate her kittens to a cleaner location.
Remove any dirty blankets, clean the litter box properly, and make sure any spilled food is swept up as part of your daily check. The mother cat will be more likely to stay in the same position if the nest and surrounding area are kept as clean as possible.
6. Patience is key
Patience is another answer to the question of how to stop cats from transferring kittens. The newborn kitten is undeniably gorgeous, and anyone would want to cuddle them all day. Unfortunately, there is no way to give love to both mother cats and kittens. Instead, it’s a means of making people feel insecure. Here’s why the cat keeps relocating her kittens.
In this delicate era, the greatest option will be to control your affection for cats. If you don’t want the cat to shift her kittens again, don’t give in to the temptation for too long. She despises the attention because she believes you or anyone else could abduct her children.
A triple of weeks, according to seasoned pet owners, is an appropriate amount of time to wait before handling these adorable companions. It indicates that no one should approach near the kittens until they are old enough to open their eyes.
How Far Will a Mother Cat Move Her Kittens?
How far do you think cats will move their kittens now that you know it’s common for them to do so? Your cat is probably close enough if she is acclimated to her surroundings. At the very least, she is attempting to keep them safe. To protect their kittens from predators, cats relocate them to a different location naturally.
Don’t be surprised if the mother cat moves her kittens a little away from inside your house if she has to move them again. Predators will pick up on the scent left by the kittens if they stay in the same place for too long, and they will come in to get the kittens.
It’s natural to question how cats hold their kittens when they move, given how frequently they do. Let’s have a look at how kittens are held by cats.
How do Cats Hold their Kittens?
Newly born kittens are altricial, meaning they are vulnerable and unable to walk around on their own when they are born. From studies, newborn kittens do not begin to walk until the third week of life. Precocial animals, such as horses, deer, sheep, and gazelles, are born in an advanced state, capable of standing and fleeing danger within an hour of birth.
A mother cat keeps her kittens carefully hidden in a nest because of their susceptibility. It may be necessary to move the nest to a new place at times. This could be due to excessive human intervention, a predator nearby, or the kittens having outgrown their current nest. We can’t transport our kittens in our arms like a mother cat can. Instead, she carries her kittens by the scruff of their necks in her mouth. If the kitten becomes mobile, the mother will carry it back to the nest if it gets too far away. This reflex activity decreases as the kitten reaches maturity.
Conclusion
You must make your cat and kittens as comfortable as possible wherever they move to. Although relocating kittens is a normal mother cat habit, you can avoid or stop the mom cat from doing it too frequently by recognizing and attending to her needs.
Furthermore, the cat relocating her babies is not a sign of a medical issue. It’s instinctive for her to want to safeguard her children. You don’t have to try to keep kittens from moving. Keeping them in a secluded location and providing them with an acceptable daily diet without interruption is usually all that is required. That should suffice!
