My cat is biting her 9-day-old kittens. Is this normal? What to do?

It is normal for the mother cat to use her mouth to move a kitten around or she may nip gently when the kitten is bothering her. If she seems aggressive and you are concerned she may injure the kitten you may need to keep them separated, however you will need to bottle feed the kitten with a kitten formula like KMR.

Some cats are somewhat rough and vocal with their kittens. As long as the kittens appear to be nursing regularly, are snuggled up together or close with mom, and are not in any sort of weak condition, I would not remove them from their mother's care. Obviously monitor the situation carefully. If you start seeing any sort of serious marks or wounds on the kittens, you will know for sure that she isn't just moving them. If you need to separate them you will have to institute a bottle feeding schedule, keep them warm, and stimulate their bowels / urine. If this is required, you can certainly repost and we can walk you through how to safely accomplish this. Best of luck!

It can be normal for a mother to gently bite at a kitten, but if you feel Mum is being aggressive it may be best to allow supervised interactions only so you can intervene if she gets too rough. It is very beneficial for kittens to have time with their mothers, so I would only recommend completely isolating kitten from Mum if she is consistently showing signs of aggression.

Teething causes a cat to bite things so the deciduous tooth can fall out. Once such a tooth falls out, it bleeds. So this is likely normal. Kittens also need play fighting to get muscles, strength and coordination. That said. you can throw lots of paper balls for her to chase, make a toy out of a stick with a long string and tie a few feathers at the end of the string. Play with her often until she is tired. Never tussle with your hands. If she attacks your legs, gently take her off and distract her. She will climb curtains and you , and that is part of learning and normal. Do not punish her, because she will not understand. All this will get less over time.

It sounds like Fifi is ready for her kittens to fly the coop! Cats often wean their kittens between 4-6 weeks old. Soon after, if they are still together, the momma cat can get fed up with all the kitten energy and tires to teach them some manners. This is completely normal! However, sometimes the kittens can get hurt. I recommend that you give Fifi plenty of space to escape the kittens if she wants to. You may need to separate them completely if she causes physical damage to any of the kittens.

If you are concerned that the male cat may injure the kittens then I would recommend you keep them separated at all times. However, I will say that it is normal for older cats (usually the momma cat) to teach the young kittens discipline and proper behavior by mewing at them, bopping them and nipping at them. This may be all your male cat is trying to accomplish. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck.

That is good that Tabitha keeps her claws in, this trait is typically the last thing cats learn to do to avoid scratching their humans. Biting is a natural kitten thing, it is how kittens typically play with each other, which can be very rough. I would try to divert Tabitha's attention to other toys to bite and prey on in the home besides yourself. Cats have a natural hunting nature and this behavior has to be fulfilled with toys, fake mice, moving objects,etc. If Tabitha has the ability to hunt and prey on other things, then she won't be so inclined to bite you as much. However, some biting can be expected, because that is just how kittens play.