Is my young mother cat playing too rough with her 7-day-old kitten?

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!

If Icy isn't biting them hard enough to break the skin or cause them to cry out in pain, then this biting is normal. She is teaching them what behavior is appropriate and which behavior is inappropriate by disciplining them with these bites. The bites lets the kittens know they need to behave and that the behavior they are currently doing isn't acceptable. Now if she is biting them hard enough to break the skin and/or they are crying out in pain, that isn't normal and she needs to see the vet (bring the kittens with her). Sudden aggression to the kittens can be a sign of a medical problem, and that needs to be examined by a vet. I hope this helps!

If she is happy to come away from the kittens and play for short periods of time then yes I would continue to follow as close to a normal routine as possible. Do not force her away from the kittens, or move/touch them while she is out as this may cause her concern or even to reject them

The best thing to do is to allow the kittens to play together but when the play is begins to turn rough immediately separate them. This way your cat will begin to understand that this particular behavior (rough play) will result in a negative outcome (not getting to play). It will probably take several times of doing this for him to understand but he should get the hang of it soon enough. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck.

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.

Unfortunately it is impossible for us to know if this is a type of play behavior or if this is related to prey drive since we cannot observe the behavior. Certainly an adult cat can seriously wound or even kill a nine week old kitten. I recommend to keep them separated until you are sure they get along and the kitten is bigger. You may do some research about cat behavior. You will need to look at the position of the head, mouth, ears, spine and how the fur is laying. That will give you a better idea of your adult cats intentions. You should also make sure to spend at least 30 minutes a day exercising the adult cat. This will help to make it more tired and less likely to exhibit bad behavior. Best of luck.