Mama trying to move kittens

[adamcrssmn]

We've, twice, found Karma in the middle of trying to move her kittens under the bed in my 6 year old stepsons room. One of the problems with this is that his isn't a normal bed, it has built-in drawers and "under the bed" is more "inside the bed"... Another problem is his door needs to stay closed at night restricting her access to the litter box. To some extent, I understand her wanting to move them there. Van (stepson) is AMAZING with her and she absolutely loves him and he's a pretty calm, quiet kid (my 2 daughters, not so much... she avoids their room). Not too mention, we've been in a "heat-wave" recently and the pantry/nursery gets a LOT of sun and is one of the warmer rooms on the 1st floor and it's right next to the backdoor, which is our primary entry/exit door and not everybody in the house is good at closing it quietly... Any tips, hints, suggestion, etc, would be GREATLY appreciated.

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

I have found that my queens always wish to move their babies after about a week after birth. I think it is instinctual as the birthing site might have residual odors to attract predators. So they wait a few days for the babies to get a little stronger after birthing and then look for another safe place to stash them to raise.

I've done various things... just changing the bedding alone doesn't seem to always do it, but if the room they are contained in have no other choices I've found they stay there. But I've also just offered a second crate in the room and let them transfer and removed the first.

I can understand given your description of the "nursery" being next to the back door that your cat is uncomfortable. Would it be possible to put a litterbox in your son's room temporarily so she can move there and be happy? I'd only allow that if you did block the "inside the bed" space though...you don't want the kittens somewhere you can't access them if you need to!

 

[adamcrssmn]

A litterbox in his room is completely out of the question... My wife said, "no way in hell"... THANK YOU for your response!!! The fact that you described to a "T" what she was doing and WHY (thank you, thank you, thank you, for the "why"!!! I'm one of those "needs to know why" people...) has relieved a good bit of stress, knowing it's not uncommon! We have one other place that would be ok for her and her kittens to occupy so I'm going to put a box for her there and see if that helps.

 

[Breheart]

Yeah I have heard the same answer to "why" and it's even seen in the wild. It's just instinctual to move the kittens to a new location at certain times I hope your new spot works well for Karma and her babies!