How to Take Care of Newborn Kittens & a Mother Cat

Set up a place for the mother cat and her kittens to live. Choose a box that is large enough to accommodate the entire cat family, but small enough to provide them with some level of protection. Put it in a quiet and warm space where the felines will have little worry about being hassled by people or other animals. Line the box with clean towels, sheets or blankets. Make sure the linens are clean before placing them in the box, and prepare extra items to use when the current ones need to be washed again. This must be done regularly, as the bedding the kittens and their mother are sleeping on can quickly become soiled.

Set up all of the mother cat's necessary items in close proximity to the box. She should not have to travel out of eyesight of her kittens when she needs to eat, drink or use the bathroom, so make sure her litterbox, food dish and water dish are nearby. While she is nursing her kittens, be sure to feed her a quality kitten food. She will lose weight or become unhealthy if not given extra nutrients while she is nursing, and it is also good for her body to have extra nutrients to pass along to the kittens while they are developing.

Make sure the mother cat has constant access to her kittens. She will clean and help them defecate for the first few weeks of their lives, so it is important she can get to them whenever they need to feed or go to the bathroom. If she leaves the box, make sure she can get back into it easily. Do not close doors or gates between her and her kittens. It is also important that you do not move the box with the kittens in it unless she is there when you are doing so. If she returns to find her family missing, she may become stressed and frantic while searching for them.

Keep handling of the kittens to a minimum for the first few weeks. Having humans pick up and fondle her babies can upset a mother kitten, and could possibly pass germs along to the kittens that will make them sick. Kittens are also very fragile in their first weeks of life, so small children should not handle them until they are at least 8 to 12 weeks old. Still, it is important to look them over on a daily basis and make sure they are not showing any signs of illness or injury. Be sure to wash your hands thoroughly before touching them to inspect them.

Within the first few weeks of the kittens' lives, call your vet to see if you need to bring them in for a checkup. Be sure to tell the vet of any signs of sickness or strange behavior that you have noticed, so he can make an informed decision. If anything seems amiss with the mother cat or her kittens, the vet will probably ask you to bring them in for an examination right away. If everything appears to be going well, however, and the mother cat is taking care of her babies just fine, the vet will most likely tell you to wait before bringing them in. Moving them too much can cause stress on the whole cat family, so if you can wait to take them on a trip outside the house, you can avoid putting an unnecessary strain on them.