Her nest must be exactly to her liking or she’ll kill the kittens by carrying them. That means I can’t leave the house much until her kittens are seven or eight weeks old. A sitter doesn’t understand her requirements—like three clean towels.
I work at home, so I don’t mind changing her nest towels, but damn. Talk about persnickety.
Sane people do not argue with queens
Yes, I am aware Emma is in a tiny box. It’s the one she wanted, and sane people don’t argue with queens over where they put kittens as long as it’s safe.
Emma could have chosen either pen and any of four trays for her litter. She wanted that one.
When everything is just so, she’s a wonderful mom. You tell her you prefer another box. See how far you get.
“Good mother” and “easy mother” are not synonyms. Emma loves kittens. She purrs when inviting them to nurse and, if she could, she’d feed kittens constantly. She is also management-sensitive enough that a small change in bedding, lighting, or arrangement can become a real safety problem.
The carrying problem
Kittens have skin to be carried. It is also a great way to break their necks, so I discourage it.
Emma has accidentally killed kittens moving them around when distressed over the condition or placement of her pen. Yes, kittens are designed with that scruff to be carried, but it’s not something they can handle over and over.
In August 2025, Emma suddenly would not stop carrying her boy around by his neck. I had no idea why she had decided to be neurotic. She had a spotless pen, but she doesn’t speak English and I couldn’t decrypt her sudden change of heart about the accommodations.
I put him with Patti and his older half-siblings between supervised nursing sessions with Emma. He was a big, fat kitten who could hold his own wrestling and had zero difficulty bulldozing his way to a nipple with Patti’s three hellions.
The trick is to convince Emma she is doing what she wants in a way that keeps the kitten safe.
The towel clause
Fresh towels and a snack at 1:30 a.m.? Sure, Emma. Whatever, Emma. All done. Now nurse your babies, Emma.
I coordinate towel changes with food and treats, so Emma is generally in favor of these interactions.
The towel is clean, steam disinfected, dried, and neatly folded. Emma still feels the need to redecorate.
Another queen might be lower maintenance. Emma has an absolute insistence on new towels in her nest four times a day.
Three clean towels. Not two. Not “the sitter thought it looked fine.” Three.
The accommodations
Dear nitwits complaining about my accommodations for queens and kittens: behold the Ultralite 520K.
It is 66 inches high, 56 inches wide, and 30 inches deep. Mine was customized at the factory by adding a kittening area to the bottom, with a removable tray and privacy walls.
That “sink” certain ill-informed yokels complained about is a kitten tray that is not too deep and has curved sides they can’t be trapped against and suffocate. The trays can be removed, sprayed with disinfectant, and pressure washed. The whole cage can be hosed down and disinfected.
Emma likes a towel over her kitten pen for maximum darkness and privacy. It only looks well-lit because there is a 2.5K night-vision camera with infrared in both sections.
I’m sure the cardboard box you use is much better, but it has 90-degree angles and is a bacteria farm you can’t clean. Of course, this information is wasted on critics since I’m just banning them outright with no appeals process.
This is why a sitter is not me
I work at home. My office is in the cat zone, and I’m there roughly fifty hours a week. I notice when Emma’s definition of acceptable has changed because I know Emma.
The instruction is not merely “keep the nest clean.” The instruction is to know the exact tray she chose, the bedding she accepts, the lighting she wants, when to trade food for a towel change, and what her carrying behavior means before the kitten gets hurt.
That is difficult to delegate. So when Emma has kittens, I don’t leave much.
The invisible production cost of an Emma litter is not only food, veterinary care, equipment, and laundry. It is human availability. Working at home makes the cost survivable. It does not make it imaginary.
But look how her kittens turn out
I keep hoping for a girl from this queen, but she keeps throwing me boys.
Cowboy Dozer. Naiche. The lovely boys keep making the argument for her.
The girl she did throw is the worst mother and is getting spayed. Emma herself is a very patient mommy cat. Terry is not a good mom.
That is breeding judgment in its irritating natural habitat. A beautiful female is not automatically a useful queen. A difficult queen may still be an excellent mother and producer. Type matters. Temperament matters. Maternal behavior matters. So does whether the breeder can safely manage the individual cat in front of him.
Emma is persnickety. Emma is labor intensive. Emma is a good mom. And Emma requires three clean towels.