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Is the mother cat bothered when it is time for the kittens to leave home?
Richardcoulter
Posts: 30,380 Forum Member
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A post I made earlier today about cats remembering their kittens has got me wondering.
My cats mother was VERY protective of her kittens. She even squared up to a big dog when the man next door stupidly brought it into the house. (the kittens even tried to help by simultaneously hissing, bless 'em).
Thereafter, her ears would prick up and she looked tense if she heard it barking through the wall or outside.
However, when the time came for the kittens to leave home, she couldn't have cared less!
I picked up my kitten (which started crying) and she didn't even bother to look over. When I took her over to mummy to say thank you for her milk ;-) and to say goodbye for the last time, she couldn't have looked or acted less interested!
It seems as if she had the attitude of "i'll protect you with my life up until it's time to leave home, then you are on your own, get on with it!"
I wonder if this distancing is gradual or abrupt. I know the leeway the cat gives her kittens when it's playing gets gradually less as the kitten gets older.
I also wonder if they would help each other out in a fight etc outdoors. I once saw a nature programme about feral cats, where a cats daughter had kittens herself, but was a crap mother.
The Grandmother ended up taking her daughter and the grandkids into the nest where her kittens were and they looked after them together!
The grandmother saw a Tom cat sniffing around the nest and they chased him off together.
My cats mother was VERY protective of her kittens. She even squared up to a big dog when the man next door stupidly brought it into the house. (the kittens even tried to help by simultaneously hissing, bless 'em).
Thereafter, her ears would prick up and she looked tense if she heard it barking through the wall or outside.
However, when the time came for the kittens to leave home, she couldn't have cared less!
I picked up my kitten (which started crying) and she didn't even bother to look over. When I took her over to mummy to say thank you for her milk ;-) and to say goodbye for the last time, she couldn't have looked or acted less interested!
It seems as if she had the attitude of "i'll protect you with my life up until it's time to leave home, then you are on your own, get on with it!"
I wonder if this distancing is gradual or abrupt. I know the leeway the cat gives her kittens when it's playing gets gradually less as the kitten gets older.
I also wonder if they would help each other out in a fight etc outdoors. I once saw a nature programme about feral cats, where a cats daughter had kittens herself, but was a crap mother.
The Grandmother ended up taking her daughter and the grandkids into the nest where her kittens were and they looked after them together!
The grandmother saw a Tom cat sniffing around the nest and they chased him off together.
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Ahem...Well, when we first got Misty (sadly she died 36 hours later, turns out she was about 6 weeks old even though the seller told us she was 8weeks:eek::mad::mad:We didn't know at the time, I've never had a kitten before..) We picked Misty up and went to leave and mother cat followed us to the door blocking it:(I felt really guilty. So she was protective of her. I don't know if she'd have been the same if Misty was old enough to leave, but in hindsight she was deffinately the youngest. looking back now, none of the kittens were in any fit state to leave (the 'owner' had them all outside, never let them in the house, was just generally cruel..don't think he fed them enough either):mad:
We got Winnie a few days later, fit healthy and happy. She was old enough to leave mum, mum was in another room with a second litter of younger kittens. So I don't know about Winnie's mother.
Something I've thought about though. Must hurt.
That's brought a lump to my throat!
LOL!!
The next day she was taken to the vet to the "done" and by the time she came back she'd forgotten about them!
When they were here she wasn't overly protective and didn't mind the two other (male) Cats playing with them.