My grandmother, many years ago, witnessed one her barn cats actually picking homes for her kittens. This cat took the kittens one by one to various neighbors homes, when they were old enough obviously. I've never forgotten that.
One of my neighbor's cats had kittens last spring. I saw her the day after.. She was such a proud mama you could practically see her glowing from across the road. The kittens were of course all given away. But Oliver, the only male of the litter only made it across the street to another neighbor's house He still visits mama from time to time and she seems to enjoy seeing him. She'll even still bathe him if he'll sit down long enough. But he seems more focused on his career path to be a mechanic, as I commonly have to scare the grease-streaked furball out from under the hood of my truck
I have a cat living in my garden who gave birth to a litter. One of the girls stayed here with us (she is sleeping on my bed as I type this) and one of the boys went on his own to live with my neighbour across the street. They still congregate in my garden often and while they're not as attached to each other as they were when the kids were babies, but they still hang out sometimes. Sometimes I see my cat and her mom off for a walk to a neighbour's house. I've tried getting mom to stay inside with me but every time she will hang out inside for a couple of days and then decides she's tired of indoors and doesn't come in again. I think she likes having the whole space in the garden to herself.
Once visited a small village in Italy. An elderly mom cat and her six (now fully-grown) ‘kittens’ would walk through the square in a single-file line! I was taken aback - had never seen a litter of cats that stayed close into adulthood, let alone follow their mom around. Now that I know how close Italian men are to their Mamas, this doesn’t surprise me one bit. 😂
I've seen this phenomenon exclusively in the States. Surprisingly, America does not let animals, especially felines and canines grow and survive as ferals wherever people reside. They are either put up for adoption or culled. Maybe that is part of the process of complete domestication of cats. In other parts of the world, cats are allowed to live their life cycle, breed, live and die as nature allows them to, while also living symbiotically with human beings. Maybe that helps breed hardiness. Just speculating.
When I adopted my cat he was so sad....he didn't want to eat refused to drink and didn't want to play. So I went back and adopted one of his siblings and he got better instantly, it was honestly heartwarming seeing how they bonded and missed eachother and how happy he was (don't worry, I adopted the second cat just a day later and the first one wasn't harmed)
A lot of shelters near me and hopefully other places too, have some animals who are "bonded pairs" which means they are basically the cat version of best friends and the shelters will not let them get adopted separately
@@abigailknott5998 A lot of shelters are also starting to require that kittens only be adopted in pairs unless there is another cat or dog already in the home.
@@abigailknott5998 When my cats who are sisters eventually die of old age I'm hoping to get some older bonded cats. Fortunately I probably won't have to worry about that for at least another 10 years or so.
Cute but that’s just any cat that gets adopted. If I picked you up and threw you in a totally new location I doubt you’d be excited about food or playing
I used to volunteer at a big city shelter, and met lots of moms with kittens. So much of the time, once the kittens were older, mom was *done* with them. 😂 Moms with older kittens would get so excited when I came by, like "Thank God, another adult!" One exception was moms who only had one or two kittens, compared to those who had larger litters. A lot of times the moms who only had one or two kittens would stay attached to them and we would be sure to adopt them out together.
Last time we fostered a mom and kittens, she couldn’t be happier to get rid of them. When the last one left, she seemed to revert back to kitten-hood herself. She was under a year old and became so playful and loving!
I was always told that a mama cat is more like a teacher than a mom- spending a short but important time helping the kittens become cats and then moving on when they’re old enough. Sometimes teachers become so attached to certain students that they stay close, but most of the time they need to focus on new students, in this case kittens!
@@KaliDurga108 did you watch the full video? mom cats can like their older kittens, but they like them as cats, not as their babies, if that makes sense
I had a cat mom and cat son for 8 years. Once we lost the cat son for a week and she was, well, happy about it. She was chocked when he came back, and angry with him. When she passed, he looked for her util he found her body, 3 days later, and after that, he had some sort of depression for several months, well, I am not sure he is completely over it and it had been 8 months or so. Every time we walked, he would do a territory piss next to where we bury her. Some cat version of flowers, I guess.
I have two male cats the same age with the same dad. I let the kittens and my dog choose each other. I wanted all three pets living in harmony together as bonded companions and therapy animals for my son. They are soul mate animals for sure. This is so different than coexisting with animals that at best, tolerate each other. They are always curled up next to each other. They play and interact together. There is never a dull moment and they fill the house with love and laughter. Ebony was lost for 2 1/2 weeks. When he came home his brother was territorial at first but soon warmed up to their normal cuddling.
About 25 years ago I had a cat that got my roommates cat pregnant 3 days before he was fixed. I ended up with mom, dad and three out of the nine kittens (everyone was spayed and neutered once I had ownership of mama.) A lot happened in the 20 years we were together. Good things and very sad things. Mama cat was very happy to grow old with 3 of her kittens. They're all gone now, they were such a huge part of my life for such a long time. I really miss them.
@@txru That is so sad to abort unborn kittens. If the cat is already pregnant just let her have her kittens, nurse them and wean. Then you can spay the mother cat and kittens when they will be old enough.
@@adelyna89 sometimes aborting is best. It can be best for the cat’s health, or be better for the kittens if they won’t have a home otherwise. A lot of kittens otherwise wind up in shelters until they’re eventually put to sleep. In general I do think a cat should ideally be allowed to have their kittens if the owner has already allowed the cat to become pregnant before desexing though
I adopted a pregnant cat (she was left behind by her humans when they move houses - I think she develops PTSD from this. I move houses recently and throughout the packing process, she just shuts down. She was joyful again when she saw I ain't leaving her behind) and was such a loving mother when the kids were born. She freaks out when I brought her 5 kids to the vet for a checkup and ended up having to bring her along. By the time their supposed weaning process, the mom was more than ready to retire from mom duties and now have promoted herself to become wrestling buddies to her kids. The kids, however, are approaching 1 year now, still, go to their mama for suckling. Sometimes the mom lets them, sometimes it turns into a wrestling session. I think the bond is still there, but the only time she is hyped about her kids now is when she wants to wrestle and zoomies with.
noooo the bit where you said that she just shut down as you were packing to move houses is just so sad!! but i'm glad that she saw that you weren't going to abandon her and was happy again. but man!! i can't imagine the trauma she went through, poor thing.
If we're going to anthropomorphize this, we need to think of it as how a mother would feel about her 30 year old son leaving, who's been living rent free in the basement since highschool, still doesn't have a job, and still expects his mother to do his laundry and make his dinner. At least that's the look my mama cat had when her kittens got to be 7 or 8 weeks old!
This is so accurate! Mine started sitting on higher and higher places where the kittens couldn’t get to her. The day one of them managed to get to the highest place that had been her sanctuary from them she gave us a look that was like ‘FFS, get me out of here’
We took our cat back to visit her mama cat and they cuddled and mama cat licked and cleaned our cat when we brought our cat to visit again a week later they were like, “hey” “hey” and pretty much ignored each other lol
My cat Lily got pregnant in her first heat-she was basically a teen mom. She was *such* a good mama cat, though! I actually adopted her after her kittens were old enough to be on their own, but I heard from her foster mom that the reason she was so skinny when she came to us is because she fed her kittens most of her food. That means a lot seeing how much she loves food (she's pretty chunky now XD). She's also unbelievably tolerant with my little sister, who carries her around and dresses her up, and I believe that's due to her incredibly caring and maternal instincts.
I've noticed more often than not, it's siblings who form the strong bonds, especially in a small litter. Twins in particular have a habit of pair bonding and needing to be adopted off together. We had a couple little girls last year that would get very temperamental if they were split up for more than a few minutes, so they had to go together 😂
I have two cats from different litters that have been together since they were kittens. One I found abandoned by a feral mother before his eyes were fully opened and nursed him. The other adopted from a shelter at a really young age. They’re each about 8 years old now and have a very strong bond. I could never separate them.
@@danieldaniels7571 Some cats get very wiggy if you separate them. Esp. if they've been together for many years and one dies. I've heard so many sad stories about that.
This is why I have two cats instead of one. The happenstances of how they came to me seem to have resulted in one being healthier than the other, who's also the more emotionally 'clingy' of the two. I'm not looking forward to what's going to happen, especially since this is the first time I've had bonded cats. Hopefully they still have lots of time left with each other, and with me.
My brother and sister in law adopted a mama and two of her daughters. Mama was definitely over it pretty quick, and they had to reestablish adult relationships to get along. It worked out, but mama was always the most stand offish and independent of the cats and at best tolerated her daughters. We lost mama a few months ago, and daughters tbh seem happier than ever, mostly because now they don't have to share people and nap spots.
One of our cats had kittens when I was a baby, and we kept 3 of the four kittens for their whole life. Mom was friendly with her sons and definitely liked them, but I actually saw a closer bond between one of our later adopted cats and our dog than between the mom cat and her sons.
Mother cats will actually chase their kittens away after 12 weeks in the wild. It's instinctive to avoid inbreeding and end the nurturing phase. This is why you'll often see abandoned 9-12 week old kittens in run down areas, sometimes the mother will do this early if conditions are harsh enough.
My daughter and I once adopted a cat who had been rescued from a parking lot with her kittens. She was more maternal than our other female cat who had never had kittens (she'd try to groom us and feed us by bringing toys as "prey") but she never seemed to miss her own babies specifically. She was a great cat - we had her for almost 15 years before she passed away, and we still think of her fondly all the time.
Agree 100%. And the biggest Takeaway I think people should get is being careful not to anthropomorphize your cats. You can still love them, but if you put human emotions and behaviors onto them, you can miss very cat specific things where they are trying to communicate to you that somethings not right or that they have a problem that they need you to attend. As best as you can, you have to separate your cats from the humans in your life and your own human emotions while still loving them in a way that recognizes that they are cats.
Reminds me of my cat,Sassy,complaining to me about something with a series of meows I was like "What?" She did a series of meows again "BabyWhat?" -me So she did the series of meows again "Baby,how many times do I have to tel you, I dont speak Cat"- me And at that point she huffed and walked away😹
My sister gave away all her cats kittens and the mom cat cried for two weeks straight so don't tell me they don't miss their kittens cats do have emotions they're just able to turn off empathy a lot quicker for survival at times but that doesn't mean they never feel they're just able to turn off empathy a lot quicker for survival at times but that doesn't mean they never feel empathy and other emotions
Well, one of the ferals I feed had only one kitten survive, and they are a bonded mother-daughter pair as adults. You rarely see one without the other. Cats are complex.
I actually do think that mom-cats prefer to have their daughters around rather than their sons, but that's just my experience. I guess male cats can get a little more annoying.
I went to the cat rescue centre with the intention of adopting 1 cat. Found myself coming home with 2 baby brothers, one with one eye…. And their mamma too 😻 I couldn’t separate them. 10 months later and I know I made the right decision. They are such a delight to be with. They adore each other and are a proper tribe. Mum still takes a motherly role, she observes them while they rough and tumble, and occasionally tells them off if they need it, but the bond between all 3 is obvious for all to see. She collects them to come for their dinner when it’s time, and goes and gets them to come in from the garden when she wants them to come in for a grooming session. They even groom her too. They came from a house overrun with cats who kept breeding and breeding, and had not really had any human contact until they came to me. The guy who’s house they came from was a recluse and lived alone. The rescue centre lost count how many cats were there. It’s been a beautiful journey to see them all grow and develop and gain confidence. They all have such different personalities, and likes and dislikes. They are blossoming into such loving cats. I could never be without them now. Adopt don’t shop people 👌😻 🐈⬛ 🐈⬛ 🐈⬛💕
LOL same . My momma cat has all her 3 boys and just the other day she was upset and slapped one in his head 😂😂😂 and waddled out the room. She’s so awesome 🤩
How old are they? My cat had 8 kittens and they either got adopted or chose to voluntarily leave the house after unsuccessfully trying to drive the others out. Up until last year we only had the mom and the super nervous daughter. The mom hated the daughter and she end up leaving us earlier this year since the daughter wouldn’t go away. The daughter is now 5 years old.
Very interesting video. I’ve had two cats over the years that had kittens. My first one, was a very loving mom. She was very upset when the kittens left. We had given them away to a neighbor and brought her over for a visit. She ran to them and licked them all over. You could just tell she LOVED her kittens. She even would sneak out to stalk their house. Very much a mom who loved her kittens. My second cat that gave birth, she couldn’t wait to get rid of them. She did all her mom duties, fed them, bathed them, nurtured them… but couldn’t wait to sit in places they weren’t. She’d leave the room for hours to get away from them. When they finally left, she was so much happier. Very different reaction between my two mamma cats. And for anybody wondering, no I did not let the cats get pregnant. The first cat when adopted was already pregnant. My second one was given to us from a cousin, I went to get her fixed but she was pregnant.
One of my little ladies was trapped and brought to the local shelter with two estimated 6-month-old kittens still at her side. They were adopted as a pair the day before I called up to inquire about adopting a cat, so I never saw them, but I had mamma taken home within 24 hours of her grown kids going to a different home and it was an interesting start. She loves people, owned the house immediately and took about 30 hours to bond with the older neutered male I already had in the house at the time, but she cried every night, carried around socks and slippers like babies, and made every effort to get outside. We lost her for a couple of weeks on one of her successful escapes and thought she was gone forever. I was pregnant myself at the time and hormonal so I went and adopted another cat to fill the void. Got a tiny kitten just barely old enough to have been weaned. The very next day the shelter called with good news and my little escape artist came home, was delighted to find that we'd adopted a baby for her in her absence, and hasn't strayed since. That was 5 years ago and her adopted "baby" is only just starting to seek affection from anyone else 🤣
I've heard of situations where mama cats gave birth to only one kitten (either due to other kittens dying right after birth or just one being born) and they became very attached to that one kitten and didn't get tired of caring for it, so I guess that's the closest thing to how humans raise babies
I have a friend who adopted a mom cat and her solo kitten. The mom let her daughter drink milk up until she was like 1,5 years old o_o They are super closely bonded and it's really cute to see.
Makes evolutionary sense even as an inherited trait among cats. A single offspring is always more crucial to be cared for so it survives. (Besides, more time is available for it.) I personally advocate quality over quantity, as a superior evolutionary path, because only quantity can not cause beneficial change. Such change is inherently a quality thing.
I knew a feral mama cat who only had one kitten survive, and she rejected him. He had to be hand-reared, but oddly enough his mother “adopted” another feral kitten. It was strange but very sweet.
@@Dowlphin Evolution literally doesn't care about a "Quality over Quantity" argument. All it literally comes down to is this: Does this trait help me have babies, and does it allow my babies to have babies? That's it. This is how we get some truly bizarre traits and sometimes self-destructive ones.
One of my cats (who my wife took in when she was heavily pregnant and abandoned) was an absolutely amazing mama to her eight (!!!) kittens...but once they were weaned, she was *beyond* done with them and would do everything she could to avoid them until we got them all rehomed lol
I witnessed that as well. The mama cat seemed really done with her litter, once they turned 3-4 months. I cannot blame her, they became annoying and wanted to fight not only themselves, but also her. So she wasn't holding much back anymore, when fighting with them. The 4 kids she had seemed more than enough for her, with 8 she might have lose her patience quicker. 😂
Brought in a kitten that the local stray dropped in my backyard mat (waited 2hours for mama just to make sure). Took him to the vet to find out he was five weeks old and still needs to be bottle fed😅. I'm not sure what happened to his siblings
Watching this as a pregnant cat appeared on my doorstep and gave birth not long after! The babies are almost two weeks, and we're impromptu fostering them until they're weaned and have already organized with a cat rescue charity to come and get them/rehome them once they're done. The mother has really settled in though, so we're probably keeping her, but it's a relief she won't be upset by the separation as she's been such a good mum so far.
Absolutely, I have two sisters that were born to a neighborhood stray (she was TNR’ed), this was 5 years ago & they still stick together. I foster & have cats come & go but siblings seem to always have a special bond.
One of the coolest things about mom cats, is they will often care for kittens that are not their own when they are lactating. I fostered a mom cat and her only biological baby, and due to the busyness of kitten season, she was placed with two newborns and another baby the same age as her baby. Of course this does come with risk of transmissible disease. But without sufficient foster homes, this was a great solution. It was so fun watching all babies grow up and the bond they had with eachother and with mom was as though they were all biologically related. 💕
A local mom cat here in our large yard area had 3 kittens a few years back. I watched them just a few yards away on my porch for about 3 to 4 weeks. Then one morning i walked outside and there was a 'forth' kitten about 15 yards from our porch meowing and keeping it's distance, the mom and her 3 kittens hissed at it . So this was a 4th kitten just showing up on the 4th week, it was the same size as the 3 who'd been birthed by mom. Very confusing. After only a couple of days i found mom out there nursing all 4. Weirdest thing i'd ever seen with cats. The 2 surviving kittens live mostly outside , and right Now that 4th kitten is sleeping on my couch for a bit and doesn't want to go out.
And i still don't know where she came from. Also when she was keeping her distance from the mom with 3 kittens she really showed that she wanted to be among them. She kept trying to come closer and would go back when the mom 'threatened' her in the 1st several days. I guess she just won the mom over, and the other siblings.
We had a situation where an older Mama cat (Smokey, approx. 8 years) had a litter about two or three weeks before her daughter (Simba, 2 years) also had a litter. Both gave birth in shelters on our patio. Smokey eventually took advantage of the situation and tricked Simba into essentially adopting her baby brothers, so she was feeding five babies. Of those kittens, Smokey's boys were all adopted by nice people and given the names Lucifer, Sugarfoot, and Lucky Willobury, one of Simba's girls is now mine and her name is Wicket. Sadly Wicket's sister Lily has disappeared and we have no idea as to her fate. Hopefully some kind soul took her in.
Or even not lactating. My parents told me a story of our cats before I was born and showed me photos (who they had de-sexed and was never a mama) their cat adopted a neonatal baby kitten they found abandoned. Treated her just like her own baby. Obviously she couldn’t give her milk but would clean and stimulate her to go to the bathroom so they didn’t have to anymore.
One of the most heartwarming things I've ever seen was when 3 of my cats all had kittens at the same time. I had set up 3 separate boxes each with blankets for them to have a warm cozy spot to nurse their kittens. One day I came home from work and they had placed all 3 litters in the same box and they were taking turns nursing all the kittens.
Long ago our family had two cats, a mother and one of the daughters that we had kept. They both had litters together one time. (This was before there was such an emphasis on spaying...we never had trouble giving the kittens away.) The kittens would just nurse from whoever was nearby! It was so cute. One big happy family. 😸 But when the kittens were gone, mother and daughter went back to despising each other. 🙄
My mom's cat never recovered when her kittens were given away. Her personality changed overnight when her kittens left from sweet to impossibly cranky and antisocial. Over a decade later, she'd still cruise the house late at night, holding a little stuffed bunny like a kitten in her mouth, mewing plaintively. She would keep the bunny hidden under my mom's bed during the day. Edit: I don't know how old the kittens were when they were adopted out. I believe they were at least 8-10 weeks old, maybe older. I just thought it was an interesting exception to what the vlogger was describing. I know that you have to wait to adopt them out and I'm sure my mother waited. Sometimes nature is peculiar.
@@AngelEmfrbl We adopted a cat that had issues, she had been 'fixed' at animal control. At night, for years, she roamed the house with a sock in her mouth, sometimes sort of howling. She had to spend the night in our finished basement so we could sleep. Broke my heart.
When I was a kid we had a very sweet cat that got 5 kittens that was given away when they were a bit older. The mom cat spent the next few days meowing and looking around the house and then she left and never came home again. While I don't remember how old the kittens were at the time of adoption I suspect they were too young and that was the reason.
Very interesting. It's part of how we anthropomorphize pets : we imagine they have the same emotions as we do. It's the same process that makes people go "oh I'm not gonna neuter my pet, they'll feel incomplete without babies", too. Would you maybe consider doing a follow-up about cat siblings, if possible ? If siblings are reunited after years, do they behave differently with each other, as opposed to when they meet a new unrelated adult ? I imagine they don't, but that's just me guessing, I'd love to hear your expertise.
I don't think cats remember their littermates. My grandma used to foster kittens all the time when she worked at a vet clinic. One litter that got along really well were a male and female kitten that sent all day playing and napping together, the male was adopted out at 4/5 months, but the female became a clinic cat. When they were reintroduced at five years old, she was not fond of him at all, and now that she lives with my family she responds the same way to our other cat.
That anthropomorphizing is seriously doing so much harm when people can't see the ways that animals are not like us. They can be very similar, but it isn't a 1:1 comparison on many topics. Kitten Lady explains things way better than me and with much more patience because I instead get angry about such people, lol. Because of these videos, I can now just save my breath (and head from hitting it on a wall in frustration) and just point them to one of her videos 😌
Best to keep siblings together if you want that bond to remain unbroken. But yes they do remember mostly by scent, I think they can tell their related, my mother has one of the three kittens, my brother had the other two, all females, at points in their lives during vacations they sometimes share a house. Their not happy about the territorial disputes but it usually calms down after a day or so.
About the siblings, I have 3 cats that are from the same litter, 1 boy and 2 girls. When the boy was neutered, the girls would walk around the house looking for him while he was at the vet, and they didn't settle down until he was home. When the two girls were neutered, the boy did the same. When the girls got back, one had her incision on her belly and the other had hers on her side. The boy was fine with the first girl, but immediately started hissing at the second, so we kept her separated from the others until she was healed. We would occasionally put her in a cage so they could be in the same room and we could see how they reacted to each other, but the boy would keep trying to attack her through the cage, until the fur on her side had grown back.
I doubt it. My cat was from a litter of 4. The family kept the only girl along with the Mom. I adopted one and my friend adopted his 2 brothers. Of course ny friend and i kept wanting the 3 cat brothers to remain in each others lives. My friend and I would meet periodically and try and get them to be friends but they hated each other. We even began exchanging items that had each cat's scent on them and the cats truly wanted nothing to do with one another. My friend and I were both very surprised that neither cat missed one another but we just accepted it and put an end to the forced play dates. I knew that animals didn't view familial relationships the same as humans. But those many failed attempts at getting the cats together really cemented that.
We had a feral mom next door. We caught the kittens before mom was finally trapped. Due to their ages and scheduling availability - we had mom for about 2 weeks, and the kittens for 9 weeks. These boys were about 16-17 weeks by now, and she came to see them on my back porch EVERY DAY for seven weeks.
Very interesting! I’ve actually seen it both ways. I’ve had mama cats who became “over it” once their kittens grew up. I even had one mama cat who would hiss and swat at her kittens when they tried to go near her. On the other hand, I’ve had mama cats who remain very close to their offspring. I kept one mama and her four kittens because I was still new to fostering and it was a major foster fail. This was six years ago and the mama cat and her kittens are still connected at the hip. I can’t imagine ever separating them. They are so close!
That shirt is amazing! Yeah I knew a mom cat years ago that was still nursing her adult son 1 year later 😂 but the kittens I have now, their mom left a little before she should've. I kept all 3 and they're now beloved members of my family and of course spayed and neutered! 💕
When I adopted my current cat, unbeknownst to us, she was pregnant, we had to give away the babies after they were old enough. I could definetly tell she became more physically affectionate and caring towards us after she was separated from her litter, so I imagine she probably missed them. As you say though, cats are individuals, and another cat I had didnt really change her behaviour after we gave away her kittens.
A lot of cats take time to adjust and trust is built over time; your pregnant cat probably didn't change personality, you just earned her trust and let her blossom into an affectionate love-bug! ❤
I had a cat that was the exact opposite After having kittens she acted like she owned the place and everything, including the other cats, should bend to her will
We adopted a mom cat and ended up keeping her kittens. They're almost three years now and they have a super strong bond with their mom. Much much stronger than any bond she has or the other kittens have with any other cats they do get along with other cats but they worship their mom and she still is very nurturing to them. She's fixed and we have noticed that other fixed cats that are still with there kittens into adulthood have a very strong bond different than other cat friendships. Not all cats are the same but from our experience when possible keeping moms and kittens or at least a few kittens together is a beautiful thing
Thank you for explaining this and I am glad so many have watched this. It is so frustrating when people do not understand mom cat behavior is WAY different from human mom behavior. I have seen for myself from the cats we've rescued after they have had their kittens. All of ours have been great protective mamas while feeding. But once the kittens are weaned, sometimes mama cat will be downright mean to get them to stay away from her. It is hard to understand as a human, but it is animal behavior after all.
It broke my heart to see our cat searching for her adopted kittens: that plaintive meow as she roamed the house. I swore I'd never give away another kitten.
yeah I had the same experience when we gave away our cat's kittens sure she stopped meowing for them after some time has passed but it was evident that she was calling for her kittens
Mine did too but only for a couple of hours. Then she came to her remaining two kittens and started her motherly duties to them. My heart would've been torn to shreds if she went on searching for her kitten.
My three cats were left by their feral mum at two weeks of age. She still came to the feeding station and my stepmum even showed her the crying kittens (she took them inside after two days), but she wasn't interested at all. Just ate her food and left again. Maybe because she was still pretty young herself, we don't know. She abandoned another litter before that, but now she has successfully raised a single kitten. Doesn't seem to care too much for him, though. I hope she gets trapped and spayed soon, she clearly doesn't want to be a mum.
Sounds like my sister's cat. She had a few surprise kittens and did a good enough job nesting and feeding, but was *profoundly* uninterested in every other respect. I basically raised her last kitten myself, even had him sleep with me at night once his eyes were open. He still crawls under the covers with me on particularly cold nights.
I've had the wonderful experience of fostering a mom and babies twice, and I could see one of them get tired and setting boundaries pretty quick, and another was tolerant of her huge babies nursing for a long time, but did seem quite pleased to have alone time once they were adopted.
I remember our Siamese had four kittens, and we found homes for them one by one at eight weeks. She never seemed to notice until the last one was adopted. She searched the house for maybe an hour, then came back to the living room and flopped down in her favorite place from before all the kitten nonsense began. So I don't think she really missed them, she just wanted to make sure they were really gone!
My oldest cat was so done with having her babies around after the 8 week mark, she got out the day before her surgery was scheduled then we couldn't get her back to the vet for it for months after. She looked so relieved once the final kitten went to their furever home.
I always remember a little bit of video from Kitten Academy where one of the litters was starting to hit the independent stage and mom was still around. One of the kittens sidled up to mom while she was sitting in the middle of the room and started to dip his head like he was going to poke around between her front legs for a nipple, and she just lifted a paw and gave him a quick, reflexive slap like, "Beat it, kid. I'm off the clock." The thing is, the kitten who got slapped took it without drama; he just sat back and had this look on his face like, "Okay, that's over," and walked away to go play with his littermates. Kittens are also used to being independent quickly, so while they may try to get a snack from off mom from time to time, they aren't going to be traumatized if she gives them a firm no.
I've been devouring your videos this week as I'm fostering my first mama w/ babies. It's been the most magical experience seeing the whole family grow!
i feel like i read 10 pages study on cats and humans babies in just 5 minuets. thank you for making the effort of delivering us the information so vividly and concectrated it was facinating
Cats are so cute. 😍 When my mom picked up our two cats (as kittens, 11 years ago) and she said the mama cat nodded her head like “thank you”. She was ready to say goodbye. I don’t blame her, our cats were so wild as kittens. 😂
Thank you so much for making this video. As a new foster parent to Mom + Kittens I have really struggled with ultimately needing to separate them and worrying about Mom. This has helped tremendously!
I'm in this situation right now--we ended up with a little calico last winter, probably came from the trashy renters across the road who got evicted in the fall. The vet estimated she was about 10 months old. Sure enough she gave birth in the laundry room while we were in the city shopping, so we went from one cat to 5 overnight. The kittens are now getting old enough to leave Mom and the girls want to keep the whole family together for the same reason in the video, don't want to break up the family etc. But it's not safe for cats to live outdoors here--barn cats routinely disappear due to the usual predators plus the ever-busier road--and I don't want 5 cats in the house. I know me and the old lady would be stuck doing all the caretaking just like with the chickens, and 5 is just too many. A coworker is interested in taking a couple of them and this video is what I was looking for to try and talk sense to my stepdaughter.
@@FracturedOrigins five is a lot of cats and for most people way too many. Three is the max amount of cats I'm willing to bring into my home and the third was the only possible exception in the world because we were set on just 2.
@@FracturedOrigins Also let's not forget that more goes into caring for pets than just space. Medical costs for 5 animals for 10-15 years can be a lot especially if any of them develop any medical conditions.
I just had the rare experience of googling a question and getting a direct and comprehensive answer to my exact question. Thank you for this video. I’m a first-time foster going into my third week with a queen and four kittens, and I’m just now at the point where I anxiously realize that mama will be going back to the shelter within a month. Of course that thought led me to wonder if she will grieve when the kittens are gone so I searched online to see if it’s a reasonable concern, or just simple anthropomorphism. Thank you for putting my mind at ease by describing the oxytocin nursing trigger and effect. Separately, thanks for helping me learn how to give the kittens supplemental feedings (in another video). One of them was seriously underweight to the point that mama stopped caring for it and it developed an eye infection. After much effort, I was able to get it to reluctantly take KMR from a syringe. The weight gain over the past five days has been amazing, and it’s now fully integrated back into the family and mama is feeding and grooming it regularly. The shelter vet gave me eye drops and the eye infection seems to be fully cleared up with no long term effects. Thanks again for your videos!
I'm so glad I found your channel. I have 13 cat's in house and 7 barn kitties. They were abandoned by our neighbors. They all are spay and neutered. I'm not really running a rescue. They're all so sweet and loving. I hated the thought of separation. TY for helping me make the decision to adopt some of them out. ❤️
All of my mamas were SO exhausted by the end, they were overjoyed to find homes where they could relax and be themselves again. I was so happy to hear from adopters that they started playing with toys and being active and excitable once adopted. Most of these moms are young and glad to be kittens again after their kids are grown and safe.
I got a cat from my uncle and she had 2 beautiful boys who we ended up keeping along with her, and from the day they were born until the day she passed away - when the boys were around 7 or 8 - she loved and cared for them like she did when they were babies. Now, we've adopted 2 new babies, and one of the boys has taken them in as his own, and is honestly the best adoptive cat dad you could ask for.
Hands down the best cat channel out there by far. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience with us. It's true that we often tend to think that cats are people. Sometimes it's difficult not to.
I adopted a cat who happened to be pregnant. she had a c section and was near to death, but she survived. 6 years later, she is still with me and her babies, they have a great bond, even these days and despite the fact that the babies are not babies anymore. Mina (the mother cat) still takes naps with all her babies, takes time to clean them and yes, she wants some time for herself, but loves being around them. And the "babies" respect her. if they misbehaved she bites them as she used to do when they were kittens and then they stop misbehaving. I think they know she is their mom, because they wouldnt let the other two adult catss of the family scold them.
GREAT MESSAGE! And, while I don't think I have ever REALLY thought about it, it's good to hear that the bonding is different than for human parents. I wouldn't want to think that I emotionally wounded a mama cat nor her babies through adoption. Thank you!
Yes. I am guilty of giving human emotions to animals. Thank you for breaking it down and putting it all in perspective. Mama Firework has done an amazing job and I know she is ready to be a cat, and do cat things. Well done Mama! And thank you Hannah for providing a safe space for her to care for her babies. ❤️❤️❤️
It's not wrong to do that. I found my cat when he was 3 weeks old and he really clinged on me. He has a lot of human traits and most of the time I know what he is thinking about before he even executes it. I later got another street cat and she's not the brightest. He tries to interact with her like he interacts with me and gets frustrated that she just stares back instead of answering him and listen to his commands. One time he came to me, completely agitated, and ran back and forth, meowing, until I followed him upstairs. He then brought me to his cat bed and she was lying in it. He made it very clear that he wanted me to kick her out for him, lol. Definitely a full personality, this boy. Cats and humans might be different, but they also have a lot in common, and like with all animals, you will find, not just imagine, similarities and traits you didn't think they're capable of. A cow likes to play ball as much as a dog or humans does.
Thank you for this clear explanation. That's exactly what I was thinking about today regarding dogs. So we could say after about 8 weeks, when the kittens and puppies are ready for adoption, it's a bit similar to a human mom who tells her daughter/son to move out when they've reached a certain age.
I recused a pregnant stray when I was younger. She had five kittens, and was determined that the best place for them was wherever I was. If I forgot to close my door at night, I'd wake to her stuffing kittens under my sheets. She was so proud of them, but she was also happy to have her independence back when we found homes for them all. Now I'm a mother myself, and I love my daughter, but I also love it when she's gone for the day and I can do whatever I want.
Years ago I adopted 2 kittens from a backyard, then 6 days later I went back for 2 more. The mom was adopted by another family. It was so much fun raising 4 kitties.
I love fostering, so far I have fostered over 200 + cats and kittens in two years for a local cat rescue. It is satisfying and I love it. But it's sad when they get adopted but happy at the same knowing they are going to good homes. They do all get dewormed, vaccinated, neutered or spayed before adoption. Thanks for your videos.
I’ve always wondered this because our youngest cat, Lil’ Nug, was adopted by us when she was 11 weeks old. She was born to a feral single mum who we never got to meet, but we know they (her and her two brothers who were adopted by a different family) were separated from their mom at around 4/5/6 weeks. I’ve always hoped she would be okay with her triplets getting adopted.
They way I see it is they may be sad for a bit but they will be OK. Very similar to a newly adopted cat figuring out its new home and realizing the people it used to know aren't with it.
Watching the kitties interacting with each other and you is really heartwarming🥰💯❤️ Hope all the kitties find great homes and mama too will be happily homed💯💕
Thanks for showing Mama Tumtum. I had a mama cat show up on my patio with 5 kittens. I looked for the owner. No luck. I captured mama and the kittens and kept them until weaned. When I took all the kittens away, Mommie howled all day. Maybe taking them all away at once was too sudden? So, I got one back and she was fine. Mommie and Tommie lived out their lives with me. Mommie bathed Tommie every day, as well as my other female cat. Mommie was a real character. I miss her greatly.
When I got my cat, I could only bring him home to me when he was 15 weeks old, because I was in the process of moving. His mom was SO over him at that point 😂
Thank you for posting this video! My first foster experience was with a feral mama and her litter and I've been so stressed about this exact question! As always, your videos are helpful and easy to digest, thank you!
thank you! am watching this because we're gonna soon be adopting a kitten. we have a dog already, and she was a mama dog a few years ago to five adorable puppies... and yes, it's just like you've described for dogs as well! she was very caring of them for the first two weeks, then as they grew and became tiny biting and scratching machines she got increasingly annoyed with them xD she did a lot of what you mentioned mama cats doing, avoiding the puppies, refusing to let them nurse, finding alone spaces haha. when they were 6-7 weeks old, we started adopting them out... at first she was like "hey, where did the puppies go?", and we were worried we made a terrible mistake, but she quickly got used to just being a pet again. we then got her spayed. thank you for the video!!
My first cat was a mom cat and gave birth to 4 kittens when I was 9 years old. She got fixed after and we gave away her kittens when they were old enough with no problems. My current cat is an orange tabby like yours but is male and named Firestar. I love seeing the orange babies just roaming around!
This is what some individuals, don't want to understand. It isn't insulting or devaluing animals, for understanding them as just that, animals. This is respecting their lives!!!! Their ways of understanding and emotions are limited to their Instincts. The are not people, "HUMANS". Not all animals are "DOGS". Understanding this, actually saves these creatures. Majority of these animals in the value of our eyes, are limited to dogs, applying dognailties(dog characteristics). To all species of animals. Some people only like dogs and or cats, and couldn't care less, of the wild creatures. They don't like the reality of nature.
@@ebob0531 By their individual personalities, maybe. As some animals exhibit more docile, lazy, non competitive, non team player, rebellious. Their personality is what fails them and hinders their survival, not their instincts. If they were wild/feral, they would be the lowest of their social structure. But thats just the social dynamic of the cat/dog world. This social structure also applies in a houshold/enviroment of multiple cats/dogs. The weakest are always bullied, left with scraps, ostracized. That's their order. If all house cats/dogs escaped outside never to return, and there was no human intervention. 95% of the animals would thrive and survive. They would rely on their instincts!!!!
@@peltycrikts6990 that's an interesting perspective. I was under the impression only cats would survive in the wild while dogs are almost completely dependent on humans to survive in the wild
A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to adopt a mother and her baby from a rescue centre! The kitten was the only surviving of the litter and so their bond is extra special. Mum is 14mo and her baby now 3mo and I feel so lucky to have them!
i took in a pregers calico in and she had 2 boys. I've had them for 9 years now. momma nursed them both for a good 18 months and never turned them away. it seemed like one day everyone just decided that it was something that used to happen and never did it again.....weird. they have turned into a 3 headed 12 legged cat.....completely inseparable.
One of the cats at our barn that we cared for led us to the kittens she had (twice, we couldn't catch her in time for a spay the first time) and basically agressively began to get us to take them once they reached 6 weeks. She would try to get us back to the nest, carry her babies out to us, and was only happy when we took them.
@@rs72098 Kinda yes. Cats are, like nearly all social animals (animals who live in groups) matrilinear. Humans are the wierd exception. Even in groups that are led by a mated couple (for example wolves) the males leave while the females often stay an additional season or two. So in cats the young toms are chased off while the young queens stay. Queens even coparent in colonies. But the queen will start to reject her babies at a certain age (they usually parent them around 12-14 weeks, which is why reputable breeders don't take the kittens away before that time), simply because they want to be pregnant again as soon as possible, having as many as 5 litters a year, though the average is 3, they can already get pregnant again if the kitten are weaned, which gives her just enough time to finish parenting them before the next ones arrive.
One thing I always wonder is if the *babies* miss their mom or their littermates. Especially when they're given away too early. My dog technically wasn't even 8 weeks yet when we got her, and the rest of the litter was JUST at 8 weeks when they were adopted. I always wonder if they miss each other - especially the two of them that were adopted as a pair. There were six puppies and they were split into groups of three for fostering, and my dog was with the pair that got adopted together, so I wonder if they ever wonder what happened to their sister. I mean, since THEY'RE together they should be with their sibling who was with them for the first 8 weeks of their lives, that's my logic if I'm thinking like a dog. I also wonder if she ever misses her siblings (although she's never seemed to; also honestly the other female was really mean)
Thank you for making this video! The biology behind this is fascinating. My girl cat, Bea, had a litter of kittens before I adopted her. When I first brought her home, she would hear kitten cries (from watching videos like yours online) and become very upset. Fast forward to fostering two kittens a year later, and she despised them xD.
Thanks for this. Having raised a lot of kittens over the years, I see this for myself. But I can see where a first time foster or a first time owner would worry about this.
My previous cat came from an oops litter my neighbours cat had. When she was weaned and I took her home, each day at 7am mumma cat would be at my front door. I would let her in, she would check on her kitten, once reassured her Bub was safe she would go home. This continued for about a week so they definitely have strong maternal instincts.
The ferals around our house had a few full grown cats still feeding off the moms that were having litters. We found a trap/spay program, thank goodness, and they all got fixed.
I was always wondering this! I rescued a beautiful street cat from a shelter who was pregnant when they took her in. Her entire litter got adopted before her and I was the lucky one to take the young mama home! (only 2 yrs old when i adopted her). As soon as they told me her litter already had been adopted, it made me sad to see the moms always getting left behind, and I always wondered if she missed them! But it seems like she might be okay ! Thanks for the video! 😊
A very important video, I'm glad it's up! People don't realize that mom cats actually need/want to be away from kittens after a certain point, once they're old enough. Not always the case, of course - my cat "adopted" the skinny little stray we brought inside. She even started producing milk! Three years later, he was almost double her size and still nursed... He couldn't drink properly out of a saucer or bowl though, made a mess and splattered water everywhere 😂
awesome video! short and to the point, presenting important & practical information in a way that doesn't talk down to the viewer. keep doing good work!
Your videos and wonderful explanations of trapping feral and dealing with new litters has helped me so much! Just last night, with the help of my local shelter cat coordinator, I trapped a mama and her 4 kittens who were living under my deck and had them brought to the local shelter. I had been feeding mama since Christmas and she had 4 kittens in April, which she and I were caring for here. She is being spayed today and I will return her to my yard tomorrow, and the kittens are being fostered and hopefully will get adopted. Your videos helped us so much! Thank you!
I remember when my cat Ayla had her two surviving kittens. - she was a great mom. Her female kitten went at the appropriate age of about 8 weeks, the male was staying a bit longer(10-12 weeks) and you could tell she was like when are you leaving already?( the people taking the male kitten lived a few Kantons away so they took a bit longer before they could take him.
@@AnnaParva Spay/neuter is two months or two pounds for cats. At that age they are fully on solid food and have been for weeks. It's nothing unusual for them to be adopted at that age.
I started to feed a stray and one day under a week later she was waiting by the back door looking very proud of herself. She took me to the shed. She proudly introduced me to her kittens she had 5 beautiful little babies. She was like look at these ain't they cool I did that 😸. I couldn't bring them all in that day I already had 7 cats in various zones all over the house and needed to make a safe space for them. I secured the shed as best I could she was such a good mom. In the middle of the night my cam picked up movement. I went out and she was standing just by the shed furr raised and hissing. I couldn't see anything but she charged up the garden. I followed and got there just in time to see her kick the hell out of 2 foxes 😂😸😻 I spent the night outside with her and managed to clear the kitchen the next day and move them all in. When the kittens were old enough they started going outside my nextdoor neighbours dog managed to jump the fence and she also bashed the hell out of him. I say all this just to give context to how good and attentive a mom she was. She was truly an amazing mom. So much so her name automatically changed to momma. However when they were about 2 months old she started to bash them as they would followed her around all day. She would try to hide just to get 5 mins of peace. She was not sad she was over the moon when I adopted them out. I still have momma (10 years) and all the kittens went to beautiful homes. She has been fixed. I can say without hesitation when it's time for them to leave the moms don't miss them. It's a huge relief I think 😂😂😻🐈
I took in a pregnant street cat. I initially intended to adopt out the kittens once they were old enough, but ended up falling in love with them so now I own four cats. They're all strictly indoor cats, which seemed the displease mom initially because once they were weaned she wanted NOTHING to do with her two sons, but absolutely doted on her daughter. I know female cats will often chase off their male offspring and allow the daughters to remain in their territory, but with everyone indoor mom was just confused as to why her boys wouldn't leave. It's now been over a decade and she's resigned herself to her layabout sons XD
My cat got out before I could get her spayed (thanks, Covid) and had three kittens. I already had four, including her, so there was no way I was keeping a kitten. No way in hell. Nope. Not gonna do it. We found a FABULOUS home for one of the kittens, and mom broke down and just looked and looked for her. .............I now own six cats. I couldn't get rid of the other two, because I felt so bad for her! Don't worry though- EVERYBODY is spayed and neutered now, so NO MORE KTTENS IN THIS HOUSE....wait, maybe I shouldn't have so much bravado when I say that, considering I wasn't going to keep any of the kittens!
@Lorena Jaimes I mean they were 14 weeks, is that too young? I mean mom cat was a bit neurotic. The other two continued nursing until about five and a half months. Obviously not at their only meals. They ate plenty of dry and wet cat food at the time, too.
My cat had kittens very young (before I adopted her) and she definitely seems pretty happy that she gets to be a kid again now that she's safely spayed. She's two now (had her for a year), but still acts like a kitten.
Once we took care of kittens of our apartment's community cat. From time to time, she would leave the kittens to us and spend her free time by herself outside. She would come to check on them sometimes and then go again lol. She hired us as a babysitter.
For this question I would say some moms do miss their babies but not a lot. My mama cat really freaked out whenever I separated the babies at 8 weeks and refuse to eat. So I had to decide on One kitten to keep and now they are so bonded that when one goes to the vet the other one freaks out. But honestly I would say rip it off like a Band-Aid and try not to give in because now I have a cat that needs her support buddy.
Yeah but that's awesome. I don't think it's fair to keep cats and dogs as solo pets. They need companions too, and more than just humans. I believe every intelligent animal should have another animal friend.
My grandmother, many years ago, witnessed one her barn cats actually picking homes for her kittens. This cat took the kittens one by one to various neighbors homes, when they were old enough obviously. I've never forgotten that.
so cool
that is amazing !
Cute!
Wow! That's pretty amazing she did that. ❤
i dont believe your grandma lol
One of my neighbor's cats had kittens last spring. I saw her the day after.. She was such a proud mama you could practically see her glowing from across the road. The kittens were of course all given away. But Oliver, the only male of the litter only made it across the street to another neighbor's house
He still visits mama from time to time and she seems to enjoy seeing him. She'll even still bathe him if he'll sit down long enough. But he seems more focused on his career path to be a mechanic, as I commonly have to scare the grease-streaked furball out from under the hood of my truck
A meCATnic
This made me lol
I have a cat living in my garden who gave birth to a litter. One of the girls stayed here with us (she is sleeping on my bed as I type this) and one of the boys went on his own to live with my neighbour across the street. They still congregate in my garden often and while they're not as attached to each other as they were when the kids were babies, but they still hang out sometimes. Sometimes I see my cat and her mom off for a walk to a neighbour's house. I've tried getting mom to stay inside with me but every time she will hang out inside for a couple of days and then decides she's tired of indoors and doesn't come in again. I think she likes having the whole space in the garden to herself.
You had me in the first half not gonna lie
You should probably close the hood of your truck
Once visited a small village in Italy. An elderly mom cat and her six (now fully-grown) ‘kittens’ would walk through the square in a single-file line! I was taken aback - had never seen a litter of cats that stayed close into adulthood, let alone follow their mom around.
Now that I know how close Italian men are to their Mamas, this doesn’t surprise me one bit. 😂
I've seen this phenomenon exclusively in the States. Surprisingly, America does not let animals, especially felines and canines grow and survive as ferals wherever people reside. They are either put up for adoption or culled. Maybe that is part of the process of complete domestication of cats. In other parts of the world, cats are allowed to live their life cycle, breed, live and die as nature allows them to, while also living symbiotically with human beings. Maybe that helps breed hardiness. Just speculating.
@@sca8217 there are feral communities of cats but they are neutered or spayed to decrease the feral population
😂😂😂
So this means that Italian men are mama's boy? wholly shit! 🤣😂
Single-file line = single fe-line… I’ll see my way out now
When I adopted my cat he was so sad....he didn't want to eat refused to drink and didn't want to play. So I went back and adopted one of his siblings and he got better instantly, it was honestly heartwarming seeing how they bonded and missed eachother and how happy he was (don't worry, I adopted the second cat just a day later and the first one wasn't harmed)
Omg, I have a very similar story!! They leapt into each other’s arms and started playing the second they laid eyes on each other once again ♥️♥️
A lot of shelters near me and hopefully other places too, have some animals who are "bonded pairs" which means they are basically the cat version of best friends and the shelters will not let them get adopted separately
@@abigailknott5998 A lot of shelters are also starting to require that kittens only be adopted in pairs unless there is another cat or dog already in the home.
@@abigailknott5998 When my cats who are sisters eventually die of old age I'm hoping to get some older bonded cats.
Fortunately I probably won't have to worry about that for at least another 10 years or so.
Cute but that’s just any cat that gets adopted. If I picked you up and threw you in a totally new location I doubt you’d be excited about food or playing
I used to volunteer at a big city shelter, and met lots of moms with kittens. So much of the time, once the kittens were older, mom was *done* with them. 😂 Moms with older kittens would get so excited when I came by, like "Thank God, another adult!"
One exception was moms who only had one or two kittens, compared to those who had larger litters. A lot of times the moms who only had one or two kittens would stay attached to them and we would be sure to adopt them out together.
Aww 🥰
Ah that's true!! Most of the moms who stay attach to their kittens are those with 1-2 kittens
Interesting difference, but it makes sense.
About when are they “done” with them?
@@hammypie it was usually a week or so after they were fully weaned, and when they were getting bigger and really rambunctious.
Last time we fostered a mom and kittens, she couldn’t be happier to get rid of them. When the last one left, she seemed to revert back to kitten-hood herself. She was under a year old and became so playful and loving!
If she was under a year then she still was a kitten. That's so sad to see kittens giving birth. It's like a human child being pregnant. Tragic.
Poor teen momma 🥺 I’d be done with them too
Hello dear, how are you doing?
I was always told that a mama cat is more like a teacher than a mom- spending a short but important time helping the kittens become cats and then moving on when they’re old enough. Sometimes teachers become so attached to certain students that they stay close, but most of the time they need to focus on new students, in this case kittens!
yes they do miss their kittens? we adopted a 2 month kitten and the momma was crying non stop :(
@@KaliDurga108 did you watch the full video? mom cats can like their older kittens, but they like them as cats, not as their babies, if that makes sense
@@KaliDurga108 2 month is way to young for a kitten to be adopted ! You should have get him at 3 month old minimum !
My friend has a cat who is my cats mom. My baby visits her biological cat mom and siblings on occasion and they're still buddies.
@@hukhh3145 lies...they remember
I had a cat mom and cat son for 8 years. Once we lost the cat son for a week and she was, well, happy about it. She was chocked when he came back, and angry with him. When she passed, he looked for her util he found her body, 3 days later, and after that, he had some sort of depression for several months, well, I am not sure he is completely over it and it had been 8 months or so. Every time we walked, he would do a territory piss next to where we bury her. Some cat version of flowers, I guess.
The spraying was done to mark territory, to keep others cats away.
So sad
I have two male cats the same age with the same dad. I let the kittens and my dog choose each other. I wanted all three pets living in harmony together as bonded companions and therapy animals for my son. They are soul mate animals for sure. This is so different than coexisting with animals that at best, tolerate each other. They are always curled up next to each other. They play and interact together. There is never a dull moment and they fill the house with love and laughter. Ebony was lost for 2 1/2 weeks. When he came home his brother was territorial at first but soon warmed up to their normal cuddling.
@@harrynking777 awe that's lovely. He knows that's where his mum is.xx
We should do it likewise, thats so much cheaper than all the flowers.
Only I fear the people who watch me… 😬
About 25 years ago I had a cat that got my roommates cat pregnant 3 days before he was fixed. I ended up with mom, dad and three out of the nine kittens (everyone was spayed and neutered once I had ownership of mama.)
A lot happened in the 20 years we were together. Good things and very sad things. Mama cat was very happy to grow old with 3 of her kittens.
They're all gone now, they were such a huge part of my life for such a long time. I really miss them.
Yall couldve aborted them tho its possible with cats when we fixed ours they said she was pregnant but will remove them lol
@@txru That is so sad to abort unborn kittens. If the cat is already pregnant just let her have her kittens, nurse them and wean. Then you can spay the mother cat and kittens when they will be old enough.
@@txruyou sound like a pos human
@@adelyna89 sometimes aborting is best. It can be best for the cat’s health, or be better for the kittens if they won’t have a home otherwise. A lot of kittens otherwise wind up in shelters until they’re eventually put to sleep.
In general I do think a cat should ideally be allowed to have their kittens if the owner has already allowed the cat to become pregnant before desexing though
I adopted a pregnant cat (she was left behind by her humans when they move houses - I think she develops PTSD from this. I move houses recently and throughout the packing process, she just shuts down. She was joyful again when she saw I ain't leaving her behind) and was such a loving mother when the kids were born. She freaks out when I brought her 5 kids to the vet for a checkup and ended up having to bring her along. By the time their supposed weaning process, the mom was more than ready to retire from mom duties and now have promoted herself to become wrestling buddies to her kids. The kids, however, are approaching 1 year now, still, go to their mama for suckling. Sometimes the mom lets them, sometimes it turns into a wrestling session. I think the bond is still there, but the only time she is hyped about her kids now is when she wants to wrestle and zoomies with.
Did you keep all 5 kittens?
@@dfwm6660 Yep. They are living with me ever since.
Thanks for sharing!
@@dfwm6660 that’s awesome
noooo the bit where you said that she just shut down as you were packing to move houses is just so sad!! but i'm glad that she saw that you weren't going to abandon her and was happy again. but man!! i can't imagine the trauma she went through, poor thing.
If we're going to anthropomorphize this, we need to think of it as how a mother would feel about her 30 year old son leaving, who's been living rent free in the basement since highschool, still doesn't have a job, and still expects his mother to do his laundry and make his dinner. At least that's the look my mama cat had when her kittens got to be 7 or 8 weeks old!
Brilliant analogy!! 🤣😂
This is so accurate! Mine started sitting on higher and higher places where the kittens couldn’t get to her. The day one of them managed to get to the highest place that had been her sanctuary from them she gave us a look that was like ‘FFS, get me out of here’
That's exactly what I was thinking!
We took our cat back to visit her mama cat and they cuddled and mama cat licked and cleaned our cat when we brought our cat to visit again a week later they were like, “hey” “hey” and pretty much ignored each other lol
pretty sexist to single it to to a male instead of just 30yo kid.
My cat Lily got pregnant in her first heat-she was basically a teen mom. She was *such* a good mama cat, though! I actually adopted her after her kittens were old enough to be on their own, but I heard from her foster mom that the reason she was so skinny when she came to us is because she fed her kittens most of her food. That means a lot seeing how much she loves food (she's pretty chunky now XD). She's also unbelievably tolerant with my little sister, who carries her around and dresses her up, and I believe that's due to her incredibly caring and maternal instincts.
I've noticed more often than not, it's siblings who form the strong bonds, especially in a small litter. Twins in particular have a habit of pair bonding and needing to be adopted off together. We had a couple little girls last year that would get very temperamental if they were split up for more than a few minutes, so they had to go together 😂
I have two cats from different litters that have been together since they were kittens. One I found abandoned by a feral mother before his eyes were fully opened and nursed him. The other adopted from a shelter at a really young age. They’re each about 8 years old now and have a very strong bond. I could never separate them.
@@danieldaniels7571 Some cats get very wiggy if you separate them. Esp. if they've been together for many years and one dies. I've heard so many sad stories about that.
This is why I have two cats instead of one. The happenstances of how they came to me seem to have resulted in one being healthier than the other, who's also the more emotionally 'clingy' of the two. I'm not looking forward to what's going to happen, especially since this is the first time I've had bonded cats. Hopefully they still have lots of time left with each other, and with me.
I adopted 2 stray sisters they’ve always been close, they even still nap together 🥺
We adopted 2 brothers and a sister, it was the right thing to do.
My brother and sister in law adopted a mama and two of her daughters. Mama was definitely over it pretty quick, and they had to reestablish adult relationships to get along. It worked out, but mama was always the most stand offish and independent of the cats and at best tolerated her daughters. We lost mama a few months ago, and daughters tbh seem happier than ever, mostly because now they don't have to share people and nap spots.
One of our cats had kittens when I was a baby, and we kept 3 of the four kittens for their whole life. Mom was friendly with her sons and definitely liked them, but I actually saw a closer bond between one of our later adopted cats and our dog than between the mom cat and her sons.
@@ettinakitten5047 “boys will be boys “ 😂
Wad happen to mama?
I use to feed a feral mom who was the same way
Mother cats will actually chase their kittens away after 12 weeks in the wild. It's instinctive to avoid inbreeding and end the nurturing phase. This is why you'll often see abandoned 9-12 week old kittens in run down areas, sometimes the mother will do this early if conditions are harsh enough.
My daughter and I once adopted a cat who had been rescued from a parking lot with her kittens. She was more maternal than our other female cat who had never had kittens (she'd try to groom us and feed us by bringing toys as "prey") but she never seemed to miss her own babies specifically. She was a great cat - we had her for almost 15 years before she passed away, and we still think of her fondly all the time.
Agree 100%. And the biggest Takeaway I think people should get is being careful not to anthropomorphize your cats. You can still love them, but if you put human emotions and behaviors onto them, you can miss very cat specific things where they are trying to communicate to you that somethings not right or that they have a problem that they need you to attend. As best as you can, you have to separate your cats from the humans in your life and your own human emotions while still loving them in a way that recognizes that they are cats.
Reminds me of my cat,Sassy,complaining to me about something with a series of meows
I was like "What?"
She did a series of meows again
"BabyWhat?" -me
So she did the series of meows again
"Baby,how many times do I have to tel you, I dont speak Cat"- me
And at that point she huffed and walked away😹
Agree. I prefer cat emotions anyway. They don’t invade Ukraine.
@@dgarcia0rivera Or spread disinformation! Or a host of other things. I’m with you.
you really need to tell dog owners that. dog owners are horrible people
My sister gave away all her cats kittens and the mom cat cried for two weeks straight so don't tell me they don't miss their kittens cats do have emotions they're just able to turn off empathy a lot quicker for survival at times but that doesn't mean they never feel they're just able to turn off empathy a lot quicker for survival at times but that doesn't mean they never feel empathy and other emotions
Well, one of the ferals I feed had only one kitten survive, and they are a bonded mother-daughter pair as adults. You rarely see one without the other. Cats are complex.
ye , I had a neighborhood pair mother and daughter
That sounds more of a companionship thing than a parent-child thing. They could've bonded the same way if they weren't biologically related.
Yes!
@@natalia_00123 That's what I was thinking.
I actually do think that mom-cats prefer to have their daughters around rather than their sons, but that's just my experience. I guess male cats can get a little more annoying.
I went to the cat rescue centre with the intention of adopting 1 cat. Found myself coming home with 2 baby brothers, one with one eye…. And their mamma too 😻 I couldn’t separate them. 10 months later and I know I made the right decision. They are such a delight to be with. They adore each other and are a proper tribe. Mum still takes a motherly role, she observes them while they rough and tumble, and occasionally tells them off if they need it, but the bond between all 3 is obvious for all to see. She collects them to come for their dinner when it’s time, and goes and gets them to come in from the garden when she wants them to come in for a grooming session. They even groom her too.
They came from a house overrun with cats who kept breeding and breeding, and had not really had any human contact until they came to me. The guy who’s house they came from was a recluse and lived alone. The rescue centre lost count how many cats were there.
It’s been a beautiful journey to see them all grow and develop and gain confidence. They all have such different personalities, and likes and dislikes. They are blossoming into such loving cats. I could never be without them now.
Adopt don’t shop people 👌😻 🐈⬛ 🐈⬛ 🐈⬛💕
❤so cute
You are fantastic.
I have a cat who still her two kiddos. They are all ridiculously attached, but she definitely puts them in their place 🤣
Yeah they are big babies now
LOL same . My momma cat has all her 3 boys and just the other day she was upset and slapped one in his head 😂😂😂 and waddled out the room. She’s so awesome 🤩
Same for me.
We kept two kittens from our momma and they are thick as thieves.
How old are they? My cat had 8 kittens and they either got adopted or chose to voluntarily leave the house after unsuccessfully trying to drive the others out. Up until last year we only had the mom and the super nervous daughter. The mom hated the daughter and she end up leaving us earlier this year since the daughter wouldn’t go away. The daughter is now 5 years old.
@@Floating.Point. 4 yr old mom 3 yr old babies
Very interesting video. I’ve had two cats over the years that had kittens.
My first one, was a very loving mom. She was very upset when the kittens left. We had given them away to a neighbor and brought her over for a visit. She ran to them and licked them all over. You could just tell she LOVED her kittens. She even would sneak out to stalk their house. Very much a mom who loved her kittens.
My second cat that gave birth, she couldn’t wait to get rid of them. She did all her mom duties, fed them, bathed them, nurtured them… but couldn’t wait to sit in places they weren’t. She’d leave the room for hours to get away from them. When they finally left, she was so much happier. Very different reaction between my two mamma cats.
And for anybody wondering, no I did not let the cats get pregnant. The first cat when adopted was already pregnant. My second one was given to us from a cousin, I went to get her fixed but she was pregnant.
One of my little ladies was trapped and brought to the local shelter with two estimated 6-month-old kittens still at her side. They were adopted as a pair the day before I called up to inquire about adopting a cat, so I never saw them, but I had mamma taken home within 24 hours of her grown kids going to a different home and it was an interesting start. She loves people, owned the house immediately and took about 30 hours to bond with the older neutered male I already had in the house at the time, but she cried every night, carried around socks and slippers like babies, and made every effort to get outside. We lost her for a couple of weeks on one of her successful escapes and thought she was gone forever. I was pregnant myself at the time and hormonal so I went and adopted another cat to fill the void. Got a tiny kitten just barely old enough to have been weaned. The very next day the shelter called with good news and my little escape artist came home, was delighted to find that we'd adopted a baby for her in her absence, and hasn't strayed since. That was 5 years ago and her adopted "baby" is only just starting to seek affection from anyone else 🤣
Yeah some mommas can’t handle that the babies left
At all
I've heard of situations where mama cats gave birth to only one kitten (either due to other kittens dying right after birth or just one being born) and they became very attached to that one kitten and didn't get tired of caring for it, so I guess that's the closest thing to how humans raise babies
Do you watch the TH-cam channel Kaja? The latest kitten was an only. He’s growing up so fast and is adorable. His name is Ivy.
I have a friend who adopted a mom cat and her solo kitten. The mom let her daughter drink milk up until she was like 1,5 years old o_o They are super closely bonded and it's really cute to see.
Makes evolutionary sense even as an inherited trait among cats. A single offspring is always more crucial to be cared for so it survives. (Besides, more time is available for it.)
I personally advocate quality over quantity, as a superior evolutionary path, because only quantity can not cause beneficial change. Such change is inherently a quality thing.
I knew a feral mama cat who only had one kitten survive, and she rejected him. He had to be hand-reared, but oddly enough his mother “adopted” another feral kitten. It was strange but very sweet.
@@Dowlphin Evolution literally doesn't care about a "Quality over Quantity" argument.
All it literally comes down to is this: Does this trait help me have babies, and does it allow my babies to have babies?
That's it. This is how we get some truly bizarre traits and sometimes self-destructive ones.
One of my cats (who my wife took in when she was heavily pregnant and abandoned) was an absolutely amazing mama to her eight (!!!) kittens...but once they were weaned, she was *beyond* done with them and would do everything she could to avoid them until we got them all rehomed lol
LOL 🤣🤣🤣
Sounds like a human thing to do. " You are 18 now, get out"
I thought you abandoned your pregnant wife for a second there
I witnessed that as well. The mama cat seemed really done with her litter, once they turned 3-4 months. I cannot blame her, they became annoying and wanted to fight not only themselves, but also her. So she wasn't holding much back anymore, when fighting with them. The 4 kids she had seemed more than enough for her, with 8 she might have lose her patience quicker. 😂
Brought in a kitten that the local stray dropped in my backyard mat (waited 2hours for mama just to make sure). Took him to the vet to find out he was five weeks old and still needs to be bottle fed😅. I'm not sure what happened to his siblings
Watching this as a pregnant cat appeared on my doorstep and gave birth not long after! The babies are almost two weeks, and we're impromptu fostering them until they're weaned and have already organized with a cat rescue charity to come and get them/rehome them once they're done. The mother has really settled in though, so we're probably keeping her, but it's a relief she won't be upset by the separation as she's been such a good mum so far.
Thanks for helping her and her family.
Spay and neuter. Two months or two pounds.
12 weeks.
We were advised to adopt littermates, and I’m so glad we did! Seeing the boys curled up together just melts my heart. 🥰
We never ever have lone cats...always two...til one passes...the other is never far behind
Haha I adopted littermates and whenever they curl up together it's such a rare event I have to drop EVERYTHING I'm doing and take a million photos
Absolutely, I have two sisters that were born to a neighborhood stray (she was TNR’ed), this was 5 years ago & they still stick together. I foster & have cats come & go but siblings seem to always have a special bond.
Me too.
I used to have a couple of sisters from the same litter, they were the best of friends pretty much all the time, I loved those cats
One of the coolest things about mom cats, is they will often care for kittens that are not their own when they are lactating. I fostered a mom cat and her only biological baby, and due to the busyness of kitten season, she was placed with two newborns and another baby the same age as her baby. Of course this does come with risk of transmissible disease. But without sufficient foster homes, this was a great solution. It was so fun watching all babies grow up and the bond they had with eachother and with mom was as though they were all biologically related. 💕
Heck, they'll even adopt other species sometimes! I've seen everything from puppies to hedgehog hoglets adopted by mama cats. :)
A local mom cat here in our large yard area had 3 kittens a few years back. I watched them just a few yards away on my porch for about 3 to 4 weeks.
Then one morning i walked outside and there was a 'forth' kitten about 15 yards from our porch meowing and keeping it's distance, the mom and her 3 kittens hissed at it .
So this was a 4th kitten just showing up on the 4th week, it was the same size as the 3 who'd been birthed by mom. Very confusing. After only a couple of days i found mom out there nursing all 4. Weirdest thing i'd ever seen with cats. The 2 surviving kittens live mostly outside , and right Now that 4th kitten is sleeping on my couch for a bit and doesn't want to go out.
And i still don't know where she came from. Also when she was keeping her distance from the mom with 3 kittens she really showed that she wanted to be among them.
She kept trying to come closer and would go back when the mom 'threatened' her in the 1st several days. I guess she just won the mom over, and the other siblings.
We had a situation where an older Mama cat (Smokey, approx. 8 years) had a litter about two or three weeks before her daughter (Simba, 2 years) also had a litter. Both gave birth in shelters on our patio. Smokey eventually took advantage of the situation and tricked Simba into essentially adopting her baby brothers, so she was feeding five babies. Of those kittens, Smokey's boys were all adopted by nice people and given the names Lucifer, Sugarfoot, and Lucky Willobury, one of Simba's girls is now mine and her name is Wicket. Sadly Wicket's sister Lily has disappeared and we have no idea as to her fate. Hopefully some kind soul took her in.
Or even not lactating. My parents told me a story of our cats before I was born and showed me photos (who they had de-sexed and was never a mama) their cat adopted a neonatal baby kitten they found abandoned. Treated her just like her own baby. Obviously she couldn’t give her milk but would clean and stimulate her to go to the bathroom so they didn’t have to anymore.
One of the most heartwarming things I've ever seen was when 3 of my cats all had kittens at the same time. I had set up 3 separate boxes each with blankets for them to have a warm cozy spot to nurse their kittens. One day I came home from work and they had placed all 3 litters in the same box and they were taking turns nursing all the kittens.
Long ago our family had two cats, a mother and one of the daughters that we had kept. They both had litters together one time. (This was before there was such an emphasis on spaying...we never had trouble giving the kittens away.) The kittens would just nurse from whoever was nearby! It was so cute. One big happy family. 😸 But when the kittens were gone, mother and daughter went back to despising each other. 🙄
My mom's cat never recovered when her kittens were given away. Her personality changed overnight when her kittens left from sweet to impossibly cranky and antisocial. Over a decade later, she'd still cruise the house late at night, holding a little stuffed bunny like a kitten in her mouth, mewing plaintively. She would keep the bunny hidden under my mom's bed during the day.
Edit: I don't know how old the kittens were when they were adopted out. I believe they were at least 8-10 weeks old, maybe older. I just thought it was an interesting exception to what the vlogger was describing. I know that you have to wait to adopt them out and I'm sure my mother waited. Sometimes nature is peculiar.
Sometimes this happens if the kittens were adopted too young, so mams cat acts like she lost her kittens.
That breaks me.
😭😭😭😭 that makes me so sad
@@AngelEmfrbl We adopted a cat that had issues, she had been 'fixed' at animal control. At night, for years, she roamed the house with a sock in her mouth, sometimes sort of howling. She had to spend the night in our finished basement so we could sleep. Broke my heart.
When I was a kid we had a very sweet cat that got 5 kittens that was given away when they were a bit older. The mom cat spent the next few days meowing and looking around the house and then she left and never came home again. While I don't remember how old the kittens were at the time of adoption I suspect they were too young and that was the reason.
Very interesting. It's part of how we anthropomorphize pets : we imagine they have the same emotions as we do. It's the same process that makes people go "oh I'm not gonna neuter my pet, they'll feel incomplete without babies", too.
Would you maybe consider doing a follow-up about cat siblings, if possible ? If siblings are reunited after years, do they behave differently with each other, as opposed to when they meet a new unrelated adult ? I imagine they don't, but that's just me guessing, I'd love to hear your expertise.
I don't think cats remember their littermates. My grandma used to foster kittens all the time when she worked at a vet clinic. One litter that got along really well were a male and female kitten that sent all day playing and napping together, the male was adopted out at 4/5 months, but the female became a clinic cat. When they were reintroduced at five years old, she was not fond of him at all, and now that she lives with my family she responds the same way to our other cat.
That anthropomorphizing is seriously doing so much harm when people can't see the ways that animals are not like us. They can be very similar, but it isn't a 1:1 comparison on many topics. Kitten Lady explains things way better than me and with much more patience because I instead get angry about such people, lol. Because of these videos, I can now just save my breath (and head from hitting it on a wall in frustration) and just point them to one of her videos 😌
Best to keep siblings together if you want that bond to remain unbroken. But yes they do remember mostly by scent, I think they can tell their related, my mother has one of the three kittens, my brother had the other two, all females, at points in their lives during vacations they sometimes share a house. Their not happy about the territorial disputes but it usually calms down after a day or so.
About the siblings, I have 3 cats that are from the same litter, 1 boy and 2 girls. When the boy was neutered, the girls would walk around the house looking for him while he was at the vet, and they didn't settle down until he was home. When the two girls were neutered, the boy did the same. When the girls got back, one had her incision on her belly and the other had hers on her side. The boy was fine with the first girl, but immediately started hissing at the second, so we kept her separated from the others until she was healed. We would occasionally put her in a cage so they could be in the same room and we could see how they reacted to each other, but the boy would keep trying to attack her through the cage, until the fur on her side had grown back.
I doubt it. My cat was from a litter of 4. The family kept the only girl along with the Mom. I adopted one and my friend adopted his 2 brothers. Of course ny friend and i kept wanting the 3 cat brothers to remain in each others lives. My friend and I would meet periodically and try and get them to be friends but they hated each other. We even began exchanging items that had each cat's scent on them and the cats truly wanted nothing to do with one another. My friend and I were both very surprised that neither cat missed one another but we just accepted it and put an end to the forced play dates. I knew that animals didn't view familial relationships the same as humans. But those many failed attempts at getting the cats together really cemented that.
We had a feral mom next door. We caught the kittens before mom was finally trapped. Due to their ages and scheduling availability - we had mom for about 2 weeks, and the kittens for 9 weeks. These boys were about 16-17 weeks by now, and she came to see them on my back porch EVERY DAY for seven weeks.
Very interesting! I’ve actually seen it both ways. I’ve had mama cats who became “over it” once their kittens grew up. I even had one mama cat who would hiss and swat at her kittens when they tried to go near her. On the other hand, I’ve had mama cats who remain very close to their offspring. I kept one mama and her four kittens because I was still new to fostering and it was a major foster fail. This was six years ago and the mama cat and her kittens are still connected at the hip. I can’t imagine ever separating them. They are so close!
Hahaha! You ended up with FIVE cats. Sounds heavenly.
My pit bulldog loves them
That shirt is amazing! Yeah I knew a mom cat years ago that was still nursing her adult son 1 year later 😂 but the kittens I have now, their mom left a little before she should've. I kept all 3 and they're now beloved members of my family and of course spayed and neutered! 💕
Is that like nursing a twenty year old man?? What's the equivalent? 😅🤣
Rare example of the feline mama's boy
THANK you for the reminder to anyone to get their cats spayed! I just dont get people who think they do their cat any favor not spaying them UGH
When I adopted my current cat, unbeknownst to us, she was pregnant, we had to give away the babies after they were old enough.
I could definetly tell she became more physically affectionate and caring towards us after she was separated from her litter, so I imagine she probably missed them.
As you say though, cats are individuals, and another cat I had didnt really change her behaviour after we gave away her kittens.
A lot of cats take time to adjust and trust is built over time; your pregnant cat probably didn't change personality, you just earned her trust and let her blossom into an affectionate love-bug! ❤
I had a cat that was the exact opposite
After having kittens she acted like she owned the place and everything, including the other cats, should bend to her will
We adopted a mom cat and ended up keeping her kittens. They're almost three years now and they have a super strong bond with their mom. Much much stronger than any bond she has or the other kittens have with any other cats they do get along with other cats but they worship their mom and she still is very nurturing to them. She's fixed and we have noticed that other fixed cats that are still with there kittens into adulthood have a very strong bond different than other cat friendships. Not all cats are the same but from our experience when possible keeping moms and kittens or at least a few kittens together is a beautiful thing
Their kidneys get removed when they're fixed?
@@missccarr89 sorry typo
Thank you for explaining this and I am glad so many have watched this. It is so frustrating when people do not understand mom cat behavior is WAY different from human mom behavior. I have seen for myself from the cats we've rescued after they have had their kittens. All of ours have been great protective mamas while feeding. But once the kittens are weaned, sometimes mama cat will be downright mean to get them to stay away from her. It is hard to understand as a human, but it is animal behavior after all.
It broke my heart to see our cat searching for her adopted kittens: that plaintive meow as she roamed the house. I swore I'd never give away another kitten.
How old were the kitten at the time? Maybe they were too young to be separated from mom.
yeah I had the same experience when we gave away our cat's kittens
sure she stopped meowing for them after some time has passed but it was evident that she was calling for her kittens
This is tragic! The dark side of owning pets.
Mine did too but only for a couple of hours. Then she came to her remaining two kittens and started her motherly duties to them. My heart would've been torn to shreds if she went on searching for her kitten.
they get over it
My three cats were left by their feral mum at two weeks of age. She still came to the feeding station and my stepmum even showed her the crying kittens (she took them inside after two days), but she wasn't interested at all. Just ate her food and left again. Maybe because she was still pretty young herself, we don't know. She abandoned another litter before that, but now she has successfully raised a single kitten. Doesn't seem to care too much for him, though. I hope she gets trapped and spayed soon, she clearly doesn't want to be a mum.
You could ask if you can participate in the capture process, if she threw already 3 times there won't happen anything on its own...
Sounds like my sister's cat. She had a few surprise kittens and did a good enough job nesting and feeding, but was *profoundly* uninterested in every other respect. I basically raised her last kitten myself, even had him sleep with me at night once his eyes were open. He still crawls under the covers with me on particularly cold nights.
Hi. If the cat still comes, cats protection will trap her then spay her and either let her back, if feral to where she lives or try to get her a home.
I saw on another video that young pet parents the lack of affection is usually due to inexperience and low oxytocin levels
TNR time. But not in an industrialized way! More humane. A safe and warm place to stay for 2 weeks!
Love the way mother cat was listening to you and watching as you were speaking! She agrees with what you said!
I've had the wonderful experience of fostering a mom and babies twice, and I could see one of them get tired and setting boundaries pretty quick, and another was tolerant of her huge babies nursing for a long time, but did seem quite pleased to have alone time once they were adopted.
Yes, and even in the human world...good mothers, bad mothers. (some very loving...some not so much)
I remember our Siamese had four kittens, and we found homes for them one by one at eight weeks. She never seemed to notice until the last one was adopted. She searched the house for maybe an hour, then came back to the living room and flopped down in her favorite place from before all the kitten nonsense began. So I don't think she really missed them, she just wanted to make sure they were really gone!
Of course I missed them and always wished that we'd kept at least one.
My oldest cat was so done with having her babies around after the 8 week mark, she got out the day before her surgery was scheduled then we couldn't get her back to the vet for it for months after. She looked so relieved once the final kitten went to their furever home.
I always remember a little bit of video from Kitten Academy where one of the litters was starting to hit the independent stage and mom was still around. One of the kittens sidled up to mom while she was sitting in the middle of the room and started to dip his head like he was going to poke around between her front legs for a nipple, and she just lifted a paw and gave him a quick, reflexive slap like, "Beat it, kid. I'm off the clock."
The thing is, the kitten who got slapped took it without drama; he just sat back and had this look on his face like, "Okay, that's over," and walked away to go play with his littermates. Kittens are also used to being independent quickly, so while they may try to get a snack from off mom from time to time, they aren't going to be traumatized if she gives them a firm no.
I've been devouring your videos this week as I'm fostering my first mama w/ babies. It's been the most magical experience seeing the whole family grow!
i feel like i read 10 pages study on cats and humans babies in just 5 minuets. thank you for making the effort of delivering us the information so vividly and concectrated it was facinating
Cats are so cute. 😍 When my mom picked up our two cats (as kittens, 11 years ago) and she said the mama cat nodded her head like “thank you”. She was ready to say goodbye. I don’t blame her, our cats were so wild as kittens. 😂
Thank you so much for making this video. As a new foster parent to Mom + Kittens I have really struggled with ultimately needing to separate them and worrying about Mom. This has helped tremendously!
It's such a relief to hear these wise words, everything here make sense, thank you so much we need more of this !
I'm in this situation right now--we ended up with a little calico last winter, probably came from the trashy renters across the road who got evicted in the fall. The vet estimated she was about 10 months old. Sure enough she gave birth in the laundry room while we were in the city shopping, so we went from one cat to 5 overnight.
The kittens are now getting old enough to leave Mom and the girls want to keep the whole family together for the same reason in the video, don't want to break up the family etc. But it's not safe for cats to live outdoors here--barn cats routinely disappear due to the usual predators plus the ever-busier road--and I don't want 5 cats in the house. I know me and the old lady would be stuck doing all the caretaking just like with the chickens, and 5 is just too many.
A coworker is interested in taking a couple of them and this video is what I was looking for to try and talk sense to my stepdaughter.
5 is fine in a house! Open your ❤️
There is nothing wrong with adopting kittens out to loving families. If you can adopt two littermates out together, even better.
@@FracturedOrigins five is a lot of cats and for most people way too many. Three is the max amount of cats I'm willing to bring into my home and the third was the only possible exception in the world because we were set on just 2.
just make sure they're of age and ready to separate from mom. Good luck to you though
@@FracturedOrigins Also let's not forget that more goes into caring for pets than just space. Medical costs for 5 animals for 10-15 years can be a lot especially if any of them develop any medical conditions.
I just had the rare experience of googling a question and getting a direct and comprehensive answer to my exact question. Thank you for this video.
I’m a first-time foster going into my third week with a queen and four kittens, and I’m just now at the point where I anxiously realize that mama will be going back to the shelter within a month. Of course that thought led me to wonder if she will grieve when the kittens are gone so I searched online to see if it’s a reasonable concern, or just simple anthropomorphism.
Thank you for putting my mind at ease by describing the oxytocin nursing trigger and effect.
Separately, thanks for helping me learn how to give the kittens supplemental feedings (in another video). One of them was seriously underweight to the point that mama stopped caring for it and it developed an eye infection. After much effort, I was able to get it to reluctantly take KMR from a syringe. The weight gain over the past five days has been amazing, and it’s now fully integrated back into the family and mama is feeding and grooming it regularly. The shelter vet gave me eye drops and the eye infection seems to be fully cleared up with no long term effects.
Thanks again for your videos!
I'm so glad I found your channel. I have 13 cat's in house and 7 barn kitties. They were abandoned by our neighbors. They all are spay and neutered. I'm not really running a rescue. They're all so sweet and loving. I hated the thought of separation. TY for helping me make the decision to adopt some of them out. ❤️
All of my mamas were SO exhausted by the end, they were overjoyed to find homes where they could relax and be themselves again. I was so happy to hear from adopters that they started playing with toys and being active and excitable once adopted. Most of these moms are young and glad to be kittens again after their kids are grown and safe.
Yall human mamas with adult kids KNOW you dont want them living with you 24/7 😂
@@kv7310 in a heartbeat I would have all my kids n grandkids with me! are u kidding??
@@kv7310 I gotta say, I’d love to keep my kids in my house forever 🤗
I got a cat from my uncle and she had 2 beautiful boys who we ended up keeping along with her, and from the day they were born until the day she passed away - when the boys were around 7 or 8 - she loved and cared for them like she did when they were babies.
Now, we've adopted 2 new babies, and one of the boys has taken them in as his own, and is honestly the best adoptive cat dad you could ask for.
Just finished watching the other video with mama firework and then you posted this! My lucky day
Hands down the best cat channel out there by far. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience with us. It's true that we often tend to think that cats are people. Sometimes it's difficult not to.
This!!!!
Cats are a blast!
Some of the best people I know are cats.
I adopted a cat who happened to be pregnant. she had a c section and was near to death, but she survived. 6 years later, she is still with me and her babies, they have a great bond, even these days and despite the fact that the babies are not babies anymore. Mina (the mother cat) still takes naps with all her babies, takes time to clean them and yes, she wants some time for herself, but loves being around them. And the "babies" respect her. if they misbehaved she bites them as she used to do when they were kittens and then they stop misbehaving. I think they know she is their mom, because they wouldnt let the other two adult catss of the family scold them.
GREAT MESSAGE! And, while I don't think I have ever REALLY thought about it, it's good to hear that the bonding is different than for human parents. I wouldn't want to think that I emotionally wounded a mama cat nor her babies through adoption. Thank you!
Yes. I am guilty of giving human emotions to animals. Thank you for breaking it down and putting it all in perspective. Mama Firework has done an amazing job and I know she is ready to be a cat, and do cat things. Well done Mama! And thank you Hannah for providing a safe space for her to care for her babies. ❤️❤️❤️
It's not wrong to do that. I found my cat when he was 3 weeks old and he really clinged on me. He has a lot of human traits and most of the time I know what he is thinking about before he even executes it. I later got another street cat and she's not the brightest. He tries to interact with her like he interacts with me and gets frustrated that she just stares back instead of answering him and listen to his commands. One time he came to me, completely agitated, and ran back and forth, meowing, until I followed him upstairs. He then brought me to his cat bed and she was lying in it. He made it very clear that he wanted me to kick her out for him, lol. Definitely a full personality, this boy.
Cats and humans might be different, but they also have a lot in common, and like with all animals, you will find, not just imagine, similarities and traits you didn't think they're capable of. A cow likes to play ball as much as a dog or humans does.
I love how pictorial your footage is in any situation.
It helps so much envisioning this all instead of listening to it purely. ♥
My cat would walk all the kittens into my room and go out into the living room to sleep and stare out the window for the next 8-12 hours 🤣
Smart mom!
Thank you for this clear explanation. That's exactly what I was thinking about today regarding dogs. So we could say after about 8 weeks, when the kittens and puppies are ready for adoption, it's a bit similar to a human mom who tells her daughter/son to move out when they've reached a certain age.
I recused a pregnant stray when I was younger. She had five kittens, and was determined that the best place for them was wherever I was. If I forgot to close my door at night, I'd wake to her stuffing kittens under my sheets. She was so proud of them, but she was also happy to have her independence back when we found homes for them all. Now I'm a mother myself, and I love my daughter, but I also love it when she's gone for the day and I can do whatever I want.
Years ago I adopted 2 kittens from a backyard, then 6 days later I went back for 2 more. The mom was adopted by another family. It was so much fun raising 4 kitties.
I love fostering, so far I have fostered over 200 + cats and kittens in two years for a local cat rescue. It is satisfying and I love it. But it's sad when they get adopted but happy at the same knowing they are going to good homes. They do all get dewormed, vaccinated, neutered or spayed before adoption. Thanks for your videos.
I’ve always wondered this because our youngest cat, Lil’ Nug, was adopted by us when she was 11 weeks old. She was born to a feral single mum who we never got to meet, but we know they (her and her two brothers who were adopted by a different family) were separated from their mom at around 4/5/6 weeks. I’ve always hoped she would be okay with her triplets getting adopted.
They way I see it is they may be sad for a bit but they will be OK. Very similar to a newly adopted cat figuring out its new home and realizing the people it used to know aren't with it.
Watching the kitties interacting with each other and you is really heartwarming🥰💯❤️
Hope all the kitties find great homes and mama too will be happily homed💯💕
Thanks for showing Mama Tumtum.
I had a mama cat show up on my patio with 5 kittens. I looked for the owner. No luck. I captured mama and the kittens and kept them until weaned. When I took all the kittens away, Mommie howled all day. Maybe taking them all away at once was too sudden? So, I got one back and she was fine. Mommie and Tommie lived out their lives with me. Mommie bathed Tommie every day, as well as my other female cat. Mommie was a real character. I miss her greatly.
When I got my cat, I could only bring him home to me when he was 15 weeks old, because I was in the process of moving.
His mom was SO over him at that point 😂
Thank you for posting this video! My first foster experience was with a feral mama and her litter and I've been so stressed about this exact question! As always, your videos are helpful and easy to digest, thank you!
thank you! am watching this because we're gonna soon be adopting a kitten. we have a dog already, and she was a mama dog a few years ago to five adorable puppies... and yes, it's just like you've described for dogs as well! she was very caring of them for the first two weeks, then as they grew and became tiny biting and scratching machines she got increasingly annoyed with them xD she did a lot of what you mentioned mama cats doing, avoiding the puppies, refusing to let them nurse, finding alone spaces haha. when they were 6-7 weeks old, we started adopting them out... at first she was like "hey, where did the puppies go?", and we were worried we made a terrible mistake, but she quickly got used to just being a pet again. we then got her spayed. thank you for the video!!
My first cat was a mom cat and gave birth to 4 kittens when I was 9 years old. She got fixed after and we gave away her kittens when they were old enough with no problems. My current cat is an orange tabby like yours but is male and named Firestar. I love seeing the orange babies just roaming around!
This is so good to know because I've always worried about it and felt guilty when separating momma from babies. Thank you for this!
You should!
Yeah, best to not forget animals aren't the same as humans. Different lifestyles, different habits and lifespan.
This is what some individuals, don't want to understand.
It isn't insulting or devaluing animals, for understanding them as just that, animals. This is respecting their lives!!!! Their ways of understanding and emotions are limited to their Instincts.
The are not people, "HUMANS". Not all animals are "DOGS". Understanding this, actually saves these creatures.
Majority of these animals in the value of our eyes, are limited to dogs, applying dognailties(dog characteristics). To all species of animals.
Some people only like dogs and or cats, and couldn't care less, of the wild creatures. They don't like the reality of nature.
its not nature though. A cat inside a home is so far removed from nature
@@ebob0531 By their individual personalities, maybe. As some animals exhibit more docile, lazy, non competitive, non team player, rebellious. Their personality is what fails them and hinders their survival, not their instincts. If they were wild/feral, they would be the lowest of their social structure. But thats just the social dynamic of the cat/dog world. This social structure also applies in a houshold/enviroment of multiple cats/dogs. The weakest are always bullied, left with scraps, ostracized. That's their order. If all house cats/dogs escaped outside never to return, and there was no human intervention. 95% of the animals would thrive and survive. They would rely on their instincts!!!!
@@peltycrikts6990 that's an interesting perspective. I was under the impression only cats would survive in the wild while dogs are almost completely dependent on humans to survive in the wild
@@ebob0531 Hmm!!! I understand.
WEIRDO much....
SMH.
A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to adopt a mother and her baby from a rescue centre! The kitten was the only surviving of the litter and so their bond is extra special. Mum is 14mo and her baby now 3mo and I feel so lucky to have them!
i took in a pregers calico in and she had 2 boys. I've had them for 9 years now. momma nursed them both for a good 18 months and never turned them away. it seemed like one day everyone just decided that it was something that used to happen and never did it again.....weird. they have turned into a 3 headed 12 legged cat.....completely inseparable.
One of the cats at our barn that we cared for led us to the kittens she had (twice, we couldn't catch her in time for a spay the first time) and basically agressively began to get us to take them once they reached 6 weeks. She would try to get us back to the nest, carry her babies out to us, and was only happy when we took them.
Yep, and after 12 weeks she would also likely push the kittens away. Instinctively they don't want their offspring around because of inbreeding.
@@rs72098 Kinda yes. Cats are, like nearly all social animals (animals who live in groups) matrilinear. Humans are the wierd exception. Even in groups that are led by a mated couple (for example wolves) the males leave while the females often stay an additional season or two. So in cats the young toms are chased off while the young queens stay. Queens even coparent in colonies.
But the queen will start to reject her babies at a certain age (they usually parent them around 12-14 weeks, which is why reputable breeders don't take the kittens away before that time), simply because they want to be pregnant again as soon as possible, having as many as 5 litters a year, though the average is 3, they can already get pregnant again if the kitten are weaned, which gives her just enough time to finish parenting them before the next ones arrive.
Hello dear, how are you doing?
One thing I always wonder is if the *babies* miss their mom or their littermates. Especially when they're given away too early. My dog technically wasn't even 8 weeks yet when we got her, and the rest of the litter was JUST at 8 weeks when they were adopted. I always wonder if they miss each other - especially the two of them that were adopted as a pair. There were six puppies and they were split into groups of three for fostering, and my dog was with the pair that got adopted together, so I wonder if they ever wonder what happened to their sister. I mean, since THEY'RE together they should be with their sibling who was with them for the first 8 weeks of their lives, that's my logic if I'm thinking like a dog. I also wonder if she ever misses her siblings (although she's never seemed to; also honestly the other female was really mean)
Firework definitely has a "I love you darlings, but I need a *loooong* break" look XD
Thank you for making this video! The biology behind this is fascinating. My girl cat, Bea, had a litter of kittens before I adopted her. When I first brought her home, she would hear kitten cries (from watching videos like yours online) and become very upset. Fast forward to fostering two kittens a year later, and she despised them xD.
3:57 the little kitty poking it’s head between her hand so cute🥺
I’m glad I was able to keep two siblings from the same litter together.
(And yes, both are spayed 😊)
3:58 cutest moment ever!! I laughed so hard watching that kitten 🤣
Thanks for including that PSA. Being a good pet parent means having your pets spayed and neutered.
Thanks for this. Having raised a lot of kittens over the years, I see this for myself. But I can see where a first time foster or a first time owner would worry about this.
My previous cat came from an oops litter my neighbours cat had. When she was weaned and I took her home, each day at 7am mumma cat would be at my front door. I would let her in, she would check on her kitten, once reassured her Bub was safe she would go home. This continued for about a week so they definitely have strong maternal instincts.
The ferals around our house had a few full grown cats still feeding off the moms that were having litters. We found a trap/spay program, thank goodness, and they all got fixed.
I was always wondering this! I rescued a beautiful street cat from a shelter who was pregnant when they took her in. Her entire litter got adopted before her and I was the lucky one to take the young mama home! (only 2 yrs old when i adopted her). As soon as they told me her litter already had been adopted, it made me sad to see the moms always getting left behind, and I always wondered if she missed them! But it seems like she might be okay ! Thanks for the video! 😊
Keep in mind, that in the wild, cats need a fairly large hunting area, and don't like to compete for food that much.
This.
Domesticated cats often live in loose knit colonies in the wild and will share food & kitten raising duties.
@@EMSpdx Did you mean feral cats and not domesticated cats?
@@bluebay0 feral cats are domesticated
@@juliac3933 I see that you mean domestic cats (socialized or feral). Thank you for the clarification.
A very important video, I'm glad it's up! People don't realize that mom cats actually need/want to be away from kittens after a certain point, once they're old enough. Not always the case, of course - my cat "adopted" the skinny little stray we brought inside. She even started producing milk! Three years later, he was almost double her size and still nursed... He couldn't drink properly out of a saucer or bowl though, made a mess and splattered water everywhere 😂
I love how Hannah is so used to kittens crawling all over her that she can perfectly ignore it.
awesome video! short and to the point, presenting important & practical information in a way that doesn't talk down to the viewer. keep doing good work!
Your videos and wonderful explanations of trapping feral and dealing with new litters has helped me so much! Just last night, with the help of my local shelter cat coordinator, I trapped a mama and her 4 kittens who were living under my deck and had them brought to the local shelter. I had been feeding mama since Christmas and she had 4 kittens in April, which she and I were caring for here. She is being spayed today and I will return her to my yard tomorrow, and the kittens are being fostered and hopefully will get adopted. Your videos helped us so much! Thank you!
Hello dear, how are you doing?
I remember when my cat Ayla had her two surviving kittens. - she was a great mom. Her female kitten went at the appropriate age of about 8 weeks, the male was staying a bit longer(10-12 weeks) and you could tell she was like when are you leaving already?( the people taking the male kitten lived a few Kantons away so they took a bit longer before they could take him.
I'm so surprised to hear this. here in Germany it's very uncommon to give kittens to new homes at younger than 12 weeks
@@AnnaParva Spay/neuter is two months or two pounds for cats. At that age they are fully on solid food and have been for weeks. It's nothing unusual for them to be adopted at that age.
8 weeks is NOT the appropriate age to get adopted for a kitten. They are learning important things from their mom and siblings until 12 weeks!
I started to feed a stray and one day under a week later she was waiting by the back door looking very proud of herself. She took me to the shed. She proudly introduced me to her kittens she had 5 beautiful little babies. She was like look at these ain't they cool I did that 😸. I couldn't bring them all in that day I already had 7 cats in various zones all over the house and needed to make a safe space for them. I secured the shed as best I could she was such a good mom. In the middle of the night my cam picked up movement. I went out and she was standing just by the shed furr raised and hissing. I couldn't see anything but she charged up the garden. I followed and got there just in time to see her kick the hell out of 2 foxes 😂😸😻 I spent the night outside with her and managed to clear the kitchen the next day and move them all in. When the kittens were old enough they started going outside my nextdoor neighbours dog managed to jump the fence and she also bashed the hell out of him. I say all this just to give context to how good and attentive a mom she was. She was truly an amazing mom. So much so her name automatically changed to momma. However when they were about 2 months old she started to bash them as they would followed her around all day. She would try to hide just to get 5 mins of peace. She was not sad she was over the moon when I adopted them out. I still have momma (10 years) and all the kittens went to beautiful homes. She has been fixed. I can say without hesitation when it's time for them to leave the moms don't miss them. It's a huge relief I think 😂😂😻🐈
I took in a pregnant street cat. I initially intended to adopt out the kittens once they were old enough, but ended up falling in love with them so now I own four cats. They're all strictly indoor cats, which seemed the displease mom initially because once they were weaned she wanted NOTHING to do with her two sons, but absolutely doted on her daughter. I know female cats will often chase off their male offspring and allow the daughters to remain in their territory, but with everyone indoor mom was just confused as to why her boys wouldn't leave. It's now been over a decade and she's resigned herself to her layabout sons XD
My cat got out before I could get her spayed (thanks, Covid) and had three kittens. I already had four, including her, so there was no way I was keeping a kitten. No way in hell. Nope. Not gonna do it. We found a FABULOUS home for one of the kittens, and mom broke down and just looked and looked for her. .............I now own six cats. I couldn't get rid of the other two, because I felt so bad for her! Don't worry though- EVERYBODY is spayed and neutered now, so NO MORE KTTENS IN THIS HOUSE....wait, maybe I shouldn't have so much bravado when I say that, considering I wasn't going to keep any of the kittens!
@Lorena Jaimes I mean they were 14 weeks, is that too young? I mean mom cat was a bit neurotic. The other two continued nursing until about five and a half months. Obviously not at their only meals. They ate plenty of dry and wet cat food at the time, too.
Aw that momma did deserve to have her babies. Some animals are more aware than most.
TY for giving her the 2 u did.
I’ve always wondered about this! Thanks for another educational video! 💜
My cat had kittens very young (before I adopted her) and she definitely seems pretty happy that she gets to be a kid again now that she's safely spayed. She's two now (had her for a year), but still acts like a kitten.
Once we took care of kittens of our apartment's community cat. From time to time, she would leave the kittens to us and spend her free time by herself outside. She would come to check on them sometimes and then go again lol. She hired us as a babysitter.
For this question I would say some moms do miss their babies but not a lot. My mama cat really freaked out whenever I separated the babies at 8 weeks and refuse to eat. So I had to decide on One kitten to keep and now they are so bonded that when one goes to the vet the other one freaks out. But honestly I would say rip it off like a Band-Aid and try not to give in because now I have a cat that needs her support buddy.
Yeah but that's awesome. I don't think it's fair to keep cats and dogs as solo pets. They need companions too, and more than just humans. I believe every intelligent animal should have another animal friend.
Yeah, anything for human convenience.