How long kittens stay with Mom

I have a 5 month old kitten who's been with me since he was 4 weeks old.
He's decided I'm his mother, and, well, he's right. ;-)

Anyway, he's very attached to me and likes to be physically close as
much of the time as possible -- when he's not harassing his older feline
siblings, that is. He's on my stomach as I recline in my desk chair and
type this.

My question is this: when kittens have the opportunity to grow up with
their birth mothers, how long do they stay close? When does Mom boot
the baby out? I have no intention of booting Francis out, I'm just
wondering how closely we are emulating "normal" cat mom/kitten
relations. Not that we really can, but...

Thanks for any info anyone can provide.

Priscilla

--
"It is very, very dangerous to treat any human, lowest
of the low even, with contempt and arrogant whatever.
The Lord takes this kind of treatment very, very personal."
- QBaal in newsgroup alt.religion.christian.episcopal

Hi Priscilla,

Wow, from 4 weeks old! He was a little guy.

We took in a pregnant stray last spring and did not find homes for all
of the kittens. We now have the mom and three 8-month old kittens, and
their interaction has been fascinating.

I thought they would "break up" as a family at a certain point. We have
4 other cats and I thought they would all intersperse.

The kittens still LOVE their mother and curl up against her at most
opportunities. I will usually see Maggie (the mom) laying somewhere with
one of the kittens draped across the top of her. Many times, they still
either root around her stomach or at least lay against her stomach. They
still remember the old comfort of nursing.

It surprises me, how close they are. Maggie actually does not seek out
the kittens, although she seems to like it when they snuggle against
her, but the kittens certainly seek her out. It's like they see her and
internally yell "MOM!"

Looks like you will be mom for awhile yet!

One of our other cats is an 8 year old formerly almost-feral cat, we
found her as a 6 month old kitten. After months, she finally took to me
and decided I was her mom. She plastered herself against me when she was
scared. She now is a very skittish cat, only comes out at night, hides
during the day, but she still thinks I am her mom. I don't think she'll
ever lose that and I don't discourage it.

Take care,

Rhonda



Priscilla Ballou wrote:

I have a 5 month old kitten who's been with me since he was 4 weeks old.
He's decided I'm his mother, and, well, he's right. ;-)

Anyway, he's very attached to me and likes to be physically close as
much of the time as possible -- when he's not harassing his older feline
siblings, that is. He's on my stomach as I recline in my desk chair and
type this.

My question is this: when kittens have the opportunity to grow up with
their birth mothers, how long do they stay close? When does Mom boot
the baby out? I have no intention of booting Francis out, I'm just
wondering how closely we are emulating "normal" cat mom/kitten
relations. Not that we really can, but...

Thanks for any info anyone can provide.

Priscilla

On Mon, 03 Jan 2005 02:16:32 +0000, Priscilla Ballou wrote:

My question is this: when kittens have the opportunity to grow up with
their birth mothers, how long do they stay close?

So long as mommy is there, I suppose. =^^=

When we were breeding for a short while, one thing I observed is that,
whereas the kittens would eventually wean themselves of the milk, it just
became that they would eventually treat each other as just another cat
that they live with, and would do pretty much anything that cats do
together. But I think this is coincidental to the fact that in many cases
cats can be brought to live with each other with no fighting.

--
Dennis Carr - KE6ISF | I may be out of my mind,
http://www.dennis.furtopia.org | But I have more fun that way.
------------------------------------+-------------------------------
Wanna email me? Send it to ke6isf instead of bogus-user.

Rhonda wrote:

Wow, from 4 weeks old! He was a little guy.

Oh, yeah. He was barely eating solid food, and I had to teach him what
a litter box was all about. I'd also bathe him like his Mom would have,
with a wash cloth well wrung out in warm water. He was a total
sweetpea. ;-) I can't believe that at first I thought I'd actually
give him to someone else!

We took in a pregnant stray last spring and did not find homes for all
of the kittens. We now have the mom and three 8-month old kittens, and
their interaction has been fascinating.
I thought they would "break up" as a family at a certain point. We have
4 other cats and I thought they would all intersperse.
The kittens still LOVE their mother and curl up against her at most
opportunities. I will usually see Maggie (the mom) laying somewhere with
one of the kittens draped across the top of her. Many times, they still
either root around her stomach or at least lay against her stomach. They
still remember the old comfort of nursing.
It surprises me, how close they are. Maggie actually does not seek out
the kittens, although she seems to like it when they snuggle against
her, but the kittens certainly seek her out. It's like they see her and
internally yell "MOM!"
Looks like you will be mom for awhile yet!

I'm sitting here smiling. I don't want my little bunchkin going off on
his own too soon. I am, however, hoping that his impending neutering
will cut down on his dominating the big adult cats. He's seriously
aggravating his big sister.

One of our other cats is an 8 year old formerly almost-feral cat, we
found her as a 6 month old kitten. After months, she finally took to me
and decided I was her mom. She plastered herself against me when she was
scared. She now is a very skittish cat, only comes out at night, hides
during the day, but she still thinks I am her mom. I don't think she'll
ever lose that and I don't discourage it.

:-) It's lovely, getting the perks of Momdom, isn't it?

Priscilla

My vet told me about a kitten who was brought in to his office during a bad
rain storm. He said it's eyes were not even open yet. A little boy found
him between two cars in the parking lot. The vet tech fed him with formula
daily and took him home at night. Finally, the vet took the cat home as a
pet. The vet said that cat learned to meow because it was so young when it
was separated from its mother. He lived to be 24 years old!! The boy who
found him is now 40 years old!!

My vet told me about a kitten who was brought in to his office during a bad
rain storm. He said it's eyes were not even open yet. A little boy found
him between two cars in the parking lot. The vet tech fed him with formula
daily and took him home at night. Finally, the vet took the cat home as a
pet. The vet said that cat learned to meow because it was so young when it
was separated from its mother. He lived to be 24 years old!! The boy who
found him is now 40 years old!!

Oh, now that is a neat story!
Orphan kittens are hardier than they look. I've raised several by hand, four
that even still had their umbilical cords. Not more than a few days old. I
didn't really know what I was doing at the time, just learned as I went asking
other people. So they *had* to be pretty tough little customers to survive.
Sherry

Chris H wrote:

My vet told me about a kitten who was brought in to his office during a bad
rain storm. He said it's eyes were not even open yet. A little boy found
him between two cars in the parking lot. The vet tech fed him with formula
daily and took him home at night. Finally, the vet took the cat home as a
pet. The vet said that cat learned to meow because it was so young when it
was separated from its mother. He lived to be 24 years old!! The boy who
found him is now 40 years old!!

I presume you mean he *never* learned to meow? Did he trill? My first
two (of this bunch) only trilled or sang until they were 6 months old,
when they finally started to meow. They're generally pretty quiet cats.
Francis, the 5-month old, has meowed from the time I carried him home
(although he had trouble producing any sound audible to the human ear
for a few weeks). He also trills.

Priscilla