1. Cats love their babies just as we love ours and feel bereft when they are parted from them and I find that very sad although I know it’s the way of life that animals differ from humans.

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   • Nice point, Rose. Sometimes when cats are bred for the commercial market, kittens are removed before it would have normally happened (forced, early weaning). We don’t see the distress this causes to the mother but we do see the effect later when the kitten grows up and suckles on pieces of cloth or someone’s ear etc.. Some cat owners are bemused and entertained by it but what is this cat feeling for the rest of his life? It is has to be anxiety. People are not sufficiently in tune with the emotions a cat feels.

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     • Exactly Michael – I totally agree and having seen Red stay with his mum for many months I was able to see how long he naturally went to her to be cleaned and for milk. Quite a long time. I would say 3 to 4 months. I disagree with taking them before 3 months and people who say 6 or 8 weeks is enough are totally wrong. They should say it’s enough for them, not for the kittens or mama.

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       • My thoughts exactly. Sometimes we are forced to rescue at an earlier age, but your point is so true. Eleven weeks, at the earliest, ideally. Provided the kitten is not stressed due to the human’s lack of sensitivity, nor by having been born feral. It is important to note, that these rescued kittens are loved by their adoptive mothers and motherly fathers as closely to the feline mother’s nurture as humanly possible. (Sometimes I feel so much more like a domestic feline than a female of our own species. This doesn’t bother me a bit.)

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2. I love this video and could watch it a thousand times 🙂

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   • It makes me feel better and for that reason alone it is worth seeing again.

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3. Spending time with kittens and their mums is one of my favourite things to do in the whole world. It’s addictive. I just want to stay with them all the time. It should be something we rarely see but sadly it’s not.

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   • It is addictive and beautiful. The talk seems to be reassurances from mother to kittens and on one occasion more or less saying, “stop it!” (when kitten puts her paw up to mother’s face). There is a tender loving bond, which feels good in a human world that can be emotionally a bit cold. It also makes me smile and laugh a little bit.

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     • The first year I was around kittens I fell in love with every single one of them and visited them everyday at least twice and played with them for hours. When it came time for them to go off to new homes it was one of the hardest things for me. To this day I regret not keeping Red’s best kitten friend. I try hard not to get emotionally attached to the kittens now but it’s not easy. Kittens are so much fun. They are so curious and love to play and just hanging out with them is exciting – they are so active and then they all crash in a big sleepy pile and then up again for more adventures. Kittens are just so amazing. They are very capable at a very early age – they make humans look like a waste of space, they dig holes and use the litter box instinctively from such a young age. They start to clean themselves and before you know it they are behaving and surviving like proper cats. They are also very affectionate naturally. When you see kittens being born and growing up you start to understand how built in the domestic human/cat relationship is built in to their DNA or something.

       After spending alot of time with little kittens I have come to the conclusion that the ideal is for 2 siblings or just 2 born at the same time and who grew up together sharing mothers milk (like Gigi and Molly)should be adopted into new homes together. It’s always heartbreaking to see a single kitten being carted off in a strange car with strange people – I actually burst into tears once when the smallest of Red’s litter got taken away. Oh how I wished they could have taken another cat so she wouldn’t have to be alone in the new experience and home. I know that they all adapt just fine but when you get to know the kittens and their characters and they start to trust you it’s hard to let go it really is. Kittens are so much fun and incredible learning machines and cats have an enormous innate desire to play play play all the time and thats just so wonderful. When a tiny little kitten begins to trust your huge self its an amazing feeling. They are so small and fragile looking that it’s really something when they know you and come towards you and meow at you wanting to play or cuddle. I could spend hours, days, weeks – with kittens and not to forget the beautiful mama cats who do a wonderful job. It’s very tiring for them and they absolutely appreciate and express thanks for any help you give them. The 2 mama cats I know really seem genuinely glad for the food I bring them (so they don’t have to go downstairs and get it) and for playing with the little ones so they can get a bit of a rest being left alone. Once 2 of Red’s brothers got lost in the garden next door and it was strange they weren’t there but I thought they must be somewhere but then his mama came and led me to where she last saw them and meowed at me asking for my help – and I called out to them and sure enough their little squeeks came back from the far side of the yard. They were scared to cross back because of a barking dog. They might have gotten lost forever. Mama went and brought them back passing by the barking dog. It really felt like teamwork with me and the 2 mama’s in general when it came to looking after and dealing with both their litters of kittens. That first year I really felt useful for the first time in my life in a way like never before. I really bonded with the cats and kittens and Red stayed with me from that year.

       It is exactly one year to the day that I brought Gigi and Molly home to Red and Lilly. They got just 2 short weeks with their big brother before he left us. They were both wonderful kittens – I have videos of them. They felt safe coming to a new place because they were together and they trusted me. Actually when we first got home after a little while I had a snooze and woke up with both of the sitting on me – they were still nervous about the 2 big cats living there and I thought it was great that they came to me for security and not some tiny hole behind the couch. Kittens are good for the mind and spirit- anybody who is feeling like they are missing something in their life should go to the local shelter and spend a few hours sitting with and playing, socializing the kittens in preparation for their future homes. Many people don’t play with kittens and just let them play together but if they must go alone to new homes it helps them to play with them so they have fun with humans and not just their littermates. It prepares them for life with humans a bit.

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     • Marc, Michael, when she puts that mothering paw on that kitten, as if to say, “I will not tolerate this behavior from you, little One!” it just reminds me of our own roles in nurturing our child or children. I really enjoyed this video. There is another that he/she does (from Japan?) which is very likeable: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=xjYfPycVDf4

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       • I think you are right about what the mother is saying. There is a natural similarity between cat and human and cat parenting. It is parenting and that has to be similar.

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