Female domestic cats respond particularly quickly to urgent kitten calls

Female cats responded about 10 per cent faster to kitten calls that conveyed high arousal – greater urgency – than to kitten calls that conveyed low arousal

A study found that female domestic cats responded about 10% faster to kitten calls which conveyed to them a high level of urgency compared to kitten calls which were assessed as non-urgent. Females evaluate kitten’s emotional state The conclusion of the researchers was that female cats are able to evaluate the emotional state of …

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White domestic cats often make bad mothers

Deaf white cats

The title sounds unfair and biased but it isn’t as it is based in biological fact. The prevalence of deafness in pure white domestic cats varies depending on whether they have two blue eyes (the highest proportion of deaf cats), odd-eye colour or non-blue eyes (least likely to be deaf in both ears). Where …

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Friendliness in cats is inherited

When dad saw his kitten for the first time

There are two important issues concerning domestic cat character: friendliness and socialisation. They do overlap but they are distinct. Whereas socialisation ‘acclimatises’ the kitten to the presence of humans and dampens down a cat’s fear of humans, friendliness can be inherited, and it is a personality trait which makes the kitten/adult bolder and more …

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Why is my adult male cat aggressively licking my new male kitten?

Male cat involved in committed parenting which is unusual

This is a question posed by a social media user accompanying a video of a beautiful ginger tabby cat enthusiastically licking a young kitten who is also a ginger tabby cat. The questioner does not explain if the kitten is the offspring of the male cat. It looks certain that they are. The interesting …

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Do mother cats eat their kittens’ poop?

Single newborn kitten cuddling up to mother

Mother cats might eat their kittens’ poop for the first three weeks of their kittens’ lives during anogenital stimulation which is a form of tactile stimulation by the mother to encourage her kittens to urinate and defecate. When she does this she might eat their poop. In other words she might cleanup. It’s important, …

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Father’s influence on his kitten’s personality

Father and offspring

A kitten’s personality is dictated by inherited behaviours and environmental experiences; the nature and nurture argument, which has been around for donkey’s years. It is universally accepted that the important socialisation period of cats to people appears to occur between two and eight weeks, whereas it is less effective if delayed until after seven …

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