A Michael Broad Blog
The mother cat’s owner, Lauren, says on TikTok: “She brings her kittens to Toby when she needs a little break”. A colleague of mine is not quite so sure and thinks that the mother might be taking her kittens to the dog to show them to him. My guess is that this is an …
In this article on kitten development, I refer to the development of the domestic cat after birth. About 70% of kittens are born nose and feet first (the so called “diving position”). They are covered in a transparent membrane (foetal membrane). The mother licks this off and eats it. The mother then severs the …
In this TikTok video the cat owner thinks that her cat behaves weirdly. The video shows 5 different types of ‘weird’ feline behaviour. I thought I would try and explain them so that they are no longer weird but normal in the context of a domestic cat’s mentality. The voiceover is male but this …
People ask why mother cats kill their kittens. Here are five possible reasons. The first general point to make is that inexperienced mothers are more likely to kill her kittens. And stress plays a major role. There may also be genetic problems leading to behavioral and hormonal issues. The first possible reason why a …
How long are cats pregnant? The answer depends on the type of cat. Here is a graph showing the domestic cat and some wild cats, medium and large and the differences in length of pregnancy: And here is the same information presented in the form of a table: Cat Ave. Length of Pregnancy (days) …
There is an official world record for the largest number of kittens in a single litter. The source of the information is, of course, the Guinness World Records website. They state very succinctly that the world’s largest litter of domestic cats were born on 7 August 1970 when a Burmese/Siamese cat belonging to V. …
Female cats can have the courage and motivation to protect their human and canine companions. It’s entirely instinctive. They are protecting their offspring. They appear to merge their feelings for their offspring and their feelings for their human and canine companions in what I call interspecies relationships. And when a female cat is defending …
A kitten’s mother typically starts to wean him/her in the fourth or fifth week of their life. It may be earlier if: the litter is large or; the mother is stressed or; the mother is unwell. The mother (‘queen’ in cat fancy parlance) drives the process of weaning her kittens. Dr Bradshaw says that …
