A Michael Broad Blog
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 …
There are two hormonal issues which help to ensure that the bond between mother cat and her kittens is strong and that the kittens are trusting during their first few weeks after birth. Mother Firstly, the nursing mother receives a wave of the hormone oxytocin which is produced in the hypothalamus and is secreted …
In the natal den, soon after birth, kittens recognise their mother immediately via three senses: warmth, feel and smell. However, they probably have little idea what their mother is meant to smell like. The smell of their mother is not in their DNA. This has been proved when kittens suckled an artificial ‘mother’ which …
MALAYSIA-NEWS AND COMMENT: It is not uncommon for an individual cat to seek shelter and warmth in the engine compartment (‘bay’) of a vehicle especially during cold weather and at night. But this is the first time that I have bumped into a story about a mother cat making the engine bay of a …
I argue that cats recognise their mothers based on the evidence including how their recognise their human guardian.
This is a cool photograph because when you first see it you are unsure if you are looking at an adult domestic cat killing or eating a newborn kitten (!) or a mother cat grabbing her newborn by the scruff of the neck to carry her to the den. The thing is that mothers …
After considerable thought, I’ve decided that domestic cats can worry about their owners especially if the relationship is one of a mother cat who perceives the ‘owner’ as one of her kittens which is very plausible under the right circumstances. This can happen if a child is raised with a domestic cat from a …
BAGCILAR, ISTANBUL, TURKEY: This is a video taken from a television screen of a community cat in Istanbul, Turkey, outside a café where a man with his small dog is walking. The female cat has kittens to protect so she instinctively attacks the man who lifts up his dog by the lead to protect …
