This is a photograph from the Reddit.com website and the person who posted it asked: “Why do these babies look nothing like their mother?” There are two reasons. The first is superfecundation which means that when you see a litter of kittens as you do in the photograph, they might have more than one …
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 …
Male cats do not go into heat. Male domestic cats reach sexual maturity and begin to produce sperm from 6 to 18 months of age with the average at about nine months. Two months later sperm is present in the collecting tubules at which point the male has reached sexual maturity and can now …
No, properly spayed cats do not go into heat and do not have the urge to mate. The surgery is called ovariohysterectomy. The surgery removes the uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries. The spaying operation prevents the queen from coming into oestrous (estrus). Because it prevents the queen coming into oestrous it prevents the oestrous …
