The look on mamma cat’s face….

Priceless look on the face of the mamma cat while nursing her, oh so cute, newborns…

Here’s a bit of information about the mother-kitten bond which begins shortly after birth. The mother recognizes her kittens by their distinctive scent. She establishes a relationship while licking, nursing and cleaning her kittens. Veterinarians say that the bond between mother and newborn may be less strong when kittens are born by cesarean section.

A novice mother may have difficulty coping during the first few hours. She can be shown how to nurse her kittens and to stop her stepping on them. If a mother cat is very dependent upon her human caretaker and very people-orientated she may neglect or even abandon her kittens in order to be with her owner.

Associated: Newborn not opening eyes after 14 days.

It’s important not to allow people to interfere with the nursing process during the first few weeks because too much handling of her kittens might have a negative impact upon the mother’s normal maternal behavior.

At about four days of age a mother often attempts to relocate her nest which probably stems from a natural instinct in the interests of safety when in the wild when it is necessary to move from a soiled nest to a place which is less likely to attract predators.

My thanks to the Fluff Society on Twitter for the photo (I added the words) – a nice collection of photos and videos with well chosen captions.