What cat had the most kittens?
Mom and kittens. Image by Jonas Jovaisis from Pixabay
The question is a search term on Google i.e. not my wording, and is two questions rolled into one which I have reformulated:
- Which domestic cat has given birth to the largest litter of kittens?
- Which domestic cat was the most prolific in terms of giving birth to kittens?
Both are listed in Guinness World Records.
Largest Litter
Number of kittens: 19 (4 stillborn)
Date: 1970
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Cat: Burmese/Siamese domestic
Owner: V. Gane
Location: Kingham, Oxfordshire, UK
Most Prolific
Number of kittens: 420
DOB: 1935
Last birth: 12 June 1952 (aged 17)
Cat: Tabby, random bred named Dusty
Owner: ?
Location: Bonham, Texas, USA
Some Extra Info
I don’t have pictures because Guinness don’t have them. The image on this page is a stock photo. Usually females give birth to anywhere between one and ten kittens while the average is four to five. Wild Cats of the World says the largest litter recorded is 13 but this seems to be incorrect. Kitten birth weight is about 3 percent of their mother’s weight at 90-110 grams. Individual weight declines as litter size increases. Kittens are born with eyes closed. Within one hour of birth each kitten finds a nipple to nurse on. By the second or third day each kitten has established nipple ownership suckling exclusively from that nipple. Within a few days each kitten has developed the well known kneading behavior to stimulate milk flow. Adult domestic cats retain it and deliver it to their owners when on anything warm and soft like your lap. It varies considerably from cat to cat. Kittens spend up to 8 hours suckling in the first days of their lives. Their mother does not usually leave the nest for the first 48 hours. For the first 3 weeks the mother initiates suckling by purring and laying down in their charasteristic nursing position. Later, at the beginning of weaning the kittens initiate suckling when they go to their mother on her return to the maternal nest.
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