At heart this is about the domestic cat’s lifestyle when nursing females can be thrown together in a colony situation to which they adapt. The domestic cat is adaptable as they must be despite being essentially solitary. And under these circumstances it makes sense to sometimes share mothering. Also feline, nursing mothers are not picky about counting the number of kittens they have 💖 and neither do they care much about feeding another mother’s kittens as their mothering instincts take over. 👍
In domestic settings, humans sometimes combine litters for convenience or necessity, such as if one mother cat is unable to care for her kittens. The nursing mother may accept the new kittens due to the reasons stated in the infographic below.
Why do nursing female cats sometimes accept and feed another female’s kittens? INFOGRAPHIC. by Michael BroadMore: cat mothering
