Does Anyone Know

[lizbud]

Does anyone know whether a Mother cat would recognize her own babies
after years of separation? Would a baby recognize his/her own momma cat?

Has anybody read any studies or articles on this?

[moosmom]

Speaking from personal experience, there is no such thing as a family reunion in the feline world.

I took Mollie Rose to Vermont where she was born and tried to re-introduce her to her mama. My arm became shredded wheat.

They see their siblings as just another cat, and a rival.

[sasvermont]

My experience is that every grown cat is competition. I think if the cats remain with each other, they may become best of friends, but not if they are reunited..... I could be wrong. I remember my breeder (of Abys) said that the mother cats were happy to see the kittens leave the house after having them around for weeks. I am sure there are exceptions, but in the real world, other cats are competition for each one's food.

[jennielynn1970]

Same as what Donna and Sally said. We had mommas and kitties on the farm when I was growing up. Even when they grew up around them, the daughter and son kitties still treated the momma kitties as just "other" cats.

I had one cat when I was in my 20s, and my mom and dad's neighbor had the brother. They used to play together all the time as kittens. Once they hit about 9months to a year, forget it. They acted like they never even grew up together.

I had Taz and Finae for 5 years. They were brother and sister. Taz was with my mom and dad for the first year of his life, then when my Lucey developed a severe allergy and sinus infection to Bethlehem (she sneezed blood.. it was sooo bad, meds or no meds), so we swapped cats. Taz and Finae loved eachother, but they still behaved like cats that were just housemates. Not siblings.

[lizbud]

Thanks for the insight. The momma cat of my 2 indoor kitties lives
so close to her own babies and it's often made me wonder.

[catmandu]

I KNOW THAT IN THE WILD A MOMMA CAT RAISES HER KITTENS , AND THEN LEAVES THEM TO FEND FOR THEMSELVES.
ALTHOUGH WHEN I HAD POUNCER ROCCALNO IN THE BASEMENT SHE DUG HER WAY OUT JUST TO BE WITH POUNCER KARINA, HER KITTEN WHO WAS VERY YOUNG, SO THERE MUST HAVE BEEN A MATERNAL INSTINCT THERE.
BUT OTHERWISE AFTER THE KITTENS GROW, THEN THE KITTEN GLOVES ARE OFF!!!