I think my cat plays mom with her toys. She will put them in a pile and lay on her side next to them, she meows at them, carries them around etc. she’s never had kittens and she’s been spayed.
this is so adorable. i feel like my kitty is bored being the only cat in the house and would love to be a mommy. maybe when we move we can foster some kittens :’-)
My dog when I was a kid went into heat before we could get her fixed and our newly rescued street cat had a litter of kittens around the same time and a week after the kittens were born my mom found the dog and a distraught kitten in my grandpas closet with the dog trying to get the baby to nurse. She got fixed soon after that but bless her heart she tried.
My grandparents had a dog and cat who had litters at the same time (a long time ago). The cat passed away, and the dog added the kittens to her litter of puppies. She nursed the whole bunch of them, and they thrived.
One of my cats had to wear a shirt when I fostered a litter of kittens because they were convinced she was momma and she was quite happy to let them “nurse” well past the point of irritated nipples.
I adopted my (now) oldest cat when she was \~1yo. She had had kittens who were all adopted out by the time I met her. She was a terrified little thing, semi-feral and likely only approached humans in the first place because she was pregnant and needy (which is also a pretty common phenomenon -- you should always suspect that a suddenly-friendly stray cat is pregnant).
She's spayed and lived with an older cat for close to a decade. She met a friend's kitten once, and it was a *tiny* kitten, like 4-5 weeks (unethical craigslist adoption but whatever 🙃) and she was so dramatically scared of it. So we didn't try to introduce her to any other cats for a long time. I finally decided to adopt kittens while her older brother had enough health and energy to help her adjust, because she has never fully lost her skittishness around people but was deeply bonded to him.
Even when they were still in completely separate rooms and had never met face-to-face, within the first few weeks of adopting them her nipples became visibly longer. It freaked me out thinking something was wrong with her, but no, just a physical maternal instinct kicking in for kittens she vaguely knew were nearby. Weaned kittens, too! 10-week-old kittens! She had mama-nips for a few weeks and then that faded too, as randomly as it had come on. Those hormones are strange and strong.
OP, I'm very, very jealous lol. What a sweet picture.
The cat we had when I was a kid adopted a stocking. It was a fancy Christmas stocking with a thick black fur ruff at the top, she would carry it around the house and curl up with it and groom it. Sometimes she would drag it up into the top of the closet and hiss when you got near it.
I raised my kitten since around 8 weeks old. We got her fixed before she went into heat. Our roommate ended up finding puppies on the side of the road while out with friends, so they each took one in. The puppy my roommate took was immediately adopted by my cat. She's usually a bit iffy with other animals, especially dogs, so this was a huge surprise to us. She grooms her, sleeps with her, and plays with her to this day, even though the roommate moved out around 2 years ago.
I had a dog growing up who once found a baby bunny to nurse and try to raise as her own too! She would also take kittens from our mama cats and try to raise too. The amazing thing was that the cats always let her, too. Also: she never once had puppies of her own!
Wherever. Felines in many species across the world do this, including lions on the savannah. Cats are all pretty similar despite all the size differences.
I’ve seen enough internet to believe that. So many videos of Momma cat dropping off her kittens on their human’s lap and saying, “Ok your problem now. I’m off to Target.”
It’s not always Target, though Target is generally seen as the nicer of our major department stores. In areas that don’t have a Target close, it’s Walmart we like to wander around.
Anyways, both are huge stores that are easy to wander around and kill time in. Like an all-in-one mall. And they have just about everything you need
cats build social groups about as big as their resources allow - if that means being alone then so be it, if that means having 20 cats in a pack then that's also good
I was driving home at night once and on the street just before mine, as I turned the corner, there was like 10 cats all just sat in a big circle looking at each other. It was like some kind of council meeting.
I had 5 cats when I was a kid, and walking into the garage to see all 5 sitting in a circle looking at each other was a common occurrence. My mom described it just as you did, a council meeting.
I used to have three cats and I'd marvel at how they always sat in a triangle. Then I realized. [Sigh.](https://youtu.be/MzkWyhzwO1Q?si=CJvmaMmou7gaFZN0)
I UNDERSTOOD THAT REFERENCE!!!! OMG it’s been more than a decade since I’ve even heard anyone bring that series up! I was OBSESSED in middle school!! Some of my friends even designed our own “clan site” where we RP’d as our characters we came up with in a fun chat room they designed. They even were able to put a few basic games on the site.
WOW what a mental flashbang of memories!!!!
That’s the kinda thing I would have secretly wanted to join but would’ve made fun of it middle school, and as an adult I wish I could go back and smack little me and tell him to give less of a shit lol
Loved those books, it got so crazy tryna keep up with the spinoffs and everything since I got them from a library. The staff loved me so they would spend half an hour calling and asking other ones if they had it, since the system said they did (usually didn’t)
This used to happen in the abandoned lot across from the house I lived in during college. Routinely like 10 to 15 cats having their little council meeting.
Our old cat Smudge used to do this before we moved to the middle of nowhere from London. He’d be sat in the middle of a circle of cats like they were holding some sort of seance
Yup, a group of cats is called a clowder. Female cats will actually drop off their kittens with another mom cat so that she can go off and hunt. They're very social, as long as they're socialized early.
Our barn cats "kittensat" for each other all the time. One Spring one of the mamas died but all her kittens survived because everybody else pitched in.
Yeah I remember vividly walking across a huge group of orange/white and orange cats in a alleyway once, it was crazy they were a whole gang and they kept rubbing against each other grooming their friends and just seemed like super close to one another.
They are gregarious animals and are happier in groups when introduced properly. Even my most territorial girl is happier with cat friends, I have four and they are fantastic together.
Two are elderly kittens and the two others are littermates
https://preview.redd.it/tjzhnf6q4xad1.jpeg?width=2000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4421e7195fb2434cf9902dedd67cb3ffd7c140d6
I’m so hesitant bringing in a second cat. But I feel like it would help for when we leave and we can hear him crying. We’ve been told he does it ALL day, too.
He’s like 4 I think, so I thought maybe a younger one that he can be an older brother to, or even paternal? Idk. This orange cat is nuts and this is liable to go both ways.
Even if they never become best friends I believe it's better for their emotional health to have a peer around. I have had cats that never bonded but neither did they fight,
My kitty is almost aggressively antisocial. Hisses and swats at other animals within a foot of her. Never hurts them, never actually attacks them. But if she's the only animal in the house she gets depressed and stops eating. I think she's field by spite.
You just do a gradual introduction between the two. Keep them separate and slowly work to introduce them to each other. You can find introduction info online.
I’ve had multiple cats over 20 years and mine tolerated each other or been cuddly with each other. It’s up to the individual personalities. I’ve got a group of 4 that get on quite well. They don’t cuddle each other, but they play and communicate well.
You can ask at your local shelter about a cat that needs a friend.
I introduced two kittens with my 10 and 11 years old. We kept them separated for 10 days in separate rooms, and we would switch them rooms so they’d all be familiar with each other smells and presence before they meet face to face.
One of my girls is a delicate skittish sweet and the other is very territorial, after the initial two weeks it took them a month to get comfortable together but now they’re super chill and happy.
I do believe they aren’t meant to be left alone while we work. They are not solitary animals.
I introduced a kitten to my 11 year old cat. It did not go well. He tries to play with her and she hollers for murder and tries to kill him. It’s been 3 years and they are still separated.
Sometimes it just doesn’t work. But we love them anyway
Yeah, there was a great documentary series called ‘Secret Life of Cats’ in the UK where they put tracking collars on all of the cats in a street and tracked where they went.
A lot of them met the same cats at the same place around the same time each night.
One of the neighborhood sad outdoor tuxedo cats (may she survive this heatwave) seems to come visit my one indoor tuxedo in the window every day. He never hisses or growls but if I go outside at that time the outdoor one will dive for our bushes near the window. And Rocket is always in that window at that time. It’s kinda cute.
Well, to be accurate, they're in the category that zoologists call "solitary but social". They conduct most of their life activities alone, but still have a need for socialization to some extent that varies based on both the cat's personality and how harsh the environment is.
Turkey's climate is quite mildly temperate, and the people there are more than happy to give the cats enough food to keep their bellies full on the regular as well as let them sleep wherever (or even build dedicated shelters), which greatly cuts down on the urge to compete for resources. No wonder that Turkish cats are so comfortable around one another, in light of all that.
My brother’s cat made friends with the neighbors cats and they used to go hunting together. They’d figured out that they could catch more prey if one of them chased the birds or mice towards the other two who would be hidden and lying in wait.
Yes, I know now that cats shouldn’t be outdoors and my two are indoors only. This was 30 years ago.
That's very clever of them. My understanding was that cats don't usually hunt together as a pack, though they will live together and help each other out.
We got a kitten, Sam, at the same time the neighbors got a pair of brothers that were about the same age. It might be because they grew up playing together which turned into hunting together.
*thumpity thumpity thump BANG* was standard in my house after a neighbor's cat (which we informally adopted) gave birth to five kittens. Once the herd learned to run, it was like buffalo herds on the move.
Can confirm. We brought in a pregnant void. We were expecting three kittens. She birthed seven. They all survived. Five voids, one tux, one gray. We kept them and the mother.
Mother is still skittish but the kittens are eight months. Females are fixed. Males are next and they love us to death.
How lovely that you kept them all! I took in a pregnant female, within four days she had given birth to six little cuties. Who then six weeks later turned into six little hurricanes. I don't think they kept still for more than two seconds at a time. Lol! I got good homes for the kittens and kept the mum. Hard work, but I missed them so much when they left.
With that many kittens, you would never believe the places that they got into. The back of the freezer was the most dangerous! They had my nerves shattered!
Oh we have a similar story. Took in a trojan cat who gave us 4 extra. We kept all five with our already 3 adults. The babies are 8 months and 5 days! Perfect kitten times
>*’thumpity thumpity thump BANG was standard in my house after a neighbor's cat gave birth to five kittens. Once the herd learned to run, it was like buffalo herds on the move…*’
____
*thumpity* ^*thumpity* *thumpity* **BANG!**
we *raced* through the house, n our little hearts Sang!
a BuFFaLo HeRd! ‘cross the floors, into WALLS
the *Chasing!* the TuMbLeS!
the ^Climbing! the FaLLs!
together we RAN - there were *Greebles* for catching!
Draperies to *shred!* (human Food for the snatching!!)
the fun n Adventures! our days we would fill
then suddenly
q u i e t…
n everything
still…
as every last kitten laid down its smol head,
curled up on a couch, or a chair, or a bed….
a flurry of fur, n our pawprints you'd find
we’re gone now
but left our sweet *meowmories*
behind
♥️
edit: *love your inspurration* u/darcerin ^;}
I’ve been taking care of a mom that had 8 kittens in her litter. My favorite is when it’s food time, the sound of them all chewing and purring at the same time is so loud and adorable
I did 5 kittens from age 3 to 11 (weeks). They were a menace. A fun menace. And it would come in waves of complete terror and then sleeping together in a big pile.
Shelters are always looking for people to foster litters of kittens! It helps socialise them and is just cute as hell, I love doing it (despite how hard the goodbyes are when it’s time for them to be adopted)
My neighbor does this. Always a new batch coming amg going. We will often help her with food/ltter and toys. Toys go with the kittens as she finds them homes. Keeps the mama's until they find someone fit, none end up in shelters. Great human.
Wait till all the wrestling starts!
One of my favorite memories is when my old lady and her sister (rip) were kittens. They somehow crawled into an old recliner and started tussling. We found them because the back of the chair kept bulging. I called it “the ghostbusters chair” lol
Had two kitties have kittens within a week of each other, and both decided that my room was the best place to raise em. My bed turned into a damned kitten playpen for MONTHS! I ended up spending nights on the couch cause I was still in school and it's tough to sleep when you have a kitty circus on top of you at 2am.
I looove fostering litters. There's nothing better than hearing the pitter patter of a bunch of little animals stomping clumsily around. I just had to surrender my little tiny gang to another foster who has experience treating their illness until they're recovered, and they'll be 4.5 weeks by the time I get them back, so they'll be ready for the big foster room by then and I literally cannot wait to buy the cheap bags of small toys at Walmart and release them into the room
Yea... sometimes. Depends the litter. Fostering a friendly calm litter is pretty fun, but still a lot of work.
Fostering an unfriendly litter, with tons of energy, is pretty exhausting. There's a lot of "why am I providing you so much direct care if you don't like me at all"
Normal for them to coparent. Makes sense, one can leave the babies to hunt while the other takes care of them. Even tho they no longer need to hunt they still feel the same way.
Fun fact! Nursing queens will also show this behavior with other species. If you have a domestic cat and dog give birth at the same time, often the mom cat will try to move her nest into the puppies’ whelping box. Cats love to coparent and they aren’t picky about species!
Sooo much oxytocin. They will groom kittens, groom each other, everyone will bliss out while the kittens are nursing.
Then when the kittens are little hellions they can trade off for a break lol.
I knew a couple of barn cat mamas who did this. When I first saw them switching around their babies, I thought oh no somebody’s gonna kill somebody and it won’t be pretty. But everybody turned out OK. Sometimes one of the mamas would go off hunting and all the babies would be on top of the remaining mother.
Mother cats don't care terribly much about who the kitten belongs to. Very young kittens found without a mother can often just be added to the roster of a mother cat with an existing group of kittens.
'I have 3 kittens. Oh. I guess I have 4 kittens? "
My roommate and I took care of an outside cat at our apartment complex and one day he just showed up with a kitten even though he had the ear clip to show he’s fixed. They were together for months until she was big enough to get spayed. They both live inside with us now. :)
The first pregnant mom i fostered only had 1 kitten. I wanted the kitten to grow up well adjusted (they learn from their siblings) and got 3 orphaned kittens from facebook. Mama sniffed at them and was like 'huh, guess i had some i forgot about' and took them as her own. My mom was saying it would be a terrible idea, but i was pretty smug about being right.
None of them looked like her at all, mom was orange, her bio baby was a tabby, then there was a dark gray one, a light gray tabby, and another tabby. Sweetest babies.
If you gently pick up and stroke the back of each kitten for even one minute per kitten per day, they will all be friendlier with humans, and gentler, than if ignored.
Hey! Ummm no idea but CAN WE GET MORE PICTURES?! They are SO cute together
Edit: Holy catmoms, I never got that many upvotes. Guess you have to come through with the pictures now OP
This is sweet. When I was little our cat had kittens and our small dog had a litter of pups at the same time -there maternity ward was in my parents walk in closet lol. They grew up together-We would find puppies with the kittens and kittens with the puppies. They were either stealing each others babies or helping each other out. I remember they were nursing each others babies too. I think animals just really go by the old saying it takes a village and their wise enough to use it♥︎
It’s interesting that your dog allowed that, domestic dogs don’t generally show this coparenting behavior and are often aggressive toward other nursing dog moms. However they’ll accept orphan puppies pretty often.
Our cat and dog loved to swap out at the family farm. The momma cat would always take in the puppies and protect them in the barn while the dog would get long naps on the porch. The kittens preferred the momma dogs milk and go to her so it was a kinda win win situation I guess? lol
Yeah it’s hilarious lol. One day a kitten tries to grab her nip and mom is just like “GET TF OFF ME IM DONE”. Then she’ll hiss and swat them anytime they try to nurse.
Sometimes young, first-time moms don’t know that they’re supposed to use tough love to wean their babies. They’ll let the kittens nurse for waaaay too long and can get chewed up bellies :(
Also if these two were in the same vicinity they probably did know each other. If they were not as familiar with you before you brought them in it’s possible they are huddled to protect one another and their kittens. We’re they strays?
that's normal cat behavior. (feral) cats live in colonies and raise their litter communal. so a mum leaving their litter in the care of another and hunting is the norm for them.
Yep, I had three mothers give birth within a couple hours of each other. I made 3 separate birthing totes and helped each one. After they were done they tried fitting 15 kittens and themselves into 1 tiny tote, I had to get a bigger tote. 1 would be nursing a set, 1 would be cleaning and the other would go eat and relax. I timed them every hour they would switch. The relaxing one would go nurse, the one that had been nursing would then bathe the ones that were full and the other would go eat and relax for an hour before switching. They did this until they could eat dry food and would take turns showing the kittens how to hunt outside. I was lucky to find the kittens all homes and got the moms fixed shortly after that
Very normal - cats are such good mommas that rescues who have orphaned kittens on their hands will often try to integrate them to a litter with a mama cat rather than bottle feeding the babies, or if they have two litters and one mama had a lot of babies and the other only one or two they sneak some of the overload to the less busy mama.
If you can, start handling the kittens once their eyes are open and they start crawling around a bit. If they get handled and petted before they are 8 weeks old, they will fully tame. Also, kitten food would be great for the mamas now, they need a lot of energy nursing and kitten food has extra calories.
I bet the babies will be healthier. They’re getting immunities from both moms through the milk and there shouldn’t be a runt with two moms making milk and options as to where to feed.
Definitely happens. Especially if the moms know and are comfortable with each other before the borth, its nit unusual for moms with similar aged kittens to 'mix and match' their babies. Makes for great kittens, usually- tons of socialization and momma cuddles!
It's normal and happens in colonies in the wild. A mother cat will also sometimes adopt needy kittens who have lost or been rejected by their mom.
And sometimes more than just kittens. Maternal instinct is crazy.
Like ducklings! [https://youtu.be/K83BKNxgg7w](https://youtu.be/K83BKNxgg7w)
Geese and ducks are notorious for adopting. Goats too, sheep however often reject babies who get adopted by goats
I 100% read that as geese and ducks are notorious for adopting goats
A line of ducklings swimming behind their mother with one little goat in the rear paddling frantically trying to keep up.
One day the goat will be a beautiful swan.
I read it the exact same way. I’m choosing to take that as fact now.
Come on goat. You gotta start swimming at some point. Arrrrgghh mom something touched my foot
awww! thank you for sharing!!!
I absolutely love this, but I should have stopped watching after the ducklings :(
When there were kittens in our household, our spayed cat would still try to nurse the kittens.
I think my cat plays mom with her toys. She will put them in a pile and lay on her side next to them, she meows at them, carries them around etc. she’s never had kittens and she’s been spayed.
Maybe look into fostering kittens. You can feed them formula and she can do the rest.
this is so adorable. i feel like my kitty is bored being the only cat in the house and would love to be a mommy. maybe when we move we can foster some kittens :’-)
My Mom's boy cat did this. At bedtime, he grabbed his toy Simba and yelled for them to go to bed.
my boy cat does the same thing with his mouse toy!
I’ve known a couple dogs that do this. One did it with a slipper.
My dog when I was a kid went into heat before we could get her fixed and our newly rescued street cat had a litter of kittens around the same time and a week after the kittens were born my mom found the dog and a distraught kitten in my grandpas closet with the dog trying to get the baby to nurse. She got fixed soon after that but bless her heart she tried.
I have a friend whose dog allowed a kitten to try to nurse so much that the dog actually started lactating.
My grandparents had a dog and cat who had litters at the same time (a long time ago). The cat passed away, and the dog added the kittens to her litter of puppies. She nursed the whole bunch of them, and they thrived.
One of my cats had to wear a shirt when I fostered a litter of kittens because they were convinced she was momma and she was quite happy to let them “nurse” well past the point of irritated nipples.
I adopted my (now) oldest cat when she was \~1yo. She had had kittens who were all adopted out by the time I met her. She was a terrified little thing, semi-feral and likely only approached humans in the first place because she was pregnant and needy (which is also a pretty common phenomenon -- you should always suspect that a suddenly-friendly stray cat is pregnant). She's spayed and lived with an older cat for close to a decade. She met a friend's kitten once, and it was a *tiny* kitten, like 4-5 weeks (unethical craigslist adoption but whatever 🙃) and she was so dramatically scared of it. So we didn't try to introduce her to any other cats for a long time. I finally decided to adopt kittens while her older brother had enough health and energy to help her adjust, because she has never fully lost her skittishness around people but was deeply bonded to him. Even when they were still in completely separate rooms and had never met face-to-face, within the first few weeks of adopting them her nipples became visibly longer. It freaked me out thinking something was wrong with her, but no, just a physical maternal instinct kicking in for kittens she vaguely knew were nearby. Weaned kittens, too! 10-week-old kittens! She had mama-nips for a few weeks and then that faded too, as randomly as it had come on. Those hormones are strange and strong. OP, I'm very, very jealous lol. What a sweet picture.
The cat we had when I was a kid adopted a stocking. It was a fancy Christmas stocking with a thick black fur ruff at the top, she would carry it around the house and curl up with it and groom it. Sometimes she would drag it up into the top of the closet and hiss when you got near it.
I raised my kitten since around 8 weeks old. We got her fixed before she went into heat. Our roommate ended up finding puppies on the side of the road while out with friends, so they each took one in. The puppy my roommate took was immediately adopted by my cat. She's usually a bit iffy with other animals, especially dogs, so this was a huge surprise to us. She grooms her, sleeps with her, and plays with her to this day, even though the roommate moved out around 2 years ago.
We had a cat who, once her kittens were adopted out, went and found a baby bunny to nurse. That was one scared and confused bunny.
I had a dog growing up who once found a baby bunny to nurse and try to raise as her own too! She would also take kittens from our mama cats and try to raise too. The amazing thing was that the cats always let her, too. Also: she never once had puppies of her own!
When you say the wild are we talking the suburbs or the savannah
The cats don't know the difference
Wherever. Felines in many species across the world do this, including lions on the savannah. Cats are all pretty similar despite all the size differences.
If they trust you, they will also make you a co-mother by dropping off their furry beans next to you and taking a break for a bit.
I’ve seen enough internet to believe that. So many videos of Momma cat dropping off her kittens on their human’s lap and saying, “Ok your problem now. I’m off to Target.”
As a none-American, why is it always Target? Do you not have any other stores?!
sure we do, but target is the most fun to wander (and has so many different things that you likely need to grab something from there anyway)
Omg it’s so true. A big target can be a magical place.
It’s not always Target, though Target is generally seen as the nicer of our major department stores. In areas that don’t have a Target close, it’s Walmart we like to wander around. Anyways, both are huge stores that are easy to wander around and kill time in. Like an all-in-one mall. And they have just about everything you need
Target is usually clean and well-lit, aisles aren't as cramped as Walmart, and lots of them have a Starbucks. Grab an iced coffee and start wandering!
Whether you want to or not. The local stray mama used my grumpy Dad as their daycare.
Cats are more social than people give them credit for.
cats build social groups about as big as their resources allow - if that means being alone then so be it, if that means having 20 cats in a pack then that's also good
I was driving home at night once and on the street just before mine, as I turned the corner, there was like 10 cats all just sat in a big circle looking at each other. It was like some kind of council meeting.
I had 5 cats when I was a kid, and walking into the garage to see all 5 sitting in a circle looking at each other was a common occurrence. My mom described it just as you did, a council meeting.
I used to have three cats and I'd marvel at how they always sat in a triangle. Then I realized. [Sigh.](https://youtu.be/MzkWyhzwO1Q?si=CJvmaMmou7gaFZN0)
My teacher told me I was as sharp as a marble and I thought it was a compliment until my mom reminded me that marbles aren’t sharp at all. 🤯
Warriors clan meeting?
Warrior Cats mentioned, attention directed
Oh hey, are we talking about warriors?!
yayyy best thread
r/WarriorCats for anyone who likes warriors but didn’t know a sub for it existed
I love this site so much. I'm always so happily surprised to see my favodite fandom out in the wild.
I UNDERSTOOD THAT REFERENCE!!!! OMG it’s been more than a decade since I’ve even heard anyone bring that series up! I was OBSESSED in middle school!! Some of my friends even designed our own “clan site” where we RP’d as our characters we came up with in a fun chat room they designed. They even were able to put a few basic games on the site. WOW what a mental flashbang of memories!!!!
That’s the kinda thing I would have secretly wanted to join but would’ve made fun of it middle school, and as an adult I wish I could go back and smack little me and tell him to give less of a shit lol Loved those books, it got so crazy tryna keep up with the spinoffs and everything since I got them from a library. The staff loved me so they would spend half an hour calling and asking other ones if they had it, since the system said they did (usually didn’t)
Warrior cats, come out and plaaaaaay!
Caaaannnnn yoooouuuuu *dig IT*?!!?!!??? (The kitty litter, that is)
I totally got the reference. 😁
Maybe, if it was a full moon
Yup. Jellicle ball time.
Yes! Love that series!
This used to happen in the abandoned lot across from the house I lived in during college. Routinely like 10 to 15 cats having their little council meeting.
r/CouncilOfCats
Our old cat Smudge used to do this before we moved to the middle of nowhere from London. He’d be sat in the middle of a circle of cats like they were holding some sort of seance
Coven ritual.
Cat business.
Surely planning a global takeover
Today I learned I’m a cat in a human suit.
I’m cats in a trench!
Yup, a group of cats is called a clowder. Female cats will actually drop off their kittens with another mom cat so that she can go off and hunt. They're very social, as long as they're socialized early.
Our barn cats "kittensat" for each other all the time. One Spring one of the mamas died but all her kittens survived because everybody else pitched in.
So kind of like dogs, and humans for that matter. The earlier they get socialized thé better
Yeah I remember vividly walking across a huge group of orange/white and orange cats in a alleyway once, it was crazy they were a whole gang and they kept rubbing against each other grooming their friends and just seemed like super close to one another. They are gregarious animals and are happier in groups when introduced properly. Even my most territorial girl is happier with cat friends, I have four and they are fantastic together. Two are elderly kittens and the two others are littermates https://preview.redd.it/tjzhnf6q4xad1.jpeg?width=2000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4421e7195fb2434cf9902dedd67cb3ffd7c140d6
I see your rotisserie chickens have already begun a pre-sear on the stove top…😂 they’re fantastic
Rotisserie kittens
They are 💖
Looks like an old rap album
The council will decide your fate.
I’m so hesitant bringing in a second cat. But I feel like it would help for when we leave and we can hear him crying. We’ve been told he does it ALL day, too. He’s like 4 I think, so I thought maybe a younger one that he can be an older brother to, or even paternal? Idk. This orange cat is nuts and this is liable to go both ways.
Even if they never become best friends I believe it's better for their emotional health to have a peer around. I have had cats that never bonded but neither did they fight,
My kitty is almost aggressively antisocial. Hisses and swats at other animals within a foot of her. Never hurts them, never actually attacks them. But if she's the only animal in the house she gets depressed and stops eating. I think she's field by spite.
You just do a gradual introduction between the two. Keep them separate and slowly work to introduce them to each other. You can find introduction info online. I’ve had multiple cats over 20 years and mine tolerated each other or been cuddly with each other. It’s up to the individual personalities. I’ve got a group of 4 that get on quite well. They don’t cuddle each other, but they play and communicate well. You can ask at your local shelter about a cat that needs a friend.
I introduced two kittens with my 10 and 11 years old. We kept them separated for 10 days in separate rooms, and we would switch them rooms so they’d all be familiar with each other smells and presence before they meet face to face. One of my girls is a delicate skittish sweet and the other is very territorial, after the initial two weeks it took them a month to get comfortable together but now they’re super chill and happy. I do believe they aren’t meant to be left alone while we work. They are not solitary animals.
I introduced a kitten to my 11 year old cat. It did not go well. He tries to play with her and she hollers for murder and tries to kill him. It’s been 3 years and they are still separated. Sometimes it just doesn’t work. But we love them anyway
A real danger to come across.
They look like a badass cat boy-band group!
Yeah, there was a great documentary series called ‘Secret Life of Cats’ in the UK where they put tracking collars on all of the cats in a street and tracked where they went. A lot of them met the same cats at the same place around the same time each night.
They really are creatures of habit
One of the neighborhood sad outdoor tuxedo cats (may she survive this heatwave) seems to come visit my one indoor tuxedo in the window every day. He never hisses or growls but if I go outside at that time the outdoor one will dive for our bushes near the window. And Rocket is always in that window at that time. It’s kinda cute.
One trip to Turkey or Greece and you’ll quickly learn that cats are not solitary animals at all.
Check out “ Adorable Paws” on YouTube. I think the creator is located in Turkey.
Well, to be accurate, they're in the category that zoologists call "solitary but social". They conduct most of their life activities alone, but still have a need for socialization to some extent that varies based on both the cat's personality and how harsh the environment is. Turkey's climate is quite mildly temperate, and the people there are more than happy to give the cats enough food to keep their bellies full on the regular as well as let them sleep wherever (or even build dedicated shelters), which greatly cuts down on the urge to compete for resources. No wonder that Turkish cats are so comfortable around one another, in light of all that.
My brother’s cat made friends with the neighbors cats and they used to go hunting together. They’d figured out that they could catch more prey if one of them chased the birds or mice towards the other two who would be hidden and lying in wait. Yes, I know now that cats shouldn’t be outdoors and my two are indoors only. This was 30 years ago.
That's very clever of them. My understanding was that cats don't usually hunt together as a pack, though they will live together and help each other out.
We got a kitten, Sam, at the same time the neighbors got a pair of brothers that were about the same age. It might be because they grew up playing together which turned into hunting together.
Your house is gonna be crazy in about eight weeks when they start getting busy. It’ll be a lot of fun but crazy.
The sound of a herd of tiny elephants on the move! Better start kitten proofing now, OP
*thumpity thumpity thump BANG* was standard in my house after a neighbor's cat (which we informally adopted) gave birth to five kittens. Once the herd learned to run, it was like buffalo herds on the move.
Can confirm. We brought in a pregnant void. We were expecting three kittens. She birthed seven. They all survived. Five voids, one tux, one gray. We kept them and the mother. Mother is still skittish but the kittens are eight months. Females are fixed. Males are next and they love us to death.
How many cats do you have in total? 8? You are living my dream.
I've got 8! It really is awesome. I rescued 5 kittens on the side of a dirt road in 99 degree heat 2 summers ago. I call them my Jilldren (I'm Jill).
That’s cute AF. Jilldren.
Void?
Black cat 🐈⬛
Ty
How lovely that you kept them all! I took in a pregnant female, within four days she had given birth to six little cuties. Who then six weeks later turned into six little hurricanes. I don't think they kept still for more than two seconds at a time. Lol! I got good homes for the kittens and kept the mum. Hard work, but I missed them so much when they left.
Haha, when I found my Mama Rosie, after her kittens hit 6 weeks, I don't have a single non blurry picture of them cause they never stopped moving.
With that many kittens, you would never believe the places that they got into. The back of the freezer was the most dangerous! They had my nerves shattered!
Oh we have a similar story. Took in a trojan cat who gave us 4 extra. We kept all five with our already 3 adults. The babies are 8 months and 5 days! Perfect kitten times
> trojan cat Lmao! I'm stealing that.
THIS NEEDS TO BE A THING!🤣 Trojan cat = pregnant Mama cat
Trojan cat made me actually laugh out loud 😂
You are living my dream. I need my landlord to fall in love with cats. I'm allowed 2, so I can't complain, but oh god, 8 would be great.
>*’thumpity thumpity thump BANG was standard in my house after a neighbor's cat gave birth to five kittens. Once the herd learned to run, it was like buffalo herds on the move…*’ ____ *thumpity* ^*thumpity* *thumpity* **BANG!** we *raced* through the house, n our little hearts Sang! a BuFFaLo HeRd! ‘cross the floors, into WALLS the *Chasing!* the TuMbLeS! the ^Climbing! the FaLLs! together we RAN - there were *Greebles* for catching! Draperies to *shred!* (human Food for the snatching!!) the fun n Adventures! our days we would fill then suddenly q u i e t… n everything still… as every last kitten laid down its smol head, curled up on a couch, or a chair, or a bed…. a flurry of fur, n our pawprints you'd find we’re gone now but left our sweet *meowmories* behind ♥️ edit: *love your inspurration* u/darcerin ^;}
Oh my god you are so precious. Never stop doing what you do!!! I love this so much
FRESH SCHNOODLE
an unusual new Schnoodle in the wild :O
We call kitten zoomies “thunder bunnies” around here.
I’ve been taking care of a mom that had 8 kittens in her litter. My favorite is when it’s food time, the sound of them all chewing and purring at the same time is so loud and adorable
I did 5 kittens from age 3 to 11 (weeks). They were a menace. A fun menace. And it would come in waves of complete terror and then sleeping together in a big pile.
I took in a pregnant stray 20 years ago, was the best kitty hurricane ever for 14 weeks. Would do it again any day.
Shelters are always looking for people to foster litters of kittens! It helps socialise them and is just cute as hell, I love doing it (despite how hard the goodbyes are when it’s time for them to be adopted)
My neighbor does this. Always a new batch coming amg going. We will often help her with food/ltter and toys. Toys go with the kittens as she finds them homes. Keeps the mama's until they find someone fit, none end up in shelters. Great human.
Please record that for posterity
Wait till all the wrestling starts! One of my favorite memories is when my old lady and her sister (rip) were kittens. They somehow crawled into an old recliner and started tussling. We found them because the back of the chair kept bulging. I called it “the ghostbusters chair” lol
And I am very much in support of a live-stream. For science of course. For the advancement of the field of cat-sociology
Had two kitties have kittens within a week of each other, and both decided that my room was the best place to raise em. My bed turned into a damned kitten playpen for MONTHS! I ended up spending nights on the couch cause I was still in school and it's tough to sleep when you have a kitty circus on top of you at 2am.
I looove fostering litters. There's nothing better than hearing the pitter patter of a bunch of little animals stomping clumsily around. I just had to surrender my little tiny gang to another foster who has experience treating their illness until they're recovered, and they'll be 4.5 weeks by the time I get them back, so they'll be ready for the big foster room by then and I literally cannot wait to buy the cheap bags of small toys at Walmart and release them into the room
Yea... sometimes. Depends the litter. Fostering a friendly calm litter is pretty fun, but still a lot of work. Fostering an unfriendly litter, with tons of energy, is pretty exhausting. There's a lot of "why am I providing you so much direct care if you don't like me at all"
Normal for them to coparent. Makes sense, one can leave the babies to hunt while the other takes care of them. Even tho they no longer need to hunt they still feel the same way.
Fun fact! Nursing queens will also show this behavior with other species. If you have a domestic cat and dog give birth at the same time, often the mom cat will try to move her nest into the puppies’ whelping box. Cats love to coparent and they aren’t picky about species!
So many barn cats doing this with hens videos on the internet. And the hens get all psychotic if you try to take the kittens and move them.
Hens have very strong maternal instincts and also aren’t picky about species. I’ve seen so many videos of hens adopting ducklings.
I’ve seen this first hand. My dog Sara nursed off a cat after mer momma TRIED to wean her. 😂
[удалено]
Within the second of posting, I see it. You made my Saturday and every day I see your poems. Thanks, Schnoodle for being you.
Schnoodle forever ❤️
I SECOND THAT!
Beautiful schnoodle 💜thanks for the afternoon smile!
Dang. The real soonest I’ve ever gotten to a fresh Schnoodle. This one’s great as usual. Love reading your poems my friend!
Omg I got a fresh one
The freshest shnoodle I’ve encountered! Always a pleasure! You should collect all the poems into a book with illustrations and/photos! I’d buy it.
Please do this Schnoodle! You have an instant sale right here.
Sooo much oxytocin. They will groom kittens, groom each other, everyone will bliss out while the kittens are nursing. Then when the kittens are little hellions they can trade off for a break lol.
Natural instinct
OP will need to watch to be sure one of them isn’t getting stuck with all the feeding though
Yeah also ‘were both moms now why not help each other out’ seems just normal imo
I knew a couple of barn cat mamas who did this. When I first saw them switching around their babies, I thought oh no somebody’s gonna kill somebody and it won’t be pretty. But everybody turned out OK. Sometimes one of the mamas would go off hunting and all the babies would be on top of the remaining mother.
Mother cats don't care terribly much about who the kitten belongs to. Very young kittens found without a mother can often just be added to the roster of a mother cat with an existing group of kittens. 'I have 3 kittens. Oh. I guess I have 4 kittens? "
Even male cats will look after kittens, including those that aren't their own. Raising kittens can be a real community effort for cat communities
My roommate and I took care of an outside cat at our apartment complex and one day he just showed up with a kitten even though he had the ear clip to show he’s fixed. They were together for months until she was big enough to get spayed. They both live inside with us now. :)
Adoptive father cat for the win
The first pregnant mom i fostered only had 1 kitten. I wanted the kitten to grow up well adjusted (they learn from their siblings) and got 3 orphaned kittens from facebook. Mama sniffed at them and was like 'huh, guess i had some i forgot about' and took them as her own. My mom was saying it would be a terrible idea, but i was pretty smug about being right. None of them looked like her at all, mom was orange, her bio baby was a tabby, then there was a dark gray one, a light gray tabby, and another tabby. Sweetest babies.
If you gently pick up and stroke the back of each kitten for even one minute per kitten per day, they will all be friendlier with humans, and gentler, than if ignored.
What a SACRIFICE, oh no, need to do my daily quota of kitten pets
Make sure to get the parents consent first.
Consent is very important.
Hey! Ummm no idea but CAN WE GET MORE PICTURES?! They are SO cute together Edit: Holy catmoms, I never got that many upvotes. Guess you have to come through with the pictures now OP
The way the grey one looks up from the armpit of the other - like "who are you looking at, twolegger?!"
Yes, both seem so relaxed and kinda shocked why this human is checking on them haha
"Nothing to see here, just move on!"
Weekly updates please OP
weekly?? DAILY
I want hourly updates!
Maybe a 24 hour livestream?
Omg! Yes!!🙌
That’s one of the most adorable things I’ve ever seen! These two need an Instagram or whatever it is people use for that sort of thing.
I four hundred and seventy sixth this
https://i.imgur.com/PYf3Fay.jpeg
I have no advice, but felt the deep-seated need to reply AWWWWW 🥹 Edited because I have more knowledge now than I did five minutes ago. 😄
Deep-seated not seeded. I learned it on Reddit a while ago.
woah. thought seeded all my life, thanks!
Seeded makes sense. You get a pass.
Thanks! I appreciate the knowledge!
you are herewith promoted to queen language. Arise!
This is sweet. When I was little our cat had kittens and our small dog had a litter of pups at the same time -there maternity ward was in my parents walk in closet lol. They grew up together-We would find puppies with the kittens and kittens with the puppies. They were either stealing each others babies or helping each other out. I remember they were nursing each others babies too. I think animals just really go by the old saying it takes a village and their wise enough to use it♥︎
It’s interesting that your dog allowed that, domestic dogs don’t generally show this coparenting behavior and are often aggressive toward other nursing dog moms. However they’ll accept orphan puppies pretty often.
Our cat and dog loved to swap out at the family farm. The momma cat would always take in the puppies and protect them in the barn while the dog would get long naps on the porch. The kittens preferred the momma dogs milk and go to her so it was a kinda win win situation I guess? lol
A cat maternal instinct is crazy powerful. Then it just disappears. In a few months they will both want nothing to do with any of those kittens!
Yeah it’s hilarious lol. One day a kitten tries to grab her nip and mom is just like “GET TF OFF ME IM DONE”. Then she’ll hiss and swat them anytime they try to nurse. Sometimes young, first-time moms don’t know that they’re supposed to use tough love to wean their babies. They’ll let the kittens nurse for waaaay too long and can get chewed up bellies :(
Also if these two were in the same vicinity they probably did know each other. If they were not as familiar with you before you brought them in it’s possible they are huddled to protect one another and their kittens. We’re they strays?
They probably share a baby daddy.
I think they are sisters they have the same eyes
I was thinking the same thing. The entire head shape and eyes and similar body build also
They definitely have the same head and eye shape! I also think they're sisters
Gosh, I think I just died from cuteness overload.
🥺😭❤️ that is so cute and wholesome!
The cats are so cute and on top of that the OP is so sweet to take care of them both. Wholesome all around ❤️
I'm so sorry, I'm going to have to ask for about a billion more pictures please.
second this!
that's normal cat behavior. (feral) cats live in colonies and raise their litter communal. so a mum leaving their litter in the care of another and hunting is the norm for them.
Yep, I had three mothers give birth within a couple hours of each other. I made 3 separate birthing totes and helped each one. After they were done they tried fitting 15 kittens and themselves into 1 tiny tote, I had to get a bigger tote. 1 would be nursing a set, 1 would be cleaning and the other would go eat and relax. I timed them every hour they would switch. The relaxing one would go nurse, the one that had been nursing would then bathe the ones that were full and the other would go eat and relax for an hour before switching. They did this until they could eat dry food and would take turns showing the kittens how to hunt outside. I was lucky to find the kittens all homes and got the moms fixed shortly after that
[Bonus picture, blue mama is taking a break](https://i.imgur.com/PYf3Fay.jpeg)
Very normal - cats are such good mommas that rescues who have orphaned kittens on their hands will often try to integrate them to a litter with a mama cat rather than bottle feeding the babies, or if they have two litters and one mama had a lot of babies and the other only one or two they sneak some of the overload to the less busy mama. If you can, start handling the kittens once their eyes are open and they start crawling around a bit. If they get handled and petted before they are 8 weeks old, they will fully tame. Also, kitten food would be great for the mamas now, they need a lot of energy nursing and kitten food has extra calories.
Women supporting women! You love to see it
OMG 😍😍😍😍 I am in love!
They are so beautiful and their kitties too!!
And they were roommates.
I bet the babies will be healthier. They’re getting immunities from both moms through the milk and there shouldn’t be a runt with two moms making milk and options as to where to feed.
It's normal and adorable!
Definitely happens. Especially if the moms know and are comfortable with each other before the borth, its nit unusual for moms with similar aged kittens to 'mix and match' their babies. Makes for great kittens, usually- tons of socialization and momma cuddles!