A client of ours has two momma cats that had their kittens within about a week of each other. Momma cat 1 (who is orange) had two orange kittens. Momma cat 2 (who is not orange) had five: two gray, two black, and one orange.
During a checkup of momma cat 1 today, the client shared an interesting story with us. It seems someone was not satisfied with her litter.
Momma cat 1 found the litter of momma cat 2, and stole her orange kitten.
Now momma cat 2 will have nothing to do with it. Momma cat 1 is nursing it as her own, right along with her original two.
Guess she was in a rush to collect the whole set.
I love cats. Cats are so strange.
What a cute story! It reminds me of something that happened when we used to raise pet mice. We had two females who gave birth within hours of each other. Baby mice are hairless pink things when they are born, and they all look pretty much alike. One of the new mothers went over to the other’s nest and seized two babies, which she took back to her own lair and nursed, along with her own brood. The weird thing was that, when the babies grew older, it turned out that the two adopted babies were the same color as the mother who stole them (a golden buff color), and didn’t resemble their birth mother (who was brown). How the thieving momma knew this before any fur had sprouted is a mystery to me. Maybe there was some sort of scent-cue that was related to fur color.
There is only one solution. Threaten to cut the kitten in half.
Perhaps the mother could tell that the “stolen” kitten was from the same father as the hers (by smell). I’ve heard that cats can have babies from different fathers in the same litter.
Slutty cats.