It's obvious who the father is of one of the kittens the mother delivered two weeks ago. I've been told so many times by people whose intelligence I don't trust that it would be useless to try to get the father and son to become friends. Has anyone heard of a male cat that had paternal instincts? I've heard a lot of things about cats that may be true of cats in general but not in specific cases, especially if humans try to help things along with changeable feline instincts.
From what I understand male cats don't really have 'paternal' instincts, but if they are close in age, like the male cat is still 6 months to a year old they will become friends and playmates together. Incest is no big deal in the cat world either because if a female has a litter and her male babies go through puberty they will mate with her if she is available to mate with. Cats just don't have the same instincts and thought processes of what is right/wrong or totally gross as humans do. lol
I'll keep you posted. This morning I brought Junior to Daddy but Daddy ran away, probably afraid of Mommy showing up. He pokes around the box the kittens are in. I think it is out of curiosity rather than wanting to kill them.
Okay...I'll admit it. We have five cats...five! Four inside and one outside. We have a neutered male inside and three females that need to be spayed. I also feed two at work. They come in every moning looking for a handout and I carry cat food into work to feed them. One is a pretty feral female and the other is a female daughter of the "low rider". The calico female has short legs...thats why we call her lowrider. The daughter just had three kittens and one died so i guess I'll be feeding four at work pretty soon.
As they say, dogs have owners, cats have staff. We have two cats, both spayed. The first one came when my m-i-l died. That cat adopted my wife. The second one adopted me because my wife was already taken. The first one has no sense of humor, the second one is nutso. I didn't even know cats had personalities until two years ago. They are much easier (and cheaper) than dogs, especially when you want to leave town for 2 or 3 days.
It's funny how your situation here (dog stuff aside) matches mine. I had one female cat (tabby, kind of a dark grey-brown coloration) when I moved out to where I am now, and then I adopted a male orange tabby just over a year later. The girl is Katja, the boy Gizmo. Katja didn't like Gizmo much at first, but they eventually got adjusted. Gizmo is something else! He's very rambunctious and remains a big kitten after 7-8 months of my having him. I forget exactly how old he was when I got him - several weeks at least. Katja has taken a beating from his rough and tumble play style, but they're family now and definitely get along like old siblings. Lots of laughs with those kitties!
Two cats? Not even a start. At one point I had over 20 because people kept bringing me kittens. Some were placed in other, loving homes, and some grew old and died. I have lost a 19 yo and two 16 yo in the last year, and the two I still have are 17 yo and 11 yo. Cats are wonderful friends. Good luck with your new furball.
Aren't the Greys amazing? I had one that was stolen by an ex, and I still miss her. Currently have an Amazon who is very quiet, but sometimes get a "wild feather" and sqawks for a few second.
Yep. I had a huge orange marmalade tom, daddy to my tiny grey girl's litter. When she would leave the "nest", he would climb in and care for the babies till mama came back. He always stayed near the nest. He was the most loving cat.
Memories...he looks exactly like a rumpy Manx cat who owned me many years ago. His name was "Stump". I lost a 16 yo black Manx a year ago, he was "Spike".
This morning I put Junior on the floor and he headed straight for Daddy, showing no fear. Daddy was curious and sniffed Junior, showing no hostility at all. Then Mommy showed up and Daddy ran away. I guess he thought she had a court order for child support payments.
Cats have an amazing range of personalities. Some cats are even doglike. They are amazing creatures. I understand why the OP loves them.
Oh my older cat Rikku is definitely dog-like in that she will eat any food you drop on the floor or put in front of her. If it's people food she wants summa that. lol
Junior has turned teenager already. He walked away from Daddy, now believing that Daddy is Old School and just doesn't get it about the new generation's music. Daddy is still interested in Junior, however, sniffing him all over, probably looking for drugs. Then Mommy showed up. Nag, nag, nag. Daddy stomped off, joining up with his entourage. Over drinks and a catnip cigar, he bragged about Junior, claiming that someday his boy would have his own comic strip, one that would be so realistic about how great cats are that it would make Garfield look like Mickey Mouse.
More often than not what happened was that someone wanted to dump a cat off, saw a cat in your window, and decided this was the best place to leave her. This past Monday I was sitting on my porch when I heard a pitiful little cry. I got up to look and there was this little furball of a kitten. It couldn't have been more than 5 to 6 weeks old, and no mother in sight. So now we have 4 cats.
I didn't have a cat in my window though. Rikku, the one who showed up on our doorstep was our first cat and she just sat outside the door and meowed really loudly. Kino is the second cat I went and got from a foster home. I do think our calico was a house cat to start with though and that the owners either dumped her off somewhere or just kicked her out, but she had definitely been on the street for a while because she was pretty thin and would eat anything you put in front of her. I think her love of people food comes from eating whatever she found laying around or in the trash. Aw poor baby, well glad he has a new home.
Junior told the story to the other kittens: "There was this monster 100 feet tall! He picked me up and was going to eat me! But all of a sudden my Daddy showed up. My Daddy has the sharpest teeth and claws in the whole wide world. He hissed at the monster: PUT MY SON DOWN RIGHT THIS MINUTE! Scared, the monster did what he was told. And they call us scaredy cats!"
Have fun with your new kitty. I have two cats named Socks and Sherbert. Socks is 9 and Sherbert is 8, and I swear these two cats never age, especially Sherbert. He does this thing where he'll walk across the living room and randomly plop down on the carpet and roll over. He usually does this because he likes his chin rubbed. Socks is mostly antisocial. He has a special bond with my mother, but he only comes around for me when he wants something or when mom isn't home. He also beats up on Sherbert a lot, but its usually playful. Overall, cats are way better than dogs and less messier, except when Sherbert eats plastic and I find it in the catbox.
Haha aaaww! I can't wait to see what my cats are like when they get older and out of their 'catteen' years. Since this thread is still alive by the way I am going to post a couple more pics of my adorable BAYBEEEES! Kino! This is when I first got him, he's only 13 weeks here and now he's so big! Even bigger than Rikku now!
Aww. Kino looks a lot like Sherbert, especially with those curious eyes in the second picture, but has more consistency in his stripes. Bert doesn't really have any stripes. Just a bunch of orange with random white spots. Rikku looks cute as well. I wish your cats a long life. Heck, they might beat the record of Creme Puff, who lived to be 38. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creme_Puff_(cat)
When my paternal grandmother was a little girl, her family's pet cat had several kittens. They couldn't afford to keep the animals and, in those days nobody ever thought about seeing if they could be rehomed. People just disposed of any unwanted pets in any way they saw fit, even if it meant killing them. It was in the days before the animal rights lunatics came along so nobody whatsoever batted an eyelid if you killed a cat or a dog or any other animal. So my grandmother's father had to find a way of disposing of the unwanted kittens. One night he filled an old dustbin up with water, put the kittens in it and put the lid on. He was trying to drown them. The next morning my grandmother went downstairs and checked on the kittens. They were still alive and meowing loudly whilst trying to stay afloat. But my grandmother's father decided to leave the kittens in there until they finally drowned. Eventually he got his wish.
