do cats remember thier kittens?

Question

kinda long, i will make it as short as possible! 6 years ago my cat had kittens. she had 4, i kept two, gave one to family friends and then one to good friends of mine. about 6 months ago my friends had a baby and wanted to give the cat back to me, well my boyfriend took him in. i will be moving in with him in about a week with the mom and brother and sister of the cat. i was wondering if they will remember each other or do cats forget once they are separated. of course the ones that stayed with the mom know she is mom. thanks!

Answer 1

HArd to say, I took out year old kitty back to the home where he was born, to see his mom.. they hissed ! Both mom and her cat were not interested, and mine kept trying to run off, had to hurry put him back in the car. So Id say NO, not after a few months. To the mom, its like bringing another strange aduult cat around.

Answer 2

If it's being done to hold them still for medication or to remove a booger while all four paws rest on the floor, then it's fine. But if a maturing or adult cat is being lifted by the scruff of the neck, that means their body weight is only supported by the scruff of their neck and that's cruel. Mother cats do that with kittens because kittens are so light and have barely any body weight, but they do not lift them this way once the kittens mature.

Answer 3

Unfortunately, cats don't remember their babies after they're given away or are separated for a long time.
Dogs are the same way.
If you were to take a baby from the cat and give it to your sister who...say lives in the next town over, within two weeks they would forget about each other completely.

Answer 4

Yes, they do. They don't remember them as "my baby" but they know that they are there mother. They know this because in nature, they dont want to be bred back to there sons.. Sometimes, the father cat knows his kittens also. Maybe for the same reason.

Answer 5

It'll probably depends on the cat.

It's natural instincts of mother kitties to act mean and encourage their kittens to move out once they can live independant. The cat may act mean if it returns.

The cat may recognise scents, but it depends. She may just ignore the kitten altogether.

My cats' mother doesn't remember my cat when we take her to visit every now and then.

Answer 6

my nan once came to live with us and she brought george my cats brother with her, they hated eachother, so im not sure, but my cat is the tom cat of the street,if theirs a girl cat oin heat he's their, he recongnises his baby, he will go straight up to them and smell them and go nose to nose, and we know they are his because they look just like him, we mistake them for him, but their not many left know because they have either moved, or sadly died, cause we saw a kitten about 5 week old dead on a road and it looked lke my cat.
Well a mother must remember its kittens if a father can recongnise them even though he isnt the one feeding them
so i give u good luck

Answer 7

I think they do - their sense of smell is phenominal, far stronger than ours, and like each person has it's own scent, so does each animal, a scent we may not necessarily pick up.

Answer 8

I think after time they forget. That's why cats will inbreed if you keep parents with babies long enough. After time, it's just another mate to them.

Answer 9

Well I would say they would not know maybe they do from a certain scent! But I'm really not sure!

Answer 10

Good question. I doubt they will recognise each other. But let us know what happened!