Thursday, May 7, 2009

1 year old cat licks 2.5 month old kitten's bum?

should i take this as a good sign? the older cat is a girl and kitty is a boy. we introduced kitty into the house about 3 weeks ago. do they like each other? usually they play fight very rough or ignore each other. i want them to groom each other and sleep close!!
Answers:
It is a good sign, your older cat is "mothering" your kitten. When kittens are newborn, they don't poop on their own, as gross as it sounds, the mama kitty licks their bottom to stimulate their bowels and swallows the poo (it's just a processed version of her own milk, after all.)
I doubt your older cat is ingesting any poo, she's just mothering him.
my other take on the situation is, if your older cat is not spayed, she may be reacting to the smell of a male. Get her spayed as soon as possible (if she's not already) or you'll have kittens before you know it. Also, get the kitten neutered in the next couple months, or he'll start marking around the house (as in peeing on the walls) and once male cats start that, it's very hard to get them to quit, even after they've been neutered.
good luck! :-)
most female cats lick kittins butts cuz that is supposed to help them crap....and most animals play ruff or ignore eachother..it is normal...belive me i know i have a cat and a dog and they do both..
Quirkyblonde nailed it.. but you may want to have both your cats dewormed. Kittens are usually born with worms... it's complicated to explain, but even kittens from the cleanest of homes will probably have roundworms when born. Your older cat could pick up some worms from grooming the youngster.
It sounds as if they are getting along fabulously... after 3 years, my two cats still yowl, growl, and hiss at each other!
Perfectly natural.
That's normal. Your cat is mothering the younger one. :)
that is normal, i had a silver shaded persian that was supposed to hate other cats when we adopted him...about 6 months after we got him my girlfriend brought home a 2 month old kitten, and the persian promptly "mothered" the kitten: cleaning it, showing it the food dish and how to clean up after eating, where the water was, etc. they were a great pair. always together.

2 comments:

  1. These cats are adorable.. In fact, I myself own a kitty named sarah and she keeps licking me all over. Just love the way she comes after me.

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  2. I've got a 9 month old tomcat. Neutered. Yesterday I've got an 8 week old baby kitten. Also a male. He keeps on liking him and biting, is this behaviour normal to felines after introducing a new member? Sometimes it looks like he's about to devour the new baby.

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