Do Cat Relatives Know Each Other?

[sarahmitz123]

The mother & step brother of my cat (castrated male) moved next door about 10 mths ago. Do mother & son know one another? She was only 10 mths when she had the litter he was spawned from & apart from suckling had nothing to do with them. Another castrated male took on the responsibility of nurture .

[wolf63]

Cats don't see the world as we do. They breed with siblings, parents and their own offspring.... if they get the chance.

My two are just like some human siblings- they hate each other.

Male cats don't usually have much to do with kittens, it is sweet that this male helped out with kitten rearing.

Strange animals!

[wildwood]

There was a program on TV many years ago where someone studied heaps of semi feral cats on a farm. They did seem to recognised their kin. Some of the mostly related females formed cliques and even did some 'kitten minding' for others.

[boxtops]

I don't know - I had two years ago that were litter brothers, and they were certainly more loving than any unrelated two I've had since. (I will never forget getting a black kitten from a pet shop and having to leave his sister behind - so many years later, I wish I'd taken them both, the little one left must have missed her brother>)

[Jeza]

Cliques wildwood. You're not allowed to use that word on AB.

[wildwood]

Sorry if that words upsets you, Jeza. Does this have some other dubious meaning that escapes me? I can't see any harm in it.

[tearinghair]

We had a female cat who had one litter of kittens. We kept one and gave away four; one of them went to a family who lived at the other end of our road. He never usually came to our end of the street, but one day he did appear. He was the image of the one we'd kept, and our kitten went berserk - just didn't know what to do and eventually ran off and urinated in the corner of the room. The mother was upset too.