Do Cats Forget Their Kittens?

A mother cat makes an excellent mommy. She teaches her kittens right from wrong, grooms them, and purrs anytime they are nearby.

Although it’s difficult to imagine, she will eventually forget them. Mom and the kittens will become strangers if they are separated.

Can You Tell If Your Cat Is Missing Her Kittens?

When the kittens are gone for the first few days, a mother cat will act and behave in a way that will let you know she is missing them. 

According to cat specialists, mother cats who are separated from their kittens rarely exhibit intense grief. However, there are behavioral adjustments in the initial days that are thought to represent grieving signs.

Mother cats will yowl in an attempt to elicit a response from the kittens as they look for them throughout the house. While some of the mother cats go through personality changes, others may have erratic eating and sleeping schedules. When the kittens are removed before the weaning stage is finished, this is a common observation.

Do They Remember Their Kittens?

A mother cat is an adult, therefore one can presume that she will remember everything she did for her kittens. 

This is a legitimate question. Well, I’m afraid the response will let you down. A mother and kid share a close relationship that is characterized by love and affection. 

Mother cats are not any different. They devote a lot of time to feeding, grooming, and teaching their young how to survive. 

It seems unlikely that a mother cat would forget her kittens after everything she has done for them. However, mother cats experience the same problems as their young. 

When they are adults, they have forgotten about their kittens! Mother cats will quickly forget their kittens after being separated because cats rely on odors to remember one another.

A cat picks up different odors when it leaves its mother and isn’t with her anymore. A mother cat finds it challenging to recall her kitten due to the unfamiliar odors. If they were to run into each other, it would be difficult for her to recognize them.

What Does A Cat Remember?

What does a cat remember if it doesn’t remember its own mother? Unexpectedly, cats have excellent memory skills. 

Cats are quite good at short-term memory, especially when it comes to food! The location of their normal prey or cat food helps them remember where it is using their short-term memory. 

They also have an excellent memory for the upcoming availability of such food. Have you ever noticed that when it’s time to feed your cat, it is already waiting on the mat? 

This is due to the fact that they are aware of mealtimes! Cats are capable of recalling prior events that have occurred to them.

 Cats often recall wrongdoing or negligence and may even harbor resentment. This explains why a cat that has experienced abuse may exhibit a fear of persons who are similar to their attacker.

For instance, if a man abuses a cat, the cat may later find it difficult to trust males. A cat may surely recall memories that have had an impact on its existence.

Whether they are favorable or unfavorable, these events have an impact on cats. For instance, if a man abuses a cat, the cat may later find it difficult to trust males.

 A cat may surely recall memories that have had an impact on its existence. Whether they are favorable or unfavorable, these events have an impact on cats.

How Will My Cat Handle Kitten Separation?

A kitten will quickly lose his mother’s recognition if he is taken away from her. They begin smelling their new surroundings as soon as they exit the nest. 

Even a few weeks after their breakup, Mom is likely to view her kitten as a stranger. Cats can only distinguish one another by scent, not by sight. 

For Mom, this could be stressful. She might search for her kittens around your house for a few days after they’ve vanished. She’ll be back to her regular routine after a few days. 

Even her kittens may experience discomfort from it. After leaving the safety nest, they occasionally won’t feed for a few days or exhibit depressive behavior.

Does My Cat Think I’m Her Mom?

The quick response is no. Your cat can detect that you are not a cat because it is intelligent enough to distinguish between our two species. 

Despite the fact that we sometimes mistake cats for being autonomous, they often treat us with the same reverence as mother cats. 

Like when they were kittens and followed their mother around, cats will follow us almost anywhere. Mother cats met their necessities, and we, as their guardians, have virtually taken over from there. 

Your cat wants to be close to you because she feels safe and secure with you and knows that you will take care of all her needs just like her natural mother would. 

A cat’s mother would have been the source of its initial social behavior and engagement. This notion persisted between cats and their owners as the mother and kitten caregiver relationship matured. 

This would account for the attachment-related behaviors our cats display toward the people who care for them.

Conclusion

Cats don’t recall their kittens, which may seem tragic, but this is the case. They can’t identify other cats by their faces, thus they can’t remember. 

They check whether they can recall the fragrance of another animal using their sense of smell. It’s possible that your cat is accustomed to the smell of its kittens. 

This is not a guarantee that a cat will recall them. It simply indicates that they are accustomed to the smell, and they won’t be able to associate it with their kittens. 

Cats actually have a good memory aside from that. If certain events have a lasting impact on them, those events will probably influence how long it takes for a mother cat to forget her kittens. Although we are not biologically the same, as pet parents we will always remember our kittens.