mum no longer likes her boy

about 6 months ago we adopted a pregnant stray (after she came around all of the time and we noticed she was preggers)and saw her through her pregnancy. when the kitties were ready we gave away 3 of them and kept one, the only boy.

manny is fabulous kitten and is now bigger than his mum, who is pretty teensy. he is really good natured and nothing seems to phase him. fredrika, his mum, has gone back to being an outdoor cat, where she rarely comes home, except for food. sometimes we keep her inside against her will, just because we get calls from our neighbours, asking us if we've moved because our cat has been sleeping at their place.

she and manny used to get along great when he was younger. they would play fight and she would teach him her moves. they would lick each other and hang out. this was before she was spayed and we kept her inside. now, whenever she comes in, she hisses and him and makes scary sounds when she eats or he comes near. sometimes she'll let us pet her, but usually she growls. when we meet her outside she is totally friendly to us and drops and rolls around, wanting pets.

obviously this is a territorial thing. manny hasn't been neutered yet (his appointment is in a couple of days). should things get better after that? is there anyway to make her feel more at home here? it breaks my heart to get those calls from the neighbors, and to watch her hiss and growl at her son.

please help.

Actually, this is fairly typical for a mom and son to grow apart like this. She recognizes he is old enough to fend for himself and sometimes I think momcats just get tired of *being there* for their kids. Unless she is full on attacking him, this is fairly normal behavior. When she was interacting with him before, she was *teaching* him the skills he needed to survive. Her job is now done and her body language tells him, it is time to move on with his life. Sounds like mom is a feral and wants the outdoors. I have a few like that over here. Good luck with the vet appt. Thank you for being a responsible pet owner.

Hi all, new to the group. I was surfing around looking for others who may have experienced the same thing as I have, and I see that sashamoto has! Our female cat Mangatsika had her kittens a few months ago or so (its about time to get them spayed/neutered), and her behavior was unlike anything we had ever seen. She was usually a cat that liked to stay to herself, although her brother Zoboomafoo is completely the opposite. He's majorly social, as you can see on my mom and sister's temporary (needs updating badly) pets page (you'll see Zoboo sleeping on top of my son's head): http://hometown.aol.com/valcoxon/myhomepage/pet.html

Anyway, Mangatsika was just beside herself when the kittens were born, she purred throughout her labor, and didn't stop purring for a couple months. She loved them to pieces. Now it's a different story. It started with her doing what I assumed was weaning them, although now she's gotten completely out of hand. Anytime she sees them she lets out these blood-curdling screams, and goes beserk. Even if she smells their scent on us, she hisses up a storm and goes on with her screaming but she's never attacked me. If they even try to go near her she attacks. She won't come inside anymore. There are times when I go outside and she'll come up to me and is friendly, and I'll pet her and she's cool.

What's funny though, is her brother Zoboomafoo with the kittens. When they were born, he was the one having fits. He's grown SO attached to them though! He sort of took over a parental role somewhat, giving them their baths, playing with them, and once when one got outside, I found him staying with the kitten as if he was taking care of her till someone found them. It's the funniest thing! Our dog Pepper also took on a matronly sort of role when they were real little and walking around, trying to give them baths and all. Lately he's gotten snappy with them somewhat though. The duck gets along better with the kittens then she does the kids. One big happy family!