A momma standing up for her daughter?

I just witnessed something that shocked me today. I have been letting my Ragdolls out for about a month now (supervised always by me) My 8 years old Ragdoll named "Momma" has never seen a dog face to face before. I let "Momma" and her daughter "Lita" (7 years old) out between the houses here. There is a 20x40 space between the two houses. The neighbors 18-20 pound terrier mix came running over to the side of the house behind a chain link fence and he started barking. My older cat "Momma" came walking over to the fence and raised her back and fluffed her tail and hissed and swatted at the dog though the fence. I was very shocked that she would walk forward to challenge the dog as she has zero experience with them. Lita her daughter was 20 feet away from the action. My neighbor and I both believed that the mother (Momma) was standing up to protect her 7 year old daughter from any possible harm I was laughing my azz off watching this all happen in front of my eyes I wish that I had a video tape rolling. What do you think? Was the mother defending her ground to protect her daughter even at this advanced age?

This reminds me of a similar incident we had. Our matriarch was outside and her daughter and daughter's kittens were on the porch. At that time my cousin arrived with his dog. The dog had been here before but this time the matriarch took off after the dog and started chasing him. After a third trip around the garage, the cat stopped and the dog kept running. Finally, the dog decided to wait for cousin at the edge of our property.

So, yes, I believe your Momma was on the defense and letting the dog know what to expect.

I am sure she did.
My Coco did that did for her girl also.
Only if she jumped on the dog and shredded her.

When Jack was a kitten i was at my bf's in Scotland for the weekend, so my friend Pam would come down every day to check on them and fill up their bowls etc..,

Her daughter Louise and her friend did one of the visits, but because Rosie wasn't used to them, she ran down the stairs where Jack was and stood in front of him where she hissed at Louise and Michelle. They wouldn't go in and called Pam to come down, but once Pam went in Rosie was fine.

Rosie's played mum to both Sophie and Jack, so she obviously thought Louise and Michelle were going to harm him?

Ooohhh, I firmly believe that's what mama was doing. Cats definitely have those instincts.

I have no doubt she was protecting her daughter. I brought 2 ferals into the house 6 months old 2 brothers, they were so attached to each other. I had them neutered and kept them. Well the Vet left a bandage on one of their feet (Wheezers) and it started to swell, I knew I had to get it off of him, it was cutting off circulation. both of them ran into the bathroom I closed the door and they were trying to hide from me. But when I was able to corner Wheezer, Patch (his brother) ran in front of him and wouldn't let me touch Wheezer. I couldn't beleive it myself. As terrified as Patch was of me he was willing to get in front and protect his brother I had to get him out of the bathroom to keep him out of the way. Animals are amazing. They are much smarter and loyal then some people give them credit for bring,

When we still had Raven , he and Nabu came to each other's aid. They were littermates. It was most noticeable when we lived with my in-laws. The guys didn't really like the in-laws' cat. One day their cat thought he had Raven cornered and Nabu came out of nowhere in a hurry. They would also walk side-by-side like 2 halves of the same cat. I remember them walking down the stairs side-by-side, and at the bottom one looked left & the other looked right. They had an amazing bond.

My older cat, who was named MaMa Kitty. Came to my defence when a stay cat came after me, I was between MaMa's litter and the stray, but my MaMa girl tackeled the stray tearing it off of my arm and chasing her away. This is the same stray who had come in and removed the litter of kittens from our room. Poor thing wanted her own litter. MaMa got them back, and we never left the door open again.

It's not necessarily a mothering instinct, but one that people will see in cats that live with each other, other animals, or even with their humans. As mentioned before, cats are social and will to an extent protect their group (a little like a lion pride).

It happens with cats and humans, too. When I was five a large german shepherd tried to come up to me and a cat I had at the time chased the dog off.

Cats will also often work together to drive off intruding cats. If anyone has watched ferals they've likely seen this happen. Or one will jump on an intruding cat and several other cats from the group will run to help.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

It's not necessarily a mothering instinct, but one that people will see in cats that live with each other, other animals, or even with their humans. As mentioned before, cats are social and will to an extent protect their group (a little like a lion pride).

It happens with cats and humans, too. When I was five a large german shepherd tried to come up to me and a cat I had at the time chased the dog off.

Cats will also often work together to drive off intruding cats. If anyone has watched ferals they've likely seen this happen. Or one will jump on an intruding cat and several other cats from the group will run to help.

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That's what I believe. Normally I would think it's a mothering thing, as Willow, the scardy-cat, was terrified of Jake (and still is) but when she took over the raising duties of orphaned 4-week-old Buffy, it didn't take much for Willow to step over Buffy and raise holy hell on Jake. If he hung around Buffy, if he acted too interested in Buffy, if he was scrabbling on the floors trying to follow whoever was carrying Buffy away, Willow would shred him good. One time she and Buffy were on a bookshelf and Jake was squealing and running in circles and looking up at them. Willow got up and stood over Buffy and hissed him good, and then made like she was getting ready to jump off the bookshelf and launch herself at his head. She'd already turned his face into shredded tuna a couple of times, so I took Jake and booked it out of there, lol. Before Buffy came here, Willow was the sort to shrink into a ball and hope Jake didn't see her. When we first got Willow, she was all right with Jake, she let him sniff her all over and didn't even mind too much when he got intense and lifted her butt right off the ground. But then she slipped and fell out of a window one day, under which Jake was snoozing, and the surprise of a herding dog meant Willow ended up a tree and unable to get down (until dark, anyway). She's been terrified of him ever since, but her ego was boosted dramatically the first time she came to Buffy's defense.

If the defended is still a baby, I think it's a mothering instinct, but if the "baby" is grown up and capable of defending herself, I think it changes. It's more a case of protecting the pack. Molly, one of my newer girls, is hated by Buffy, but last week, Jake pissed Molly off (must have stepped on her tail or something), and with that snarl-shriek, Buffy came flying from out of nowhere and gave Jake a swatting. Jake, being surprised at her appearance, reacted and there was a cat-dog fight. Upon seeing this, Willow freaked out and gave him an ass-whupping, and Buffy (who had been on her back and cornered against the couch) was able to run off. Molly, being Molly, was oblivious to the drama she'd caused. Buffy doesn't like Molly, so she didn't jump in and attack Jake because she wanted to protect Molly, but she knew that Jake had become a threat to the "pack" and also to herself. She needed to tame him, tell him what's what. Still, gotta tell you, cat-dog fights are ugly, especially when the dog is 55lbs and the cats are 7lbs and 8lbs. Buffy and Willow are always stressed out for the next day, and Jake is usually coated with Willow-hair (she sheds through her feet whenever she's stressed, and last week there were a couple of nice clumps on Jake's hip). Fortunately their nails were clipped a couple of weeks ago, so this time Jake didn't end up bloody.


One time, a few years ago (right after Willow's confidence had been boosted when she learned she could defeat the big scary dog), Buffy had snuck out the front door. Jake was right there, so he took off after her. Then I realized a grey blur streak past chasing Jake. Buffy was up a nearby tree, Jake was looking up at her, and Willow was making mincemeat of Jake's back legs. Another time, it was just Jake and Willow outside (with me and my sister), and some girl went past with her dog. The dog wanted to meet Jake, and since the girl was on rollerblades, she crashed into a tree. Willow saw this and ran over, and who did she attack? Not the strange dog who caused the girl to smash into a tree and fall on her butt, but the creature she was put on this earth to kill. Jake. Poor guy must have been so confused, lol