can cat mommas tell when their babies are not going to survive?

i am wondering if georgies mom knew he was sick and going to pass away long before he even showed signs that he even wasnt feeling well...the last week and a half she would not let him nurse and she always let him ..she'd be nursing his siblings and id put him near her and he'd scoot over and nurse away but the last week or so when ever i put him down to nurse she'd get up and walk away and go lay in another spot, let the others nurse and if i put georgie back near her again (which i always did) shed go away again and he'd just sigh and look at me..but he wasnt showing any signs to me of being sick in fact he was purring and playing and eating canned food (they all were eating solid foods they just liked to nurse) i felt bad for him bc she was being mean to him (i thought) but maybe she knew something wasnt right? seems cruel to me to let the baby starve if it were out in the wild or anything ..

How old is Georgie and his/her brothers and sisters? I did some research on at what age mother's wean their babies. Here I've found:

A general schedule for kitten weaning might be:

• Weeks 4-5: Give wet or moistened dry food, mixed with formula to form a slush. Supplement with formula if the kitten is not taking to the new food, to make sure it gets enough calories.
• Weeks 5-6: The weaning kittens should start to nibble on the kibble, slightly moistened with water.
• Weeks 6-7: By now, the kitten weaning process is complete, and they should be eating all solid food by week seven.

This is taken from a Veterinary's Opinion at http://www.petmd.com/cat/centers/kitten/nutrition/evr_ct_weaning_kittens_what_to_feed_a_kitten

I'm sorry to hear about Georgie and I hope this helps.

thank you and every little bit helps..georgie was just over 12 weeks when he died..they all  are too old to nurse but she still lets them anyway

Very sorry to hear about Georgie.  I know it is hard and I know you loved Georgie very much.

I don't know, but I do believe mothers have a sense, and that cats and other animals have retained this sense to a much greater extent than humans have.

That Georgie's mom was so patient and was still allowing her kittens to suckle up to and beyond 10 weeks is a credit to her. If she was turning away from Georgie but still suckling her other kittens I believe it must have been from her natural sense he was not well, perhaps a different scent or something, and not out of cruelty. I am sure she feels the loss of her kitten like any other mother but dealt with Georgie in the only way she knew. This is what many mothers would do in the wild.  

All life is precious, and kittens steel our heart to quickly. I am so sorry you lost Goergie. 

Absolutely, she knew.

The deeply imbedded instinct of survival is very strong, and rules how they care for their babes, despite their also deep love for them.

I have such a great understanding after my experience with mom's and how they care for their babies. Especially after a very tragic incident recently that literally traumatized me.

I've had countless moms with newborns here. Some feral, some semi, some totally tame.

Earlier this past summer, I pulled a feral mom with her litter of newborns she delivered the night before she was to be killed at the shelter, which literally saved her life, as the shelter would not have called me to ask if I wanted to save them if she were merely pregnant, she would have been euthanized.

She was a great mom, as nearly all cat moms are, 6 healthy, good sized kittens.

2 were smaller but feisty, and would not allow themselves to be kicked off of a nipple, they would fight right back from the bigger kits and regain their spot. I love that

Out of the blue, I mean WHAT???!! One of the big kittens was gone. Gone. Okay, how is that possible?? They were caged........my husband and I were stumped, and it crossed my mind, did she eat one? I had heard of this happening but never dealt with this first hand.

The next day we found small remains in the litterbox. She surely did.

This incredibly loving, nurturing, attentive and protective mom actually turned on one of her little dolls and ate it.

We were in shock. Why? How could this be? No evidence even? No blood?

I mean we couldn't even talk about it, just so confused...

This happened because she was caged, and sensed something was wrong with the kitten, and despite her maternal love, was overcome by her instinct of survival to protect herself and her young from predators. In the wild, she would have detected the weakness and carried that baby off far from the rest, and allowed it to die.

Because she was unable to do this being caged, this was her only other option. To be rid of the weak link, leaving no traces of blood smell or death what-so-ever for a predator to smell and find them. To protect the rest and herself.

The sad part is, she didn't realize there was no danger to her here. She had protection from everything being caged.

Once I got over my shock, all I could feel and think of was how hard it must have been for her to do that. Cat's are some of the most loving moms in the animal world. She loved them all and was so wonderful. Imagine what she felt having to do that to one of her babies.

Still don't really like to go there even now, but wanted to relate why I believe so strongly that a momma cat knows. Much more than what we can see.

I agree, Mum's can tell..

There something else that may be worth considering before you carry on blaming yourself for the kittens death. The smaller kittens that were considered the 'runt' of the litter were often starved in the womb. It makes them weaker from day dot. It was only as far ago as my grandparents generation that a lot of people thought it was kinder to let nature run its course and the runt die. It seems now that we try our best (which is wonderful) but perhaps my grandparents generation had something there.  A lot of help around now and people's kindness that makes us try to help these little ones but we shouldn't forget that they are the runts, they may and often do have health problems and are weaker and are more likely to die. Instead of blaming ourselves, especially you over Georgie, should take a little comfort knowing that you tried your very best. It's just sometimes nature will take over and there is not much we can do.

Big hugs.

 I am so sorry about little Georgie.  That must have been heartbreaking.  by that age they have such an individual personality and one gets to love them.     I do think mother cats  have a way to sense that there is something very wrong with a kitten.     Then,  in a sort of triage,  they stop caring for that kitten who they think will probably die anyway,  so they can give a better chance to the kittens most likely to survive.   Like catwoman's story,  it's based on instinct developed in a wild situation in which they didn't  have human help ,  they didn't know  if they will continue to have plentiful nourishment for themselves so they can feed all the kittens enough,   so if they sense one kitten will die anyway,  their instinct is to allocate their resources to ensure that the stronger kittens survive.

  It sounds like she was a very caring mom and had already let all the kittens,  including Georgie,  nurse past an age where quite a few mom cats have weaned them,  and was only in that last 10 days or so of his life she refused to nurse him.   So all I can think is she knew before you did that something was wrong and he wasn't going to make it.    For example sometimes there can be some problem with internal organs that make a kitten unable to survive past a certain size. 

 At least Georgie did experience a lot of love and caring from you -- and from his cat mom as well until close to the end of his life. 

It's actually not uncommon that kittens nurse past the ages listed on that petmd.com  link. It is true that usually by 7 weeks they are getting the great majority of their calories from eating solid food,  but past that time,  they will often still nurse a bit for psychological comfort for another month or two , if their mom continues to let them.