Paternal Attachment

Hi everyone,
I wrote a few months back about my cats Willie and Patti. Patti, the kitten, has settled in well and my older boy Willie has grown to accept her more and more each day. The play fighting still occurs every now and then but it is less "extreme". Willie is about 4 years old and Patti would be almost 6 months old. Both are desexed.

I've never had two cats at once before and I just wondered people's views on what I'm about to say. Patti has adored Willie ever since I brought her home. He was the only thing that lured her out from under the couch for the first couple of weeks. She will follow him around the house and yard, entwine her tail with his when they're walking and lie all over him- despite them having separate cat beds. Sometimes Patti will see him clean himself and seem to mimic the action. Willie is tolerant of her closeness and even grooms her on a regular basis. He rarely initiates close contact with her otherwise though- aside from playing "chasey" outside. She always approaches him.

I just wonder if she sees him as a paternal figure and whether she is learning from him. It's almost like he is her mother in some ways. I just wondered if people had seen anything similar between unrelated, slight age difference and even opposite sex cats. I have no complaints. I think her adoration of him is very sweet.

Thanks
Erin

Kittens (like human kids) are like sponges, they absorb everything around them. By having Willie around, she is learning from him. This is key for a kitten, she must learn from her mother and siblings. She may see him as a sibling or even a mother. Perhaps she was taken away from her mother too early, and is trying to fill that void.
Because she is mimicking Willie, she will learn even more important skills about being a cat. Around this time she would leave her mother, and Willie is offering an extended source if knowledge that she is using to her advantage.
He can teach her almost anything, even how to be a naughty kitty and steal food.

They sound a lot like 2 of my mother's cats when they first came home.  Pumpkin was adopted at about 8 weeks old and Bunny was adopted 3 days later at the age of 2.  Bunny became his surrogate Mommy.  She bathed him and snuggled him.  He mimicked her and picked up some of her behaviors too.  They are both senior cats now and not nearly as close.  But the closeness didn't fade until my mother added a 3rd cat to her house; one more matched in personality and energy to Pumpkin.  Bunny has never really enjoyed the shenanigans the other 2 used to get up to.