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Hand Raised Kittens? any concerns?

post #1 of 2
2/28/01 at 12:41pm
Thread Starter 
When a mother refuses to care for her litter and the kittens are hand raised, are there any any differences in their behaviour, socialization and general personalities as compared to those raise by the mother cat??
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post #2 of 2
2/28/01 at 3:57pm
Lillian,

There is a definite difference in cats who are hand-raised, at least for me there is. I have two such cats. One, Marina Mar, was born to a feral mother. She was bottle fed from the time she was 2 weeks old. Another one of my cats, Casey, was orphaned at 2 days old after his mother was hit by a car. He was hand-fed also. Both cats have this tremendous bond with me, something I don't see in my other cats. They are "in your face" cats, so-to-speak. They love to be cuddled, kissed and paid attention to. Hand-raised kitties have to be taught how to eat cat food once they are weaned. They also have to be stimulated after each feeding to make them go to the bathroom. The mama cat usually does that by licking their bottoms after each meal. You would do it by using a facecloth. The litter box training is almost automatic. They eventually will get it.

Socialization is usually very easy unless they are born to feral mothers and are with mama kitty long enough for her to pass off her fear of humans onto her babies. If they are not taken from the mama before they reach 6 weeks of age, socialization gets more difficult.

Hope this helps. Let me know how you make out.
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