Fixed male acts like a "mommy"cat

We have 2 fixed male cats (both about 1 year old)
We have had Toby since his REAL mommy dropped him off on our front porch when he was only 8 weeks old.
We adopted Tedy this last spring when he was about 6 months old.
Toby has always been a very clean cat, even as a tiny kitten....Tedy on the other hand came to us from a place where he`d been an outdoor barn cat and he looked a bit "unkept" when we got him.
The thing is,Toby acts as if he is Tedy`s mom.....everything from taking him down and and washing him from one end to the other(including turning his ears wrong side out to do the insides). He also follows him whenever he is in the litter, and if the poop is not covered up good enough to suit Toby, he will get in the box and cover it better.
He "talks" to Tedy all the time....and even gives him a gentle bat on occassion. If Tedy is in another room Toby will "call" him...and he`ll come running.
Tedy did`nt even "mew" when he first came here. Toby has taught him to "talk" (Yes, now we have 2 of them!) As of lately Tedy is even learning to mimic Toby`s voice, and sometimes i can`t tell the difference unless I see who is talking.
Is this normal behavior for cats?

That is sooooo sweet! You are lucky that they get along so wonderfully!

Thanks! They are sweet (well, most of the time anyhow) :-)
I`m also glad they get along so well....just seems like odd behavior for 2 males....although Tedy , even though the more openly affectionate of the 2, seems a "bit slow" to me sometimes....so I have half wondered if Toby senses that he needs "mothering".

Awww, cute!! Sounds like your little guy's getting good instruction to me!!

While at a recent cat adoption, I was amazed at this huge black male cat (neutered, of course). The organizer told me that he is "Papa" to the feral kittens they bring into the shelter. They take full advantage of his nurturing to help socialize the new kittens. What a sweetheart! I'd never heard of such a thing, but it sounds as if your kitty may have the same disposition.

Fred was the best "mommy" a kitten could have. There was a real mommy cat down the street that would bring her 3 kittens and leave them in a box on my porch for Fred to babysit. He would clean them and lay in the box with them until she came to collect them. He would wait with the other 2 while she took one home, then he would help her take the other 2 home.
He raised every kitten that I ever got. I never had to bother with intros, I just left a kitten for him to find, and he would be thrilled. He would take it to the food bowls, then to the litter box. He taught them manners, and smacked their little heads when they didn't behave.
He brought home several kittens over the years, and even a small puppy.

Oh my gosh! Now that is really something else! How sweet!
(toby is an indoor only cat...so he`snot going to get a chance to adopt unless we bring another "baby" to him)

i know good thing they get along

Oh how sweet. My mom's daschsund-cocker mix used to do that with kittens. She would go into their box and get the babies out and try to nurse them, and she actually did once, but just absolutely loves babies (furry or otherwise)!!!

Aw very sweet!

Bijou's daddy is also like that. He helps the female look after her kittens. Our breeder says he has always been like that.

My 12 yr old male, Schnickle, is like that too. He's constantly grooming Fritz and taking care of him. When he was little, he would find my pony tails, pick them up, and put them in his water bowl. An hour or two later, he'd pick them up again, and put them right where he found them. He was doing laundry! Goooooood kitty.

We always joke around that he's gay.. We're anxious to see how he does with our new kitten, if he'll be momma or not!

That is so cute! Monte will only be a year old in October, but he is the "old wise mamma cat". He is just wonderful to the little one's, he even seems to try to keep them in line.

That's really sweet.

One of the wierdest things I've ever heard was, when my friend's mum's old neutered male birma, who was allowed to roam free on their secured yard, adopted an orphaned baby squirrel.

When we first got Mabby....Doofus would "mother" her...to the point where he would let mab "nurse" off of him.... she did this untill she was about a year ....