Reuniting Mother With her 5 month old kittens

[alifaust]

I'm new to this forum, so I hope I am posting this in the right place...
Back in May, we adopted two female kittens from my sister. Her cat was not spayed, and she got outside and got pregnant. They are both great cats, very friendly, and love each other to bits. We were initially only going to adopt one cat, who we named Aleister, but we saw that she was great friends with her sister, who we named Faust, so we decided to adopt them both.
Well, fast forward a couple months...My sister is pregnant and very near her due date right now. She has decided to move out of state (on a whim) and given herself only a month to get everything taken care of, including finding an apartment. She found one, but she is only allowed to have two of her cats and she has four right now. She plans to, in her words, not mine, "get rid of" two of her cats, one of whom is a kitten and is the brother of my kittens, and the other is the mother of my cats.
We are seriously thinking of taking in the mother, since we know it is harder for an adult cat to find a good home, and people tend to adopt younger cats. She is a very sweet cat, as is the kitten that is being surrendered, and I feel bad for her.
My question to you is: Do you know if mother cats and kittens will recognize each other as being related after being separated for three months? I have noticed that when I visit, the mom cat likes to smell me, and is very affectionate (she didn't really notice me either way before I adopted her kittens) and that when I return home to my kittens, they also seem to be more affectionate than usual, so it seems that they recognize her smell, but I'm not sure if I'm just projecting the way I think they must feel on them, without being correct. I haven't ever heard anything about this, and I don't know if it would be a good idea or a bad idea to reunite them after they've been separated for awhile.

By the way, I adopted the kittens when they were almost 9 weeks old, and now they are almost 5 months old. They are from the mom's only litter, which had 5 kittens, and the mom cat currently live with two of her kittens.
Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[goldenkitty45]

So sad that people just throw away a pet for stupid reasons.

And no the mother cat would not recognize her offspring nor vice versa. You will have to treat them all as "strangers" and start with isolating the new cat (mom) and slowly introduce the cats.

Be sure that EVERYONE is spayed and neutered before introductions. If you have all the same sex they still need to be done, but if opposite sex, its even more important to have them all done.

 

[alifaust]

Thank you for your reply.
And I know, I am furious at her for doing this. Everytime I hear her talk about "getting rid of" cats it just makes me cringe.
I had sort of hoped they would recognize each other, I thought it would be nice to reunite mother with daughters (they are all female). But still it will be a good thing to do for an adult cat who may not find a new home, otherwise.

 

[goldenkitty45]

Don't you wish you could disown her????

But be sure that all are spayed, it will help a lot in introductions.

 

[norachelhere]

It is so sad that these people get these animals and then see them as disposable. . . Such a shame. Hope all goes well reuniting them. Let us know how it happens!

 

[alifaust]

The scary thing is she is having her second child in a few days. And if she can't take care of cats (she can't, the one she had before these cats was punched in the face as a kitten by her then husband, and went into convulsions

and she made excuses for him and stayed with him for awhile after, . She "got rid of" that cat eventually too.) how does she plan to take care of children?

I'm trying to find a good place for the kitten to go, but she really didn't give anyone time to do anything.
I plan to bring the mom cat over this week to see how the cats do together (monitored of course) I'd like some input, do you think this is a good idea or a bad idea?
Thanks for all the help, I really do appreciate it!

 

[mom of 4]

You might as well bring the kitten too. It won't be any harder to have 2 to introduce to yours. And you won't feel guilty later.
You will have more time to find the other kitten a good home this way.

 

[norachelhere]

I would take all of her cats, and perhaps her children too if that is the case. That makes me sick. . . I would take both the cats. Like was previously said, you can always find the kitten agood home. I am sure someone you know at work would be willing to give the baby and possible mommy a good home! And untill then they will have on with you! And like was said, you would feel terribly guilty.

 

[goldenkitty45]

I think I would take both cats (and then look for the right home for the kitten). Mom and kitten can hang out together in one room for the time being.

 

[alifaust]

You all make excellent points as to why I should take both cats, and I do agree. My only problem is that I will not be able to get my two kittens and then the other two cats to get fixed for a little while. Also I have a one bedroom apartment, and I already don't know what to do with the mom cat to keep her separate from my two.
If all the cats were female I would just wait it out until I can afford to fix them, but one is a male, AND I can't afford to have four cats fixed at the same time. As it is, I'm going to have to get the mom cat fixed asap, since I don't want her going into heat and escaping. I also am not sure how old the mom is, and I know that there are some health risks to the cat the longer you wait to get them spayed.
I'm very worried about how I'm going to do this. If my other room wasn't such a mess and didn't house dangerous equipment, I'd put her/ them in there, but we have a large weight set in there, a miniature dollhouse I've been building, and a few sewing machines that have to stay. Right now it's not an option to get a bigger place, but in a couple months it will be.
I really feel awful about this situation, and I want to find someplace for the boy kitten, but I don't even know where his mom is going to go during her introduction period.
Also, a question...The boy kitten is five months old. I'm worried that one of the kittens could have or will impregnate the mom before I get her. I've heard this is possible, my question is, is this possible?

 

[tempteq]

Originally Posted by Alifaust

I can't afford to have four cats fixed at the same time.

Please look into low cost/free clinics:

http://www.massanimalcoalition.org/s...er%20info.html
http://www.lovethatcat.com/spayneuter.html#ma#ma

I'm so glad these kitties are lucky enough to have you!

 

[goldenkitty45]

A 5 month old male CAN impregnate a female that is not spayed. I'd schedule the male and the mom as soon as possible - maybe male first as its cheaper.

Try contacting your shelters for some lower costs vets in the area and tell them the situation. The male would have to be kept away from females for a month after he's neutered.

Maybe borrow a large dog crate to confine him if not supervised.

 

[alifaust]

I also have another question. My boyfriend's family has a summer home in New Hampshire that we visit often and bring our kittens to with us. We are going for a long weekend (Friday thru Monday) and I'm wondering, since there is more space to isolate the mom cat there, what do you think of us getting her early and bringing her up with the kittens, and doing the introduction there? If they start to get along, do I have a better chance of them getting along once we get home? Or does it start over?
My kitties are very laid back, even more so when they're in NH. The mom is also laid back.
The babies like to be independent of us up there, they ignore us until bedtime comes along then they follow us to bed, but they love being around each other, so maybe by the end they'll be all playing together? I know it's impossible to accurately predict for sure what will happen, I'm just looking for some input.
Thanks a bunch!

ETA: Also, my mom told me about friends of animals, and the three girls would be a total of $195 to buy the certificates (as opposed to $525 at my vet) and the boy would be I think $55 or somewhere in that area.
Now my only concern is space. I hope we find a good place for him before she moves. I'm looking into getting him into a no-kill shelter that I have applied to volunteer at, so if he does have to go, since I am pretty sure I will not have space for him, unfortunately I don't even know how we're going to find space for mom, I could at least keep an eye on him. The shelter seems really good as far as shelters are concerned, it's small and seems to have a good adoption rate. Hopefully it doesn't come to that though. My sister is also supposedly trying to find a home for him, but I'll believe that when I see it.
Apparently she has only been looking for a home for the kitten, and didn't bother trying to find one for the mom, even though I just told her I planned to take the mom.
I called her today and told her that the shelter that I was reading about had told me that the cat needs to be put on a waiting list, and I told her that she might have to make a small donation so they can take him, and she was like, I don't want to deal with this and anyways, it's too late to put him on a list since she is moving on Sept 7th and it would take too long, and anyways she can't afford a donation. I called and put the cat on the list and told her that he could stay at my mom's until he can find a home or until he comes up on the list and that I'd make the damn donation myself. I am so furious at her I could barely talk to her, I all but hung up on her. This is going to seriously affect my relationship with her and my opinion of her for a very long time I think.
I almost want to teach her a lesson and make her deal with it herself, but she has proven that she doesn't care, so only the cats would suffer, and that is not fair to them.
When I told her that she needs to do this because she doesn't want the cat to end up in a kill shelter, she didn't say that she would call or anything, and I know if I was told that my kitties could end up in a kill shelter, I would definitely take the 5 minutes to leave a phone message. Then again, I wouldn't "get rid of" my cats just because I was moving.

UGGGHHH!