Mating, Motherhood, and Kittens

Cat mating looks brutal, but there’s a lot going on.

The female is usually the one in charge. She calls, she rolls, she swats. Males gather around and fight. She decides who gets close. A smart male only moves when she’s looking away. If she looks at him, he freezes. It’s like a game of red light, green light.

When a male finally gets close, he grabs her by the neck. That’s not a caveman move. It triggers a kitten reflex. Kittens freeze when their mother picks them up by the scruff. That reflex doesn’t completely disappear in adults. The male uses it to keep the female still. Without it, he’d get badly scratched.

After mating, the female often screams and attacks the male. Why? Because the male’s penis has tiny spines on it. They point backward. When he pulls out, they scrape her vaginal wall. It hurts. That pain triggers ovulation. Cats don’t ovulate on their own like humans do. They need the stimulation of mating. So the pain is part of the reproductive system. It sounds awful, but it’s how cats work.

A female in heat may mate with several males. That means a single litter of kittens can have multiple fathers. This is called superfecundation. It’s more common in cities, where cats live close together. There’s also superfetation, which is even stranger: a pregnant cat can sometimes go into heat again and get pregnant with a second litter. The two litters develop at different stages. If the first litter is born too early, the second litter may be born prematurely and die. If they stay in the uterus, they may be born weeks later. It’s rare, but it happens.

When a mother cat is ready to give birth, she looks for a quiet, dark, dry place. She may reject the fancy box you prepared and choose a shoe cupboard instead. Labor can take hours. Each kitten is born in its own sac. The mother tears the sac open, cleans the kitten’s nose and mouth so it can breathe, bites the umbilical cord, and eats the placenta. Then she licks the kitten dry and rests before the next one arrives. Most mother cats are excellent midwives. They don’t need human help.

Newborn kittens are blind and deaf, but they can smell and feel. They find a nipple and claim it. Each kitten has a favorite nipple, and each nipple has its own smell. If you wash the mother’s belly, the kittens get confused. They can’t find their spot. That’s how they avoid fighting over food.

Mother cats will sometimes nurse other kittens. If an orphan kitten cries near a nursing mother, she may adopt it. She’ll pick it up, carry it to her nest, lick it, and let it nurse. In crowded breeding situations, several mothers may share a nest and nurse all the kittens together. It’s not typical in the wild, but cats are flexible. They can be surprisingly cooperative when they have to be.

Kittens grow fast. At birth, they weigh about 100 grams. By the end of the first week, their eyes open and they’ve doubled their weight. At one month, they start playing with each other. At two months, they’re wrestling and hunting games. At three months, they’re eating solid food and the mother is ready to mate again. At six months, they’re independent. They can hunt and take care of themselves.

Do kittens need to learn how to kill? Not exactly. Even kittens raised without their mother can kill a mouse on their first try. But they get better if they watch Mom. Kittens that see their mother hunt become better hunters. Kittens that grow up with rodents as “family” often won’t kill them. So hunting is instinct, but experience shapes it.

Some white cats are deaf. This is especially common in blue-eyed white cats. If you want to test a white cat’s hearing, make a noise outside its field of vision. Don’t stomp on the floor—that creates vibrations a deaf cat can feel through its paws. If the cat reacts to a sound it can’t see or feel, it can hear. If it’s deaf, there’s not much you can do. The inner ear degenerates shortly after birth. It’s a genetic defect, and it can be passed on. Responsible breeders avoid breeding deaf white cats.